{"id":29077,"date":"2021-01-11T08:06:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T16:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=29077"},"modified":"2023-09-14T14:03:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T22:03:42","slug":"sports-betting-impresses-in-iowa-harness-racing-resumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/sports-betting-impresses-in-iowa-harness-racing-resumes\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports betting impresses in Iowa; Harness racing resumes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sports betting in Iowa<\/strong> crossed the $100 million threshold in handle last month and that was without some key players like BetMGM<\/strong>, which launched earlier this month. Wagers are expected to vault now that Gov. Kim Reynolds<\/strong>‘ stay on mobile registration has expired. Bookmakers captured $7.5 million on $105 million in bets in December. \u201cWhat Iowa\u2019s sports betting industry has achieved, becoming the seventh-largest market in the U.S., in spite of a significant handicap like in-person registration has been impressive,\u201d said PlayUSA<\/strong> analyst Jessica Welman<\/strong>. 2020 handle reached $575 million despite Reynolds’ restriction and a depleted menu of collegiate and major-league sports. Online wagering is also expected to grow this year from 70.5% of the mix to something like Indiana’s 85%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iowa casinos had a relatively good December, down only 6% for a statewide gross of $121.5 million, driven mainly by a 22% revenue increase at the racinos. Ameristar Council Bluffs<\/strong> grossed $13 million, down 12%, Diamond Jo Dubuque<\/strong> slipped 17% to $5 million and Diamond Jo Worth<\/strong> gained 14% to end at $8 million. Isle Bettendorf<\/strong> grew 12% to $6 million while Isle Waterloo<\/strong> was flat at $7 million. Harrah’s Council Bluffs<\/strong> tumbled 32.5% to $4 million and Horseshoe Casino<\/strong> fell 20% to $13 million. The state’s top grosser was Prairie Meadows<\/strong> racino, plunging 25% to $14 million. The misfortunes of the big dogs were offset by success stories at small casinos that included a 54% moonshot at Rhythm City<\/strong>, closing the month at $10 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Jottings<\/em><\/strong>: The opening of Philadelphia Live<\/strong> is set for January 19th. The Cordish Cos<\/strong>. casino will debut only to invited “Live” cardholders. The general opening will be at an as-yet-unspecified date later this month … Covid-19<\/strong> is resurgent in China<\/strong>, where additional cities have been placed under quarantine. Better put those ‘Macao<\/strong> is back’ stories on hold … Harness racing resumes at Empire City Casino<\/strong> in Yonkers<\/strong> today, albeit without fans. (The meets can be watched online.) 234 days of racing are scheduled. MGM Northfield Park<\/strong> in Ohio<\/strong> launched its 2021 racing season last week, 219 days of racing at (for now) 50% capacity in the stands … Tribal gaming banked a record $34.6 billion in FY2019, led by the Oklahoma City<\/strong> market … Great Canadian Gaming<\/strong> has succumbed to Apollo Management<\/strong>‘s embrace for $2 billion. Let’s hope Apollo doesn’t do to Great Canadian what it did to Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> … Undoubtedly much to Alabama<\/strong> Gov. Kay Ivey<\/strong>‘s dismay, a poll she commissioned showed 67% of her constituents supporting casinos and 71% backing a state lottery. Let’s hope public sentiment translates into votes in the Lege.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports betting in Iowa crossed the $100 million threshold in handle last month and that was without some key players like BetMGM, which launched earlier this month. Wagers are expected to vault now that Gov. Kim Reynolds‘ stay on mobile registration has expired. Bookmakers captured $7.5 million on $105 million in bets in December. \u201cWhat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83928,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1728],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83928"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}