Atlantic City‘s Golden Nugget has been on the outside of NBA betting, looking in. But that may change if Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signs what might be called the ‘Tilman Fertitta Act.’ It would 
allow the Nugget to take bets on any NBA games that don’t involve Fertitta’s Houston Rockets. In essence, the bill “would permit anyone who owns 10 percent or more of a professional sports team to accept bets on games within their league, as long as it doesn’t include the team they own.” Those are the same rules under which Tilman rolls in Las Vegas. They passed out of the New Jersey Lege with only one vote recorded in opposition.
We don’t know if the lack of NBA affiliation hurt the Nugget’s sports book but it sure didn’t help: Revenue was a piddly $163,000, a shadow of the $53 million recorded by FanDuel Sportsbook at the Meadowlands.
* Tim Wilmot has had enough of Del Lago Resort & Casino, in upstate New York. In a surprise move, he’s selling his share to partner Peninsula Pacific. Traffic to the casino had improved 
lately, so Wilmot’s departure took some analysts and others aback. “At the end of the day, it’s difficult to do business in Upstate New York,” complained one local investor. “It’s difficult to do business for many reasons. Taxes are high. Public support is typically light because of the tax breaks that are necessary to develop. And people are just tired.”
Peninsula Pacific Chairman Brent Stevens said all the expected things about growth, commitment, tourism, new revenue, community, etc. Wilmot added “We selected Peninsula Pacific as a partner when the concept of del Lago originated, and we still have full confidence in the leadership.” Reframing expectations toward something realistic would be a good place to start leading.
* When China wants something, the Philippines listens. The latter is weighing what the adverse economic impact would be if it shut down its Internet-gambling industry, full stop. “What if all of a sudden they decide to pack up and leave? What will be the impact of that on the property sector, also the food industry, the restaurants,” queried governmental official Benjamin Diokno. The problem to date, however, has been an influx from China—enabled, it must be said, by a too-liberal visa-allocation policy.
