We’re far from knowing the full ramifications of widespread sports cancellations and postponements upon the gaming industry. However, 
the impact upon sports betting looks to be deep and dire. Last March, Nevada casinos saw $499 million in handle and $39.5 million in revenues with $349 million of that estimated to have been bet on March Madness—which has been scrapped this year. In New Jersey it was $106 million handle and $10 million revenue. If any other marquee sports events are played, it will not be for months. This causes complications for bettors who already had skin in the games. Disaster set in too quickly for nascent markets like Michigan and Illinois to have been greatly affected but it will be quite another story in established territories.
“Many bettors, especially novices, have been learning the past two days about ‘house rules’ that determine if bets have action or not,” reports VSIN.com. If your bet was graded ‘no action,’ you’re in luck—and in line for a refund. If you’d bet on NBA team wins or baseball MVP (or something else that requires a certain threshold of games played), you could be screwed. Not just yet, but maybe. Unless you bet on the XFL (Why?), now canceled. As Golden Nugget Race & Sports Book Director Tony Miller says, “It’s just a crazy time and we’re trying to deal with it hour to hour like everyone else.”
* Robert Saucier is in the soup with the Nevada Gaming Commission after the Nevada Gaming Control Board recommended denial of his license application, a once-in-a-blue-moon event. His Galaxy Gaming is maker of popular and profitable Nevada 
games like Texas Shootout and Lucky Ladies. But Saucier is trouble wherever he goes, having attempted to penetrate the California gaming industry and being told his application was “a train wreck.” (And that was one of the nicer things he was told.) He was granted a Nevada license conditional on stepping down as CEO of Galaxy. Regulators, however, charge him with having tried to manipulate the composition of the board of directors to his advantage. The hapless Saucier is trying to withdraw his application, which would still enable him to participate financially in Galaxy but the NGCB wants to clamp down on that. We’d say we don’t like Saucier’s chances but, like a bad penny, he keeps coming around.
* Eldorado Resorts stock has been in freefall and this may scare away potential underwriters of its leveraged buyout of Caesars Entertainment. The deal requires Eldorado to borrow nearly $5 billion and Caesars to scare up $2.5 billion. With the gaming industry—including the spokes of Caesars’ hub-and-spoke business model—shutting down faster than we can report, the deal may have too much risk in it for Wall Street‘s stomach. Why lend $7.5 billion to Las Vegas in the teeth of a recession?
* Kudos to Philippines gaming regulator/operator Pagcor for donating $39 million to that country’s anti-coronavirus efforts.
* Clueless headline of the week: “Las Vegas bets on travel deals to keep customers coming.” (Las Vegas Review-Journal) God forbid we should let a pandemic get in the way of the almighty dollar. But don’t take the R-J‘s 
word for it: Caesars Entertainment just sent an e-mail blast to an S&G source advertising discounted rooms at Caesars Palace ($99), Paris-Las Vegas ($59), Bally’s ($35), Planet Hollywood ($59 plus free parking), Nobu Hotel ($129), The Cromwell ($89), Harrah’s Las Vegas ($35), Flamingo Las Vegas ($35), The Linq ($35) and The Rio ($29 plus free parking). We guess you can’t blame Caesars for trying, although those rates aren’t nearly such a bargain once resort fees—some of the highest in Las Vegas—are factored into the equation. Now if they waived the parking and resort fees they might really drum up some business.
