After a year of casino-on-casino violence in Massachusetts, we have a winner: the state lottery. Ticket sales at outlets near Encore Boston Harbor are reported to be up 15%. “I was thinking positive. Because I knew more people would come [to town]. More crowds,” Elm Street Market manager Rajesh Keshar told the Boston Globe. Statewide, sales are up 
incrementally, albeit flat in casino-resident cities like Plainville and Springfield. Heck, even casinos had the foresight to offer lottery-ticket sales. Says Massachusetts Lottery Commission Executive Director Michael Sweeney, “I don’t think it’s had any marginal impact, either negatively or positively.” In other words, lottery players are distinctly different animals from casino ones. Despite much fretting about problem gambling, “Early commission research on gambling and public health around Plainridge [Park] found no significant changes in the number of regular gamblers reporting that the activity has led to problems such as bankruptcy or divorce.” Such (small) lottery declines as have been reported are largely in non-casino burgs. As Providence College casino expert Patrick Kelly put it, “Even if somebody might be inclined to go to a casino, if somebody’s buying a couple lottery tickets a week, they still are going to buy a couple of lottery tickets a week.”
* Macao was described as “a ghost town” over Chinese New Year and while we don’t have the numbers yet they’re not expected to be remotely good. High-double-digit declines are anticipated. “In a nutshell, the impact is far worse than what we expected, especially for the gaming industry, especially in Macao,” Innovation Group Senior Vice President Michael Zhu told Global Gaming Business. “But it’s going to affect every region in Asia, 
and beyond. If a player has to get on a plane to get to a destination, that destination is going to suffer.” “A conservative look at the situation leads one to conclude that it will likely be worse than SARS,” wrote Sanford Bernstein analysts. Stock boffins, meanwhile, continue to worry that casinos will be ordered to close as coronavirus shows no signs of abating. Jetfoils from Hong Kong to Macao have been shut down and junkets from the mainland have been barred. The disease, meanwhile, is overwhelming health infrastructure in Hubei Province, an area whose size GGB compares to the Midwest United States. When will it end? Nomura Instinet analyst Harry Curtis gives it a month. Zhu is more pessimistic, pushing the recovery out until early 3Q20. He explains, “You need the whole situation to subside and then time to readjust to a leisure mindset that will allow those activities to resume.” They will, but not before havoc is wreaked.
* Super Bowl betting results are coming in sooner than expected and big losers are the punters who had Patrick Mahomes rushing for over 27.5 yards. Three victory formations cost Mahomes 15 yards—and cost prop bettors a lot more. “That was close to a six-figure swing,” said Caesars Sportsbook Director of Trading Jeff Davis. It wasn’t 
just Caesars. At William Hill and many other sports books, Mahomes’ over/under on rushing was the most popular prop bet. “Sportsbook PointsBet said there was more than twice as much money bet on the over on Mahomes’ rushing yards as was bet on the under,” reports ESPN. Due to the means by which the over was blown, PointsBet refunded all 30.5 yards-plus wagers, saying, “if there’s been a worse beat on a prop than this one, feel free to let us know!” Also, I may have been wrong and the house cleaned up on the game overall. At least that’s the early word, with Caesars’ Davis calling it a “monster” win. We’ll look forward to seeing what went down. The game was certainly a win for Derek Stevens‘ Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, which packed in 8,500 attendees.
* Caesars Entertainment is changing its comp-drink policy, at least on the Strip. As our source put it, “you want Ketel, you pay, you want well vodka you don’t.” Not even Diamond and Seven Stars members are exempt. Thanks for the heads-up.
* The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino officially closes at 6 p.m. today, according to the latest press release. Time’s a wasting to get in there and grab a souvenir.
* Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is bucking the tide of popular opinion by persisting with casino megaresorts. An Asahi Shimbun poll finds that they have only 20% support amid an ongoing corruption scandal.
* Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt‘s idea of hammering out an agreement is to club his opponent into submission. His latest ploy is to ask a federal judge to shut down Class III gaming in the state. Should he succeed, the affected tribes will not be well-disposed to play softball with Stitt. They can also claim that any agreement reached was done so under duress. We can hardly wait for the next installment of this duel to the death.
* The Chapels at The Pawn will be offering free weddings to active-duty servicemen and -women this coming Fourth of July. I can’t think of a more dignified way to honor our military, can you? Nothing says “patriotic” like getting married next to a pawn shop.
