Although Florida voters thought they were cutting the Lege out of gambling legalization, lawmakers may have found a way to weasel their 
way back in, at least as concerns sports betting. The Sunshine State’s constitution now forbids the Lege from involvement in “casino gambling,” but does sports betting fall under that rubric? It’s a bit of hair-splitting sure to wind up in court but, for the moment, it appears to open a path for solons to get back into the act of legalizing and taxing sports wagers. A somewhat roseate projection by the American Gaming Association has Florida booking $110 million in tax revenue from sports betting.
The all-important constitutional amendment putting gambling expansions in the hands of the initiative-and-referendum process fails to include the words “sports betting.” Indeed, gambling was defined as games “typically found in casinos” and sports betting isn’t “typical” in Florida or indeed most of the United States. Framers of the flawed amendment are falling back on the penumbrae of “voter intent” and the “will of the people.” There’s a great deal of legalese on which the inevitable case will turn but it doesn’t look good for either Disney Worldwide Services or the Seminole Tribe, main proponents of Amendment 3. They’ll have to hope that the Legislature continues to trip over its shoelaces where gaming is concerned, and get a move on to try and put sports betting onto the 2020 election ballot.
* Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Galaxy Entertainment can pack up their bags and go home—maybe MGM Resorts International, too. That’s according to Reuters, which picks Genting to either ace MGM for Osaka 
or get a consolation prize in the form of Yokohama. Some of Reuters’ reasoning is solid: Namely, Genting has experience in the strict Singapore casino industry that Japan dearly wants to emulate. However, saying that troubled Resorts World Las Vegas “lends some street credit” is just crackers. (If anything, it exposes Genting’s difficulty finishing a project on time or on budget.) As for Melco and Galaxy getting left out in the cold, that’s attributed to “sometimes tense relations between Tokyo and Beijing.” Perhaps the only operator who can read Reuters and breathe a sigh of relief is Sheldon Adelson, deemed “a shoo-in.”
A second domino has fallen in the evolving Japanese casino scandal. Mikio Shimoji has admitted to accepting a $9,250 bribe from Chinese sports-betting operator 500.com. (The latter’s incentive was to try and get bipartisan political support for adding two more casinos in Japan.) Shimoji took the money from 500.com adviser Masahiko Konno in the form of a campaign contribution. The Japan Innovation Party politician innovatively kept the dough off the books, leading him to say, “It is something that I extremely regret.” It’s amazing how quickly moral clarity comes when you’ve been caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
* Law enforcement in Missouri is trying to crack down on black-market VLTs but could be impeded by Gov. Mike Parson. The latter says he’s unconvinced that the machines, which are unregulated and untaxed, are 
unlawful. The matter hits close to home for Parson, whose native Polk County has seen several indictments, leading prosecutor Ken Ashlock to note the lack of payout requirements and say, “People are just getting cheated on them and they don’t know it.” For his part, Parson points to the machines’ option to view the outcome of a spin in advance, demurring, “We first need to clarify what machines constitute gambling and what machines are video games.” Coincidentally (except that we don’t believe in coincidence), VLT purveyor Torch Electronics pumped $20,000 into Parson’s last election campaign. That’s a lot of nickels. Parson is also tight with Torch lobbyist Steve Tilley, a former consultant. The guv says if people want to outlaw the machines they have to follow the legislative process. That might well happen, although we think solons will succumb to temptation, legalize the VLTs, regulate them and (of course) tax the bejesus out of them.
* Liberty International Airport is one of the sports-betting hubs of New Jersey. And why not put down a wager or three while waiting for your connecting flight? Train stations in cities like Hoboken and Jersey City are also hot spots of mobile wagering, especially fueled by refugees from 
New York State, which has been slow to embrace sports wagering. “On Saturday and Sunday, you see those locations light up,” remarked 888 Holdings‘ Yaniv Sherman. “People are coming in to place bets and traveling back to the city.” That influx has been a boon for transit, not only in terms of traffic but the sports-betting ads that blanket the terminals. You can even take a bus from the Port Authority in Manhattan to the FanDuel sports book at the Meadowlands (above). Mobile wagering is expected to come to Gotham in 2022, so for New Jersey it’s gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
* Mike McCarthy‘s hiring as Dallas Cowboys head coach was a no-brainer … which is a good thing as owner Jerry Jones apparently has no brain. His only other candidate? Former Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, who never won a playoff game in far too many seasons in the Queen City. He made that team what it is today—losers. McCarthy has a frigging Super Bowl win on his resumé—history that Jones would surely love for him to repeat in the Metroplex.
* It’s still too early to place Oscar bets in Atlantic City but my wife—who follows these things more closely than I do—says South Korea‘s Parasite could be this year’s Roma, tipped heavily in multiple categories including Best Picture. (And would you believe Avengers Endgame as a Best Picture nominee? It could happen.) Finally, the Motion Picture Academy is not expected to repeat the Golden Globes‘ snub of Greta Gerwig. If she’s probably an also-ran as Best Director, the statue of Best Adapted Screenplay could easily be within her reach.
