Author: David Mckee

Being busy on other fronts today (tune or surf in at 9 a.m. PST to KNPR‘s State of Nevada, we’re turning S&G over for the day to Samuel of Sports Smart Betting. If you like his work, you may see it here on a recurring basis. After all, sports betting is dominating the gambling conversation today. For his initial topic, Sam explains the …

Reasons why parlay bets are so popular

1. Parlay bets can offer higher payouts: These types of bets typically have higher payouts than single bets because of the multiplicative effect of more selection in a single bet slip. This can be attractive to bettors looking for a chance to win big even if they take several times more risks.

Continue reading The popularity of parlays

Having experienced buyer’s remorse on DFS site Monkey Knife Fight, and now trying to re-sell it, Bally’s Corp. finds itself with a ton of Monkey Knife Fight-branded merchandise that it must unload. After all, if it finds a pigeon, er, purchaser for the DFS brand, all rights will revert to said pigeon, leaving Bally’s with a bunch of junk it can’t move. Hence the scene above in the Bally’s Atlantic City gift shop. You can practically hear the sales pitch: “Prices like these? I must be crazy! Sale ends Sunday (maybe)!” Seriously, the acquisition of Monkey Knife Fight was symptomatic of Bally’s swing-at-everything business strategy. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

Then again, Bally’s was late to the DFS party and the purchase always seemed to us like an afterthought. Now the company is hurting in the digital sphere, having expanded too much too soon, and Monkey Knife Fight is being flung overboard to trim the ship. Good luck finding takers. Maybe Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim can drop by Bally’sAtlantic City (the casino that quality forgot) and pick up sportswear that reads, “I bought Monkey Knife Fight and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”

Continue reading ‘Fight’ club; New Horseshoe powers Louisiana

Casinos closed out 2022 up 2% in December in Atlantic City. Before any gaming bosses start wringing their hands over higher costs, let it be known that this is 3% better than December 2019, before the latest collective-bargaining agreement. The monthly gross was $215.5 million. For the entire year, it was an apex in Boardwalk history, thanks to i-gaming and sports-betting contributions. This did not pass unnoticed by Americans for Nonsmokers Rights. “Imagine how much more revenue the casinos would have generated if the awful stench of dangerous secondhand smoke didn’t keep a meaningful number of guests from walking through their doors,” acidly remarked ANR President Cynthia Hallett. She added, “In-person visitation has recovered to pre-pandemic levels. So what’s the excuse now for the casinos? This revenue report should give legislators yet another green light to advance bipartisan bills that more than half of all senators and assembly members are co-sponsoring to close the casino smoking loophole.”

Continue reading Solid finish in Atlantic City; Tough love elsewhere

A horrible idea for the taxpayer, the economy and for gaming in particular has been resurrected in Congress. Yes, it’s the “national sales tax,” which would lay a double-digit impost on all goods and services, and which only could be rebated to us if we fill out onerous, monthly paperwork—much more burdensome than dealing with the IRS once a year. As formerly championed by disgraced ex-lawmaker Steve King, the root of the bill is the “strong father” model of government, in which the sales tax would be intended to A) make people resent government itself and B) curb consumer spending. An especially odious carve-out in the 2004 iteration of the bill—and this bears close watching—is that all businesses would qualify for tax refunds … except casinos and gambling-related businesses, which would get nothing. It’s a dagger aimed straight at the heart of the Big, Bad Casinos.

Continue reading The tax that ate Las Vegas; Dr. King misremembered

Since we’re heavily occupied today with “Question of the Day” submissions, Sports Betting Operator features, a CDC Gaming Reports story and Casino Life page proofs, we’ll turn most of the S&G space over to our East Coast bureau, who has a variety of reports …

Above is the Bally’s Atlantic City slot floor, seen last Monday. Yes, the casino was open. Below is their ‘high limit slot’ room, with one customer seen cashing out a ticket.

Continue reading Atlantic City focus