Late last week, MGM Resorts International unveiled its plans for a BetMGM-branded sports book at State Farm Stadium in Arizona. No budget was announced for the facility but, given the infinitesimal amount of retail wagering in the Phoenix area, it’s a prestige facility—i.e., a loss-leader. If completed on schedule, it will be the first sports book at an NFL stadium. Like the cost, specific infrastructural details were mostly vague … “massive video wall,” yada, yada, yada. (OK, if you read the fine print, it says 38 TVs spread over 265 square feet.) The book will hold 500 people, have 25-plus freestanding betting kiosks and cover 16,800 square feet. It will be a year-round, day-in/day-out sports book, although it’s an open question over whether that will trump the convenience of online betting. But hey, it looks great:
Congratulations to the Las Vegas Raiders on a gritty—if ultimately futile—playoff appearance, cut short by a Derek Carr interception at the worst possible juncture. Despite the refs’ valiant efforts to throw the game to the Raiders, the Silver & Black couldn’t snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Now owner Mark Davis has an opportunity to turn the page, exorcising the living ghost of scummy Jon Gruden and the latter’s thuggish prize draft picks, Damon Arnette and lethal Henry Ruggs III. Hopefully the 2022 Raiders will be a team one can root for with a clean conscience.
John “Mattress Mack” McIngvale is out $2 million after Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills vaporized his seven-figure bet that the New England Patriots would win the Super Bowl. Too bad for New England that Pop Warner mercy rules didn’t apply, which would have spared them from a 30-point humiliation. In other pigskin odds and ends, Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni tried to motivate his team against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with old Rocky film clips. If he being in the playoffs isn’t motivation enough to win a playoff game … well, what is?
Quote of the Day: “Native American casino operators will undoubtedly bring their unique operating model which focuses more on the long-term benefit of tribal citizens than quarterly results. I think they will give the big, corporate, publicly-held companies a run for their money.”—Industry analyst Josh Swissman on the arrival of tribal-gaming operators on the Las Vegas Strip.
