Atlantic City is getting caught up with customers’ fever for sports betting. Both the Hard Rock Atlantic City and Tropicana have applied for licensure of their sports books. Both are outsourcing the operation of the books. The Trop is going with William Hill, 
while Hard Rock is partnering with (new to me) GiG. At present, the Trop and HRH are asking for transactional waivers, which would permit six months of operation while the formal licensing process moves through channels. The Division of Gaming Enforcement, meanwhile, is preoccupied with cracking down on unauthorized Internet gambling sites in the Garden State. “The illegal market is massive in the United States. And it has been for a long time, stunningly to us,” said the DGE’s David Rebuck.
The DGE is undertaking a herculean task, faced with closing down 108 illegal sites. Talk about cleaning the Augean stables! As for the Hard Rock, it has one local high school in a debt of gratitude, after the casino underwrote a new scoreboard for the Atlantic City Dolphins. The presence of a small Hard Rock logo seems a modest tradeoff for such generosity. HRH execs were “contacted by city officials in the spring to examine the conditions of the youth football field, including leaky ceilings in the field house, rusted goalposts, a cramped concessions area and outdated locker rooms.” That must have been a shocking experience and the Hard Rock was clearly motivated to take action. Although the city was scheduled to underwrite the renovation, Hard Rock stepped up to the plate. Good on them.
Although sports betting and Internet gambling are ramping up nicely in New Jersey, there’s always room for more revenue and e-
sports may hold the key. InGame Esports is lobbying for more events in Atlantic City, although not in casinos. It would prefer 14,770-seat Boardwalk Hall or the convention center. The casinos can’t compare to that in terms of capacity. However, one e-sports tourney has already been held at Harrah’s Resort and Ocean Resort hosted another one last weekend. By next year e-sports is expected to be a $1.25 billion industry and you can the casino business would like a slice of that pie.
* Table-game revenue in Pennsylvania was down last month, declining 4%. Hit particularly hard was Sands Bethlehem ($18.5 million), which tumbled 19%, either playing very unlucky, suffering from Resorts World Catskills competition or — most likely — both. Sands could at least take consolation that it still bested Parx Casino for table win.
* In a move of dubious judiciousness, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun are going to appeal the federal court ruling that scotched their East Windsor satellite casino. By appealing, they open the door to legal intervention by MGM Resorts International. I’m not up to speed on what an MGM victory 
would mean for Connecticut‘s tribal compacts but my gut instinct is that it would be Very Bad News for state revenue collections that lean heavily on the Mohegan and Pequots, and their slot machines. The tribes’ appeal targets Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke (pictured) and a cozy steak dinner he had with MGM’s favorite senator, Dean Heller (R). MGM scoffed at the tribal appeal as being “a student asking for a do-over after failing a test.” As for Zinke, the appointment of a new DoI inspector general, for political reasons, may get him off a quartet of internal-investigation hooks.
* Casino taxes were very good for Macao this year. The enclave has collected a hair under $10 billion. That’s a 16% jump. Casinos pay a 
hefty 39% of gross gaming revenue but you don’t hear them griping about it. The Macanese government is on track to far outpace its (deliberately conservative) revenue projections for 2018. Meanwhile in Malaysia, the rate on taxes paid by Genting Highlands is expected to rise from 25% next month, probably to 30%. However, since the casino holds a Malayan monopoly, investors are bullish on the megaresort’s continued prospects, even if stock markets have reacted negatively.
