Regulators in Massachusetts struck an unsatisfactory compromise with Penn Entertainment. The latter’s Plainridge Park was granted a sports book license, conditional upon a suitability investigation of Barstool Sports founder—and the new face of Penn—Dave Portnoy. “We are very comfortable with there being an investigation,” Penn CEO Jay Snowden told regulators, somehow managing to keep a straight face. Snowden probably left his Barstool T-shirt, which he wears around the office (it’s a fact), in the dungeon where he plays submissive to Portnoy’s dominatrix. Why the Massachusetts Gaming Commission should need to probe into Portnoy is a mystery to us. His unsuitability is out in the open for everyone to see. How is it that Steve Wynn could not get a Bay State gaming license but Portnoy might? We sense a double standard at work. A license, once issued to Penn, will be very hard to claw back.
The bottom line is tbat Penn got what it wanted and Bay State taxpayers got the shaft. Indeed, the MGC is coming under well-deserved criticism for booting the ball on MGM Springfield‘s incomplete application, since amended. Rep. Angelo Puppolo (D) is not amused by MGM’s having submitted its application with “cavalier and lackadaisical behavior.” He says the commission should fine MGM Resorts International $250,000 after having “missed an opportunity to hold their feet to the fire.” Reasons the Springfield solon, “There’s consequences if you’re late with taxes, right, income taxes, property taxes, credit card bills. You get fined. There are penalties, repercussions. And I do think that it was a missed opportunity.”
The commission offered a variety of excuses, including “there’s almost presumption of license for the three casinos.” (Why the special treatment?) They even trotted out a version of ‘The dog ate my homework.’ For Puppolo and others, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back regarding MGM Springfield, which they feel has come up short of various and sundry metrics. “By their own projections, the economic engine is not performing up to speed,” said state Rep. Bud Williams (D). MGM, for its part, strongly denies the allegations and maintains that it has kept its promises. The casino said it would “continue to work towards our shared goal of revitalizing this historic community and reenergizing downtown Springfield.” That’s a promise we hope will be kept.
Elsewhere in the Penn empire, workers at Hollywood Toledo are unhappy campers. They’ll go on strike tomorrow if they don’t get a collective-bargaining agreement more to their liking. The aggrieved 200 employees are represented by the United Auto Workers, and include dealers and slot attendants—not a working class a casino boss wants to alienate. International Steelworkers Local 1-346 complains that Penn is “very, very, very slow” at the bargaining table.
Sports betting came out of the chute like gangbusters in Maryland. Thanks to Gov. Larry Hogan (R), it debuted Nov. 23 and generated $26 million of revenue in little more than a week. Handle was $186 million. FanDuel bested DraftKings, $11 million to $9.5 million, while BetMGM nabbed $4 million, and Caesars Sportsbook and Barstool were both well below $1 million each. However … books threw all that away and more, flinging $64 million worth of promotions at players. Promo expenditures were $29.5 million for FanDuel, $26.5 million for DraftKings, $6 million for BetMGM, and (again) less than a million apiece for the two also-rans, although they spent more than they made. We’ll let the data speak for itself.
Kansas, meanwhile, engendered only $18 million of revenue across the whole month, on handle of $177 million. DraftKings very narrowly bested FanDuel with $7 million, just a decimal point ahead. BetMGM made $2.5 million, Barstool $1 million and Caesars less still. Promos were a rational $6.5 million, led by DraftKings and FanDuel with approximately $2 million each, followed by BetMGM’s $1.5 million, plus negligible amounts from Caesars and Barstool. While retail sports books in Maryland represented $5 million in GGR, Kansas’ betting was almost entirely online—no surprise given how widely scattered the state’s casinos are.
It’s getting to be that time of year, at least if you live in New Jersey and Indiana, when you place your Academy Awards bets. According to Covers.com—as of Dec. 1—the favorites are Steven Spielberg‘s autobiographical The Fabelmans (Best Picture, +115), Cate Blanchett (Tar, +150) and metaphysical locks Spielberg (Best Director, -200) and The Whale‘s Brendan Fraser (-300). Of course there’s a great deal of time between now and the Oscar ceremony, and favorites are often nipped at the post by films with late surges of popularity. That happened last year when soapy CODA upset The Power of the Dog, and a couple of years previous when prestige snoozer 1917 was ambushed by underdog Parasite. Even though the Golden Globes are just over the horizon on Jan. 10, we could see surprises, especially from Martin McDonagh‘s The Banshees of Inisherin, which has tremendous Globes momentum with eight nominations. (McDonagh and the Banshees crew cleaned up at the Globes several years back for the haunting In Bruges. No Oscar love, though.)
Frankly, we’ll be pretty sore if Blanchett, after giving the greatest screen performance since Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, were to miss out on a statuette … unless the nod goes to our TV girlfriend, Michelle Yeoh, basking in acclaim for the role of her career in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Oddsmakers like Austin Butler (Elvis) as a medium-long shot at +500 for Best Actor. If we were filling out a betting slip and wanted to wager on last-minute oversets, we’d go with Banshees (+600), The Daniels for Best Director (Everything Everywhere All at Once, +900), Yeoh (+550), Colin Farrell (Banshees of Inisherin, +500), with McDonagh getting a Best Screenplay consolation prize. No Spielberg? No Top Gun: Maverick (which Variety picked to win Best Picture)? Well, the National Board of Review hexed both when gave Spielberg its Best Director plaque and named Maverick the film of the year (blech!). Just ask Paul Thomas Anderson: A National Board of Review Award is the tombstone of one’s Oscar aspirations.
(Of course, there could be a Nomadland-style sucktasm if the Academy takes a dive for writer/director Sarah Polley‘s insufferably artsy Women Talking, which checks an awful lot of “#MeToo” boxes. But let’s not go there just yet.)