If you’re Puerto Rico, still—still!—digging out from Hurricane Maria, to expect help from the U.S. government is like waiting for Godot. Except I’ll give odds that Mister Godot shows up first. Making 
necessity the mother of dire invention, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has proposed the legalization of sports betting. It would cover every permutation, including DFS. Keeping his flanks covered, Rossello has commissioned studies by both Spectrum Gaming Group and Innovation Group. The latter projected $29 million in tax revenue in Year One, ramping up to $87 million in 2024. Spectrum foresees a narrower range, beginning at $44 million a year and maxing out at $62 million.
Both surveys assume New Jersey-like numbers with only a fraction of the population. Obviously, if San Juan doesn’t become a sports betting mecca, the colony is in for some severe disappointment. “The legislation will make it possible for Puerto Rico to be marketed nationally and internationally as an attractive destination for the millions of people who bet on gambling,” says Rossello. Given the widespread availability of sports betting, I’m skeptical, if hopeful. If the Lege doesn’t smother the baby in the crib with high tax rates it just might work.
* Las Vegas is hardly an outlier where positive economic returns are concerned. The industry study group STR reports that inventory growth exceeded 2% for the first time in history and RevPar growth in 107 of the last 108 months. (“MGM and CZR noted mid-week/convention periods have been strong, but leisure/weekend demand is still not anything to write home about,” wrote JP Morgan‘s Joseph Greff.) Emergent powerhouses in terms of 
outbound tourists are China and India. However, adverse currency-exchange rates (amount other factors) are muting that trend. Only 11% of international travelers are booking trips to the good old U.S. of A. Those numbers only get worse over time, representing only 3% of U.S. hotel guests by 2o2o. “This is easy money that U.S. hotels are losing,” remarked STR vice president Jan Freitag. “We need to get these travelers in here and take the money, because they want to spend it.” Good news for workers, though: The growth of the industry translates into rising tide of job vacancies to be filed. Strike while the the iron is hot!
* Like Las Vegas Sands, Genting Group has extended its duopoly in Singapore through 2030, through the same combination of promised reinvention and expansion of Resorts World Sentosa. The carrot was “non-gaming investments to build new world-class tourism and MICE 
facilities and attractions, many of which will be first-in-Singapore,” while the stick took the form of The integrated resorts’ investments will enhance the vibrancy and tourism appeal of their offerings to remain competitive with other destinations in the region, and bring in more than half a million additional visitors annually.” And if the 500,000 more visitors per year gaol isn’t reached (which I think it will be), there’s always the unspoken threat of letting someone like Melco Resorts & Entertainment, for example, into the playpen in a decade’s time.
