Category Archives: Gambling

It may come as a surprise to find out that it is not on the punters enthusiasm for winning money and getting entertained that drives them to play at a casino. This means casinos cannot only rely on the services they offer to fetch them more customers, but they also must put in extra work by promoting their establishments.

The first casino to operate started business in 1630, in the city of Venice. It was opened to keep gambling indoors, however, it was closed in 1774 and accused by the government for impoverishing punters who risk huge amounts to win free money. Fast-forward to the 20th century, casinos are everywhere even online, and the are legalized in most of the world. For the gambling industry to still be thriving, they must be doing something right. In this article, we are going to give insights on how casinos attract new customers and manage to keep existing members.

Attractive Initial Bonus Offering

It is without that gambling comes with a certain level of risk, but how do casinos get players to ignore this risk and wager with them for the first time? Rewards have proven irresistible for many punters. Sometimes the only motivation players need is the possibility of winning money with little money or the possibility of not needing to wager anything. Both online and land-based casinos offer bonus money to their newly registered players to encourage them to start playing. Some punters even dedicate time to hunt for casinos with the best welcome bonus. However, casinos are very much aware that once the bonuses are exhausted, players are more likely to continue playing with their own money.

For players looking for quality Online Casino Games UK with the best welcome bonuses, there are various options to choose from. These casinos offer the best incentives that allow their customers to get a good feel of the casino before they start spending their money. Punters are however advised to go for bonuses with fair wagering requirements.

Incentives for Existing Customers

Asides the welcome bonus targeted at first-time players; casinos know they have to their customers interested to continue making a profit. The sign-up bonus will only get players through the door but will certainly not keep them. Therefore, there is a need to have a proper reward system in place, such that existing members gain reward as they continue to wager. Sometimes casinos create a loyalty club that gives players incentives for every time they play. Most casinos have VIP clubs to cater to punters who wager in huge amounts, the rewards are always attractive, so these players have more reasons to continue playing. Free spins, deposit bonuses, multipliers, and match bonuses go a long way in retaining the interest of customers when it comes to online real money gaming.

Targeting Specific Audience

Gambling establishment have found out that it is much easier to target a specific group of audience when promoting their business. If their target audience is millennials, they know the best place to find them is on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Many casinos create social media campaigns to reach these demographics and infuse a responsible gambling message to advise controlled gambling.

Observing the Competition

One of the best ways to stay in business is by looking at competitions and planning on ways to outperform them. It is no surprise casinos adopt similar business strategies. Once a casino has observed that a strategy works great for the competition, it adopts a similar model and improves on it to gain attention and ultimately, more profit.

Cross-promotion

To broaden their appeal, casinos also take their time to analyse certain demographics apart from the ones they are used to servicing. They adopt cross-promotion with other brands and seek for new customers via various platforms.

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Customers Attraction In The Gambling Industry Fingerlakes1.com - fingerlakes1.com

The Las Vegas Strip, the neon-lighted gambling capital of the U.S., has essentially been shut down since mid-March, a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet casino operators arent all created equal. For investors looking to bet on a recovery in gambling in the age of Covid-19, there may be an opportunity: regional casinos.

Boyd Gaming (ticker: BYD), in particular, appears to be well positioned for investors who are willing to be patient. It faces the same near-term hurdles as most gambling companies, but Boyd is helped by a geographically diversified portfolio of 29 properties across 10 states and sufficient financial flexibility.

You have to look past 2021 to a more normalized 22, says David Baron, a portfolio manager at Baron Asset Management.

The small-cap stock, recently at about $17, has been cut in half since the S&P 500 index peaked on Feb. 19 amid concerns that include when casinos will reopen and how full they will be in a world of social distancing.

The regional casinos are going to recover faster than Vegas because they are drive-to markets versus fly-to markets.

The company, based in Las Vegas and whose largest shareholder is co-founder and Executive Chairman William Boyd, hopes to reopen its casinos gradually on a scaled-down basis starting later this month or in early June.

Whenever these casinos do reopen, Boyd and other regional players will have some advantages over those with large footprints in Las Vegas.

For one thing, regional casinos draw customers from their local areas, typically within roughly 30 miles of the property, says Thomas Allen, an analyst at Morgan Stanley. A casinos proximity to its customers should be an advantage as air travel remains largely shunned.

*Since S&P 500 peak on 2/19/20; **As of Dec. 31.

Sources: Bloomberg, company reports

The regional casinos are going to recover faster than Vegas because they are drive-to markets versus fly-to markets, he says. And they are driven more by gamblers, instead of discretionary vacationers.

Nearly half of the visitors to Sin City traveled by air in 2018, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. And 20% of those guests were international.

Unlike Las Vegasoriented companieswhich draw customers for restaurants, shopping, and entertainment, in addition to gamblingBoyd is much more of a direct play on gambling. Last year, 75% of its revenue came from gambling, with most of that coming from slots.

Another card Boyd and its peers can play is that their casinos are much less reliant on convention and group business than Las Vegas is.

