Although the Indian Gaming Association trade show in sunny Anaheim is sucking all the wind out of casino news this week, there’s still movement happening, mostly in the state houses. Take the weird, hybrid sports-betting bill that just passed out of the Maine state senate and is headed for Gov. Janet Mills‘ desk. It grants online wagering (but is it off-reservation?) to Maliseet, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes. Four private-sector casinos also get sports wagering, but only of the walk-up variety. You’d think that, for the casinos, getting any iteration of sports betting would be welcome, but they’re against the bill. So is the Sports Betting Alliance, a stalking horse for OSB giants like DraftKings and FanDuel. Huffed the SBA, it’s “a significant step backwards from the existing proposal to legalize sports betting market in Maine.” Mills is prickly and unpredictable but we expect her to ignore the SBA and sign the bill, the product of long negotiation with the tribes.
Even so, the latter shouldn’t pop the champagne corks just yet. There’s a lengthy regulation-making process ahead and such opponents as Penn National Gaming would have good reason for a court challenge should the terms of tribal OSB transcend what’s allowed in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. As Maine Gambling Control Unit Executive Director Milton Champion lamented, “Any vacation that I had is pretty much canceled.” Even so, he maintains that the compact won’t require any review by the Department of the Interior, despite the fact that it’s currently well-disposed to tribal OSB. On the other hand, Maine Gambling Control Board Chairman Steven Silver complained, “We now have a system where casinos are trusted to operate slots and table games, but somehow not mobile sports betting.” In other words, them that has gets. At least Mills is trying to level the playing field for the tribes, who—let’s face it—are going to need operational partners from private industry, at least initially.
Not everything is what Donald Rumsfeld would call “known unknowns”: in-state collegiate sports betting is nixed. The tribes have had to accept a 10% tax rate on gross receipts in lieu of the 6% that was floated earlier but licenses will be relatively cheap: $200,000 every four years (plus $40,000 for any private-sector partner). The four casinos are practically getting their licenses for free—$4K apiece. At least Maine can congratulate itself for acting where Massachusetts lawmakers continue to dither.
Texas gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke (D) has come out in favor of casinos and sports betting in the Lone Star State. Gov. Greg Abbott‘s shilly-shallying on the issue has been a major impediment to gaming progress, so O’Rourke’s stance is welcome and is at least one plank of his platform that will appeal to most Texas voters. Whether it otherwise enhances his long-shot campaign or gets him love from deep-pocketed casino and OSB interests remains very much to be seen.
Another casino megaresort development in Japan has gone down in flames. The prefectural assembly for Wakayama narrowly but decisively voted to disapprove Clairvest‘s planned resort, citing a lack of transparency about funding (if only that much probity were demanded of American casinos). It’s a huge setback for Caesars Entertainment, which was to have operated the megaresort and which has now struck out in three Asian mega-markets: Macao, Japan and Singapore. Clairvest claimed to have the backing of Credit Suisse—but couldn’t produce documentation thereof—and major, unspecified Nipponese banks, but this was more opacity than Wakayama politicians could tolerate. So now with only two applicants left for three licenses, MGM Resorts International and Casinos Austria ought to be in clover.