Any child knows that ‘daily fantasy sports’ is a fancy name for sports betting. The primary fantasy at work is the notion that it ISN’T sports wagering. If you field the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers but swap out a measly player or two, you’re in clover. After all, the success or failure of your “team” is predicated on real-world stats as compiled by real-world athletes. It’s sports betting, plain and simple.
Continue reading DFS is SOL
Big, beautiful Bally’s Chicago (above) looks more and more like the altar upon which Bally’s Corp. will be sacrificed. Company Chairman Soo Kim continues to chop up his company into kindling into order to fuel the money pyre that is the $1.7 billion Chicago megaresort. In part to raise the $450 million he needs in Windy City completion money, Kim cut a deal with Intralot to sell them Gamesys for $3.2 billion. Actually, only $1.7 billion (funny figure, that) is in cash. The remainder is equity in a joint Bally’s/Intralot Internet venture.
Continue reading Bally’s Stripped for Parts
Las Vegas, you’ve got a problem on your hands. During May, casino revenues across the rest of the United States went up, sometimes dramatically. What did the Las Vegas Strip do? It declined 4%. And Las Vegas locals’ business was flat with 2024. Maybe consumers have gotten fed up with being dinged $26 for a tiny bottle of water. Or maybe—and more likely—the consumer is “one with no visibility into the future and thus preference for smaller/experiential purchases over large outlays/vacations.” That’s the assessment of new J.P. Morgan gaming analyst Daniel Politzer and it’s spot-on. Given that there was an extra weekend day in May this year, gaming overlords are probably thanking their lucky stars things didn’t turn out worse.
Continue reading Strip Sags in May
That’s what Dr. Miriam Adelson and Las Vegas Sands declared on the state of Texas in their (over)zealous pursuit of a casino. The charmlessness offensive was rolled out like a fleet of Sherman tanks, as Sands argued its case over the airwaves, in print and in person. Sending over 100 lobbyists to Austin to club the Lege into submission was obvious overkill, even before it happened.
Continue reading Total War
As you read this, Rhode Island‘s legislature is on track to pass a smoking “ban” in casinos with so many loopholes as to be totally meaningless. Politicians will undoubtedly congratulate themselves on having taken a stand for public health but that’s just so much bullshit.
Continue reading Blowing Smoke
Sin City may be facing what’s been described as a “choppy summer” but the Boardwalk is suddenly firing on all cylinders. That’s even though more Garden State residents are gambling online than ever before. It’s too soon to draw conclusions beyond the one that drive-in gambling (or convenience gambling, depending on where you are) is suddenly in vogue.
Continue reading Atlantic City Update
Although the name Jimmy Slonina probably won’t sound familiar, there’s a good chance you’ve seen him when you visited Las Vegas. He’s a veteran of long-running Le Reve at Wynncore and of Vegas Nocturne at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. He’s also had credits in Absinthe, O and Zarkana. Currently, he’s a lead performer in Mystere at Treasure Island. Except for a few nights last week when he was an involuntary guest of Las Vegas’ finest.
Continue reading See Vegas, Get Busted
Snatching one victory from the jaws of 0-3 defeat, Las Vegas Sands-backed candidate David Pfaff won a seat on the Irving City Council. This gives Sands at least one key ally in its quest to rezone its Irving real estate for a casino. Having squeaked his way to a runoff, Pfaff clobbered rival Sergio Porres, who made Sands a lightning rod in his pitch to voters. Pfaff, meanwhile, strove to disown his Las Vegas sugar daddy.
Continue reading Playing Politics with Gambling
PSST! Don’t tell Soo Kim but sugar daddy Gaming & Leisure Properties is making plans for a post-Bally’s Corp. era. Nor are they being secretive about it, spilling the beans to the invaluable Barry Jonas of Truist Securities. It had nothing to report on troubled Bally’s Chicago “though we think the development remains behind schedule. We also believe some of GLPI’s stock underperformance relates to BALY credit concerns,” which are very real. It’s what happens when you budget money you don’t have (and can’t borrow), expecting GLPI CEO Peter Carlino to pick up all the tabs.
Continue reading Life After Bally’s
Perhaps, in his more delusional moments, Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg still thinks he can get $2 billion for the Flamingo on the open market. How else to explain the preposterous levy imposed on Flamingo guests who have the temerity to request an early check-in rather than cool their heels with their luggage in the lobby. The nerve of them! To show who’s boss, Reeg is slapping Flamingo guests with $60 early check-in fees.
Continue reading Naked Greed