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Caesars Entertainment, aka Eldorado Resorts, has become possessed by the evil spirit of spare-every-expense Columbia Sussex. In one of the most odious of recent cutpurse moves, bartenders have been ordered to short-pour liquor: The ‘new normal’ is .75 ounces per drink, meaning you’ll have to buy more drinks in order to get that buzz going. Caesars has been the prime offender in recent moves such as jacked-up table limits but this story, broken by Vital Vegas, has clearly struck a nerve, going viral in no time flat. (Viral Vegas?) CEO Tom Reeg had already established a reputation for cheeseparing but this move couldn’t have been better designed to alienate customers if he tried. Much more of this and Sin City will lose its cachet as a bargain destination, if it hasn’t already.

To get to the nub of the issue, Linq has essentially halved the amount of liquor that will be poured into your Vodka Cranberry but will of course charge you just as much for it as though it were actually a stiff drink. (It’s 1.25 oz. per pour at MGM Resorts International, in case you wondering.) Vital Vegas paid a visit to Linq and found it in a significantly down-market state: “there were virtually no customers. Entire swaths of table games have been removed and replaced with slot machines. Such moves make some sense given low demand (table games involve much higher labor costs), but even if these changes are temporary, you’d think casinos would want to draw customers, not repel them with weak drinks.” Indeed.

This is where you, Dear Reader, come in. If Caesars hears enough people say that it’s spinach and to Hell with it, it may backpedal and offer some face-saving excuse. If we lie down and take it, 0.75 of booze will become the order of the day within the Roman Empire.

In case you missed it, there was a Super Bowl yesterday and it was about as memorable as the halftime show (i.e., not very). The much-touted, including by us, Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady tilt wasn’t as much of a game as a slaughter, or perhaps seppoku by the Kansas City Chiefs, who shot themselves in the foot at every opportunity. Sports books looked prescient by predicting either the Chiefs to win narrowly or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win big (call it the GOAT Factor). In the end it was Brady who looked 26 years young and Mahomes who did a convincing impersonation of a 43-year-old QB. The Bucs defense was all over K.C. all night, and the Chiefs had no answer for the Cerberus of Brady, Leonard Fournette and Rob Gronkowski. The real winners, however, were gaming stocks, which enjoyed a huge runup prior to battle.

DraftKings and Penn National Gaming led the pack, both surging in value compared to a flat S&P Index. Penn gained 9% last Friday alone. DraftKings’ slew of “something for everyone” prop bets included on one whether a scoring drive would take less time than the singing of the National Anthem. (With Brady at the helm, we’d have taken the under.) It’s not just U.S. stocks that benefited from “the Big Game.” Ireland-based Flutter Entertainment (parent of FanDuel) ascended, as did Canadian Score Media & Gaming. Call it an international phenomenon.

Despite the Chiefs’ sorry showing, TheLines.com already has them favorites to win it all next year. The Chiefs are +550, followed by Tampa Bay and the troubled Green Bay Packers at +950. (After last night we are never betting against Brady again.) Explained analyst Brett Collson, “After Super Bowl LIV and before they signed Tom Brady, the Bucs were +5000 to win the Super Bowl, a bet that would have paid off handsomely. Ultimately a star quarterback is typically the most telling factor in NFL futures betting. To that point, as long as Patrick Mahomes remains healthy, the Chiefs are almost certainly going to remain the betting favorite.” Yes, but will Aaron Rodgers still be in Green Bay, we wonder.

If you fancy a long shot (or believe in divine intervention), the Detroit Lions are +10,000, more distant from the Promised Land than even the New York Jets (+7,000) or incompetent Jacksonville Jaguars (+8,700). The Las Vegas Raiders are +5,200, back there with the Carolina Panthers. Among other teams, oddsmakers like the Baltimore Ravens (+1,300), Los Angeles Rams (ditto), San Francisco 49ers (+1,400) and New Orleans Saints (+1,700) better.

As though the 2020 election were not hugely significant for gaming, 2022 could be bigger still. Sara Slane, late of the American Gaming Association, has fisked the legislative dockets of various and sundry states and found a lengthy laundry list of gaming-expansion proposals, most of which involve—you guessed it—sports betting. To wit …

Florida: A bill has been filed to legalize sports wagers but it would cut out tribal casinos. We doubt this will pass constitutional muster, for a variety of reasons. IGRA mandates that tribes qualify for any form of gambling offered in a state, although Sunshine State proponents argue that sports wagering isn’t a casino game (tell that to Nevada). Also, any gaming expansion has to be voter-approved, although this likely would be.

Kansas: Lawmakers want to allow sports betting—but coupled to casinos, which could have three online skins apiece. Retail wagering would be taxed at 7.5%, online at 10%. FanDuel, Barstool Sports and PointsBet are expected to be the first entrants into the state, to preexisting alliances with Kansas casino owners. Gov. Laura Kelly (D) is opposed.

Alabama: Legislation to allow a state lottery is under discussion but the odds are long.

Washington State: A new bill would deal card rooms and racetracks into sports betting, which is currently exclusive to tribal casinos. Expect Maverick Gaming to put a big push behind this.

Ohio: Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has spoken. “[S]ports betting is coming to Ohio, I suspect, this year. We have people who are betting all the time in Ohio online and they’re going to do this and so allowing us to keep some of this money for education in the state seems to me to make sense.”

Arizona: Sentiment is afoot issuing 20 sports-betting licenses. They would be distributed among Native American tribes, major-league sports teams, NASCAR and the PGA Tour.

Connecticut: Sports-betting bills are at a Mexican standoff between politicians who want them to be a tribal-only proposition and those who’d like OTBs and others in on the action. The chief of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe insists, “We’re on the one-yard line and we just have to punch it in.”

North Dakota: Sports betting faces an uphill climb in the Lege but state Rep. Michael Howe (R) has pitched a bill to put it to a vote of the people. Insists Howe, “the general public would have overwhelming support for sports betting.” Gov. Doug Burgum (R) has declared neutrality.

Mississippi: Retail sports betting has gone well and state Rep. Philip Moran (R) wants to bring it online. He says, “Mississippi has been leaving money on the table by not authorizing online sports wagering, and it is time to modernize Mississippi’s gambling offerings and do what’s best for Mississippians.” Amen, Brother Moran!

Nebraska: Now that casinos are legal in the Cornhusker State, the wall of opposition is crumbling. Two sports-betting bills have been filed in the Lege. One would make it exclusive to the racinos, another would take in online. There’s more tax money to be made from the latter, so its chances are probably better.

New Mexico: A bill has been proposed to allow the state’s five racinos to install table games and add sports betting. Tribes wouldn’t get any of the money, as the games would be owned and operated by the New Mexico Lottery. Argues state Sen. Steven Neville (R), “The benefit to the racetrack is traffic. hey get more people in the facility, they sell a couple beers, they sell a meal or two, and that helps them on their bottom line, but again, the actual gaming itself, those dollars would go to the lottery program.” His logic is difficult to fault.

Jottings: Cancel that passport application to attend London‘s ICE Show, the biggest expo in gaming. It’s been postponed to 2022 … San Diego’s loss is Las Vegas‘ gain: Indian Gaming 2021 has been rebooked for Sin City on July 23-25, health conditions permitting … Add Greektown to the list of Michigan casinos enabled to take sports wagers. It’s the best news Greektown’s had in a long while … One last Super Bowl thought—It will finally shut up those Boston sportswriters who regularly whinge that Tom Brady and Bill Belichik neeeeeeeed each other. Belichik, yes. Brady, not so much.