Executives at Mohegan Gaming Entertainment can take a victory lap this morning. Readers of USA Today voted Mohegan Sun the finest casino in America, edging out Caesars Palace for the top spot. 
Bracketing Caesars was another tribal casino, Pechanga Resort & Casino, in California. Another Caesars Entertainment property that is up and coming rapidly, The Cromwell, took the #8 spot. The dark horse on the list, given its small market, was Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, in Sioux City, Iowa. Hard Rock urged its patrons to stuff the ballot box and the lobbying campaign paid off. Just below Hard Rock, in the #10 spot, was Station Casinos‘ flagship property, Red Rock Resort. Other casinos on the list were L’Auberge du Lac (#4), Borgata (a surprisingly low #5), Peppermill Resort Spa Casino, in Reno (a surprisingly high #6) and Foxwoods Resort Casino (lucky #7).
The big takeaway from the survey is that, except for Caesars Entertainment, Las Vegas got skunked. Where is the love for Wynncore, Venelazzo or the plethora of MGM Resorts International properties? Steve Wynn, Sheldon Adelson and Jim Murren all have some soul-searching to do.
* It’s full speed ahead for Desert Diamond Casino, the Trump administration having approved the Tohono O’odham nation’s compact with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R). The federal benediction means that Class III gaming can start (the temporary Desert Diamond facility had been offering 1,089 units of electronic bingo), although one news report says that Vegas-style slots could be months away. Table games probably won’t arrive until the permanent, $400 million Desert Diamond casino is finished in 2019.
At present, gambling is conducted out of a “big box” facility that will eventually be used for back-of-house functions. An imminent change at Desert Diamond will be that alcohol sales can commence. The T-Os, as they’re known locally, will have to build Desert Diamond to last: They’ve agreed not to open any other casinos in the Phoenix area until 2041.
* “Gaming CEO says e-sports a good bet for the future,” quoth the Las Vegas Sun. “Fighting game tournament Evo in Las Vegas questionable on betting,” replies the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The contradictory bulletins reflect the Casino Marketing & Technology Conference, held at Bally’s Las Vegas this week. Downtown Grand CEO Seth Schorr, who’s been the pacesetter on the industry’s tentative embrace of e-sports was the one taking the upbeat view. “I don’t want to be the guy pouring the Kool-Aid and not drinking it,” he told attendees. “But I want to be the long-term guy. If you’re just worrying about the next three years, I wouldn’t even entertain it. But if you’re making games or looking at a longer period, then yes.”
Citing the previously unthinkable, nay, heretical concept of charging for casino parking, Schorr said the rise of e-sports was part of a tectonic shift in all phases of the industry. “If, 10 years ago, we had talked about the nightclub business and someone said we’re going to generate a huge percentage of our revenues — not just revenues but profits — from booze in an industry that traditionally gave away booze to get people to gamble,” Schorr said, “they’d have call that person crazy.”
On the flip side, the Nevada Gaming Control Board was shocked — shocked! — the minors attending the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) were betting on the outcome. Wagers at EVO have been known to go as high as $3,000. “Generally speaking, it is not illegal to wager socially, unless somebody is taking a cut. If anything inappropriate is going on, then we will certainly delve into that very deeply,” said NGCB Chairman A.G. Burnett.
Iowa tourist Renae Bonestroo was indignant to learn that 17-year-old Junior’s hobby was permeated with gambling. Yet she opposed the idea of regulating gambling at e-sports tourneys, unlike referee Nick Nevas, who felt that regulation would bring not only legitimacy but growth to e-sports. While the NGCB is just beginning to examine e-sports proper, it’s wrist-slapped some Internet gaming sites which offered social wagering in return for a rake of the money wagered.
FiveGen CEO Sam McMullen said the horse has already fled the barn, adding, “money matching and internationally formal bookmaking is happening. This wagering presents a huge opportunity for Nevada if we can get our arms around how to make it technologically viable and standardized to be available to a public that clearly wants us to create a way for it to be legal and possible.”
Former EVO hosts such as Station Casinos and Caesars Entertainment ran for the hills when the R-J tried to get them to comment on e-sports wagering, obviously a touchy subject. MGM was slightly flippant, its spokeswoman saying, “We typically don’t monitor the social interactions of our guests.” Since EVO is currently taking place at Mandalay Bay, it may be in MGM’s interest not to know too well what’s happening under the lion’s snout.
The problem with eSports is the incredible amount of match fixing going on. Yes, young people understand how the games are played and often follow the participants like online celebrities even when they aren’t playing in tournaments, but it’s a bunch of people (many of whom aren’t even mature enough yet to be allowed to place a bet in a NV casino) playing for a few hundred thousand dollars here and there, and a million or so dollars for the very largest event. The prize money is absolutely nothing resembling a Floyd Mayweather purse and the Americans who are into seriously into the games are aware of the underground overseas gambling markets.
It would make more sense to bet $10,000 on a legal, regulated casino than a Chinese gray-market gambling site. But the room for participants to go trade wins and intentionally throw is too high for casinos to want to accept high bets on a single outcome.
Vegas Skunked? Paid parking and resort fees are taking it’s toll!