Trying to help the gaming industry get its arms around the onslaught of sports betting, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming did a consumer survey of the newly legitimate recreation. “For all of the hype surrounding the spread of regulated sportsbooks, there’s still a massive amount of ambiguity around how Americans will actually interact with legal sports betting,” said agency co-director Chris Grove. Eilers & Krejcik surveyed 3,000 people, covering “hundreds of data points” on the sports betting issue.
For instance, 93% of respondents had bet on the NFL at some point in the past year. Only 45% are
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Boston Globe is already tossing around the ‘S’ word—saturation. Saying that casino executives might not like hearing it, the paper rejoined, “They had better get used to it.” University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley professor and casino boffin Clyde Barrow said the saturation mark is hit when slot revenues fall below $200 win/slot/day on average. MGM Springfield has been below that metric for two months, which both Encore and Plainridge Park exceed, the latter quite easily.
allow the Nugget to take bets on any NBA games that don’t involve Fertitta’s Houston Rockets. In essence, the bill “would permit anyone who owns 10 percent or more of a professional sports team to accept bets on games within their league, as long as it doesn’t include the team they own.” Those are the same rules under which Tilman rolls in Las Vegas. They passed out of the New Jersey Lege with only one vote recorded in opposition.
million in tax revenue from sports wagers—a ludicrous figure—and got $2 million. Bay State lawmakers are not only sobered by the dose of economic reality, they can’t decide whether to allow betting on collegiate sports, whether to run online betting through the state lottery and how to shut down the illegal betting market, 
CEO Anthony Rodio‘s 
hasn’t been made but the tribe is mulling it more seriously than at any time previous. “Over 184 years ago, our ancestors bargained for a guarantee that we would always have a voice in the Congress. It is time for the United States to uphold its end of the bargain,” proclaimed Principal Chief John Hoskin Jr. (We agree.) If it does, the 300,000-strong Cherokee would join Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands in have delegates who can vote in committee but not on the floor.
of that was driven by good slot winnings, 6.5% higher on 5.5% more coin-in. Table games other than baccarat rose 5% on 6.5% higher wagering. Downtown ($52.5 million) jumped 7.5%—this market has made a really impressive comeback—while North Las Vegas was flat at $27 million. The Boulder Strip ($82 million) grew 4% and miscellaneous Clark County had a 3% uptick to $103.5 million. Laughlin bounced 6% to $44 million, Lake Tahoe vaulted 17% to $35 million and Reno picked up a percentage point to finish at $57 million.
smaller and smaller slice of the casin0-revene pie. Also, Convention Center Drive isn’t exactly a hotbed of casinos, so the no-gaming option seems right for this Las Vegas backwater. Says developer Lorenzo Doumani, “It is time for Las Vegas to provide a luxury option for those who visit our city who want something that is non-gaming.” Now, one could argue that if you don’t want gambling, why are you coming to Las Vegas? Or, if you want luxury without gaming, why not stay at Vdara?
buried is American Magline, deserted by both Rep. Dina Titus (D) and then-Sen. Harry Reid (D), who took $45 million in federal funding with him. As the most expensive of the three rival trains—$12 billion—the maglev proposal always had the steepest grade to climb. Another project, Xpress West, previously known as Desert Xpress, was bought by Florida-based Brightline, which in turn was invested in by Sir Richard Branson, who will market the company as Virgin Trains.
(surprisingly) lost money, then turned profitable. Others, like Resorts Atlantic City, were just making ends meet. Still others, like Harrah’s Resort, were doing respectably and Borgata was making money hand over first. Ocean Casino Resort was the only bleeding red ink all year to date. (Guess they’re not going to build that second hotel tower after all.) For the industry as a whole, 
O’Connell and associates “want to rewrite the rule book to suit their needs.” That means, among other things, investing far less than the statutory $500 million minimum—more like $300 million. The polyglot project would also incorporate a thoroughbred racetrack and minor-league baseball park. With a handwave, O’Connell declares the enabling legislation 
city started issued a request for proposals. Osaka still has plenty of interested parties, led by MGM Resorts International/Orix—remember, Japan wants to see a high level of Nipponese ownership in these casinos—Wynn Resorts, Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Resorts & Entertainment. For reasons best known to himself, Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson didn’t like the prospective ROI in Osaka. As for getting the most bang for his buck, “We think an investment in Tokyo or Yokohama gives us the best opportunity to do exactly that.”
screw you. In defense of the hoteliers, they need to pay for the “amenity creep” in hotel rooms (think of all those HDTVs) and—in the Las Vegas market in particular—must combat the downward pressure on room rates exerted by online travel agencies. Las Vegas Advisor Publisher Anthony Curtis touches a salient nerve when he says, “By raising the rates using resort fees, those additional revenues are not subject to the OTA commission. It’s dual purpose in Las Vegas: First to keep the rates down and second to keep more of their own revenue without having to duke it [out] to their online travel partners.” The impact on customers seems to be, at best, a secondary consideration.
staggering by the revelation that the $1.2 billion cost had ballooned to $1.7 billion. To put that in perspective, MGM Resorts International spent only $375 million to construct T-Mobile Arena. Or, put another way, you could build four T-Mobiles for the cost of Sheldon’s Sphere and still have hundreds of millions left over. “MSG plans to open the high-tech Las Vegas venue in 2021. It will host concerts, product launches, award shows and sporting events and feature an interior display the size of three football fields,” reported Bloomberg. Still, think of the possibilities: Sheldon Adelson’s noggin projected on a screen hundreds of feet high. The horror.
investigate the deal and, more specifically,