Adelson rolling in grave; Police blotter

It’s a good thing Sheldon Adelson didn’t live to see this. The First Circuit Court of Appeals quashed a 2019 reinterpretation of the Federal Wire Act by the Justice Department, one that broadly applied it to Internet gambling. The federal court agreed with a New Hampshire one that the Office of Legal Counsel had erred and that the Wire Act only applies to interstate sports betting. The case had been brought by the New Hampshire Lottery “We find the plaintiffs’ claims are justiciable and that the Wire Act applies only to interstate wire communication related to sports events or contests,” sayeth the court. Unless the Joseph Biden administration pursues this to the Supreme Court (highly unlikely), Eric Holder‘s narrow, 2011 interpretation of the Act will stand. In other words, the First Circuit has driven a stake through the heart of the anti-Internet-gaming movement, or what’s left of it.

Were Adelson still around and the First Circuit had upheld the 2019 revision, he wound have found himself in an awkward position. Earlier this week, ace reporter James Rutherford revealed that Las Vegas Sands “was in discussions with potential partners to enter the sports betting business, a move that would take the company down the internet gambling path which Adelson so vehemently opposed.” That would make Adelson even more of a pious fraud than he already was on the Internet issue. It’s a disservice to Sands shareholders that the company has missed the online-sports-betting boat, although it’s in no position to capitalize i-gaming, not after having quit Pennsylvania.

Somebody should mail a copy of Rutherford’s piece to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R). It would come as a shock to Graham that his sugar daddy was playing him for a fool. After all, nobody has carried more water more assiduously for Adelson than Graham has. Even so, he’s in the Senate minority now and never could find many allies in his crusade against i-gaming even on a good day. On that front he is a spent force. No crying towels need be sent to American Gaming Association President Bill Miller, who’s been inching away from Adelson (an AGA outlier) on this matter.

Back when Donald Trump was in the casino business, he said two honest things. That Internet gambling was a multi-billion-dollar business (it is) and that the U.S. should be in it. (It will.) But he sold us down the river to curry Adelson’s political favors, being one of the last politicians to suckle at the LVS teat. As for the Biden administration, it is expected to let the First Circuit opinion become settled precedent simply by doing nothing. Which is as it should be.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and the New York State Lege continue to be at a Mexican standoff on mobile sports betting. Cuomo wants a heavily taxed, state-run monopoly, while lawmakers prefer a moderately taxed free-market approach. (We favor the latter.) Already state Sen. Joseph Addabbo and influential Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D) have lined up against Cuomo. The governor’s previous business model, limiting sports betting to four casinos in Upstate New York, was hilariously impractical. OSB levels the playing field and empowers more New Yorkers. State Budget Director Robert Mujina asserts that Cuomo 2.0 would generate $500 million in taxes while the Lege would garner only a tenth of that amount. Mind you, Mujina’s math is predicated upon $20 billion a year in handle.

“The more companies you have, the more money you make. So if Cuomo wants to get the most he can out of this, he should welcome competition,” Global Market Advisors‘ Steve Gallaway told Global Gaming Business. “With a high tax rate, you guarantee you won’t be able to compete with the illegal guys. And it’s logical to give the licenses to the guys who are already operating in the state, the guys who are regulated, who have the experience and who know the market.” By stifling competition, others argue, Cuomo would smother business and incentivize customers to patronize Lefty in the back alley. Pretlow’s big-tent approach would give horse tracks, OTBs, casinos and sporting arenas a slice of the pie, taxed at 12%. It’s estimated that would generate $79 million in taxes. But Cuomo is both greedy and stubborn. We do not expect him to budge. As they used to say in Brooklyn, in a non-gaming context, wait ’til next year.

Should Covid-19 vaccines be mandatory? If you’re in a customer-facing position in a casino, we think they should be. Nevada gaming regulators are tussling with the question of whether employees will be willing to get vaccinated or not. (This should be a no-brainer.) At the moment, casino workers are in Category Four, behind educators, farm workers and government employees. Still, gaming represents 301,700 arms that need to be pin-pricked. That’s a heavy lift. Reports Vegas Eater, “So far in Nevada, those age 70 and older, Nevada law enforcement, corrections staff, education and childcare workers, social services employees, and public transportation workers can register to receive the vaccination, a two-dose injection from either Moderna and Pfizer.”

If you’re a Joe Average felon and catch Coronavirus in prison, tough luck. But if you’re whale and golf mogul Billy Walters, you get to spend the last 30 months of your five-year sentence in cushy Carlsbad, California, recuperating from Covid-19. Walters, who was convicted of insider trading, was the recipient of a slew of last-minute pardons from the outgoing Trump. To their eternal discredit, both former Sen. Harry Reid (D) and discredited police boss Bernard Kerik shilled for Walters.

A Global Market Advisors panel of experts fears that the Rod Ratcliff scandal could sabotage Indiana‘s chances for i-gaming this year. The former Spectacle Entertainment CEO is battling state regulators’ attempts to dislodge him from ownership of Hard Rock Gary. Ratcliff is under federal indictment for making covert, illegal campaign contributions. Ratcliff, who has put Spectacle under a cloud, has already surrendered his interest in a planned Terre Haute casino. Ratcliff fears that the state has him at a disadvantage, one that would force him to sell his Hard Rock stake for a pittance.

Jottings: PointsBet has been approved to operate in Michigan, bringing the number of OSB operators to 10. The father of Michigan i-gaming, Brandt Iden, has moved from the Legislature to the government-affairs department of SportRadar … Congratulations to The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on its 10th anniversary. It’s been a bumpy ride but you’ve made it … The good news in Macao is that visitation has increased for seven straight months. The not-so-good news is that it’s still 85% off 2019’s pace … Perhaps inspired by the Trump administration’s $2 million economic-development grant to Wendover, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) is on the commercial-diversification hobbyhorse. The Silver State has made valiant efforts in this direction but evidently it’s still not enough. Sisolak called for more clean-energy development and the construction of a ‘blockchain city’ in northern Nevada.