WalletHub has been crunching the numbers again and come to the conclusion that Nevada is America‘s most-gaming addicted state. (Utah is the least, while the Silver State is followed by South Dakota, 
Montana, Mississippi and Oregon.) Casino-rich Florida was an incredibly surprising #49, all the more so since most of the states at the bottom of the list were characterized by a paucity or complete absence of casinos, scarcely the case in the Sunshine State. Nevada is tied with Oklahoma and South Dakota for more casinos per capita, leads the nation in casinos per capita (Virginia is at the bottom of these lists but that will change soon) but is passed by Mississippi, Minnesota, Kansas and New Jersey for percentage of adults with a gambling disorder.
In other findings, Rhode Island (#20 overall), Massachusetts (#26), Delaware (#15), Maryland (#19) and West Virginia (#6) all lead the nation in lottery sales, tied for #1. The states with lowest percentage of gambling addicts were Michigan (5), Kentucky, Florida and Connecticut (all at #47), New York and New Mexico (both #43). Illinois and gambling-sparse Hawaii lead the nation in gambling-related arrests, along with Mississippi. Casino-free Tennessee is fourth and Maryland is already fifth. If you want to get away from casino-related crime, move to Washington State, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Nebraska or Kansas, the latter a surprise contender because of its robust gaming industry. Finally, while Nevada is first in problem gambling, it is only 11th in treatment. We can do better than that.
* Pennsylvania casinos should brace for impact: Slot routes at truck stops (43 to start) will go live soon. That means you can stop at the Tic Toc Food Mart in Hermitage and gamble anytime your heart desires. 
The conditions of qualifying for five slots are you “must be situated on at least three acres of land, must be a Pennsylvania Lottery sales agent, must have a convenience store, must have no less than 20 parking spaces for commercial motor vehicles and must have diesel islands for refueling such vehicles.” That’s good news for the Lottery, not so much for the casinos, whose owners have seen the deleterious effects of slot routes in Illinois. We hope Pennsylvania lawmakers know what they’re doing but they’ve been adding gambling capacity at a fairly reckless rate.
* Trade hostilities between the U.S. and China have claimed some collateral damage in the form of high roller reluctance to travel. This is especially true in Australia, where a recovery is predicted to be “a few short months away.” Macquarie Wealth Management analysts write that “with our view that Macau VIP bottoms in the June 2019 quarter, we are optimistic and now forecast a recovery.” That’s music to the ears of companies like Star Entertainment, whose Sydney casino saw a 49% drop in high-roller play. Crown Resorts fared better but still saw a 12% decline over a six-month period. If the Macquarie analysts are right, a VIP turnaround will happen just in the nick of time for Crown’s Barangaroo casino opening in 2021.
