As a devoted scuffler, I chase deals that collectively work out to being paid $20/hour to visit casinos. And every hour on their dime is good for the old bottom line.
Heck, I drive to downtown Henderson all the time to my gold at the end of the Rainbow. Free meals, positive-expectation games, and it all grew from chasing MRBs.
As I’ve said before, Rainbow and Emerald Isle are stack heaven.
For decades, the MRB has been solid gold. In a bad year, it’s worth 10-to-one. A good year? 25-to-one or more. And that’s just direct savings and winnings. Add discovering a plus-EV game you hit a royal on, or in my case 4OAKs, and I’ll take that bet all day long.
Anyway, I stopped by Silver Sevens for their little free play re-sign offer, the MRB 3 to 1 on your first natural blackjack and free-gift MRB.
Back at home I got what I call a “non-offer.” Two “comped” nights (Sun-Thurs.). The resort fee? $42.50. Please. That’s not a comp. Play $20 and get $5, but it takes two days to load? Sigh … Please work on those, Mr. Sevens.
Now here’s a good offer, Plaza’s 2026 deal: 26% off room rates, $26 free bet, and $26 food credit. And great games.
Also, their $125 all-inclusive is back. Room (with no resort fee), breakfast and dinner, unlimited drinks. Add a slew of MRBs. And bingo is back up to $160,000 monthly. Once again, it “Pays to Play at Plaza.”
Now about something “hinky” (apologies to Tommy Lee Jones) in sports betting
A hypothetical question. Of all the adults you know, how many are legally betting sports? Your mom? Your dentist? The barista?
The December numbers in North Carolina, $665 million, in a month, stunned me. SEVEN BILLION in 2025? Our state transportation budget is $5 billion. $2.2 million a day? Who are these people? With approximately eight million adults, EVERY ADULT wagers $850 a year?
Then I looked at New York. Double that. $1,700 a year per adult.
How many people have sports betting accounts? How many people are in the target population, male 21 to 40? The closer I looked, the higher the per-person number went up. A lot. Frankly I find this odd.
Either a smaller group is betting astronomical amounts or these numbers don’t make sense.
That tsunami of money funneling through legal sports betting? The states and sports books don’t want to kill the golden goose, tens of millions in taxes and profits every month.
How would you launder through this method? Pay individuals for cover accounts? Cash through legal sports books? That’s tough. There are some holes, but the process requires real ID verification, even geolocation, and I’ve written how closely they monitor advantage account activity. But let’s say you could set up cover accounts, run money through, and lose only, say, 15%? From a laundering perspective, that’s not bad.
I’m just having a very hard time accepting that either everyone is betting or some folks are betting huge amounts. Or is it something Hinky?
The numbers just don’t make sense. Your thoughts. Please.