Not everything is going Boyds way, however. Slot players tend to be older, Allen says, and may be more reluctant to go out and do leisure activities during a time when we are recovering from Covid-19 and before we have a vaccine.

Another worry is Boyds heavy debt load, which stood at $4.4 billion as of March 31 against $831 million of cashincluding $670 million it drew down on a revolving credit facility.

To save cash, the company has furloughed most of its 24,000-plus employees, suspended dividends and buybacks, and reduced its capital spending, among other steps.

The company said during its first-quarter earnings call late last month that its burning about $60 million of cash a month, a rate that looks manageable if business starts to resume later this spring or this summer.

The company didnt make its CEO, Keith Smith, available for this article.

Another factor for investors to consider: Casinos wont operate at full capacity when they reopen.

Its safe to assume you will see 40% to 50% of machines on the floor shut off for social distancing, says Carlos Santarelli, an analyst at Deutsche Bank who has a Buy rating on Boyd.

Still, this doesnt necessarily spell trouble for regional casinos.

In a recent note, Harry Curtis of Instinet said, Casinos will not reopen unless they can be cash flow positive from day one. He observed that the two highest line costs, labor and marketing, should be well below 2019 levels at the outset.

Boyds operations are split into three segments, two of which involve Las Vegas. One is hotels and casinos in downtown Las Vegas, north of the Strip. That segment relies on customers who fly in from Hawaii. But it accounted for only 6% of the companys 2019 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and rents, or Ebitdar.

That weakness could be offset in part by Boyds casinos that cater to Las Vegas locals. These properties, which are off the Strip, accounted for nearly 30% of 2019 Ebitdar. Thats a market that should do better than the Strip, Allen says.

The third part of Boyds business is its regional casinos that stretch across nine states in the Midwest and South, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri. That unit contributed about two-thirds of 2019 Ebitdar.

One advantage Boyd has is that it owns most of its properties, meaning that it doesnt have to pay that much rent. This should give the company more financial flexibility if conditions deteriorate and it has to sell some properties and lease them back, an approach that rival regional operator Penn National Gaming (PENN) has used a lot more.

Santarelli of Deutsche Bank expects casino operators to struggle in the near term. Boyd, though, stands out as a name I dont think needs a lot to go right for the shares to be materially higher.

His 12-month price target: $22.

Write to Lawrence C. Strauss at lawrence.strauss@barrons.com

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Boyd Gaming Stock Is a Good Bet on a Recovery in Gambling - Barron's

By: James Colgan May 8, 2020

While it'd be fitting to play the gambling game "Chicago" on one of the area's gems (like Medinah Country Club, pictured), this is a perfect game for golfers of all origins.

Getty Images

Golfs obsession with going low can be exhausting. Sure, its great in theory. But in practice, it seems there are far more golfers struggling to break three digits than are regularly breaking 70.

Wouldnt it be nice to be rewarded for having a score higher than your playing partners? We asked the same question, which led us to this weeks golf gambling format, Chicago.

The object of Chicago is to have the highest overall score in your foursome or on your team. Scores are determined not by counting strokes but by assigning a specific point value to your outcome on a hole (bogeys are worth one point, pars are worth two, etc.). At the end of the round, the one with the highest point total wins. It is very much like your classic Stableford, but check Rule 3 for a key difference.

1. Money: Before the round begins, each player contributes a set amount of money to the pot (anywhere from $1-$20 per player is more than enough). The money from the pot is then split into two lump sums, one to be given to the highest-scoring team, another to be given to the highest-scoring individual player.

2. Scoring: Bogeys are one point, pars are two points, birdies are four points, eagles and better are worth eight points.

3. Handicapping: Golfers start their scores in the negatives. A scratch golfer or better begins their round with a score of -40, a 1-handicap, -39, and so forth. 35-handicaps or higher begin with a score of -5.

4. Playing: Tee off and keep your score by writing your point value for the hole. At the end of the round, add together the point total with your pre-round score to get your overall point total. Combine your overall score with the other players in your foursome for your team score.

5. The Goal: Players should aim to tally the highest score possible. The better their round, the higher their overall point total. Generally, the line of demarcation between successful and unsuccessful rounds in this format is crossing the barrier into positive points. If your final score is positive, youve given your team a good chance to contend.

6. The Final Tally: Each foursome tees off and plays their respective round. At the end of the round, each foursome tallies up their overall score. The team with the highest score and the player with the highest score then split the pot.

Chicago is great for those still shaking the rust off after a long winter, or who just want to focus on the positives in their round (and forget the snowmen). If youve got enough players, it can also prove to be a lucrative format, regardless of your handicap. If you enjoy good golf (and detest blow-up holes), Chicago is the perfect gambling format for you.

Got an awesome golf game you want to see highlighted by us? Send your suggestions to james_colgan@golf.com.

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Go low? Nope, in this clever golf gambling game the goal is to go high - Golf.com

Back in March, before a worldwide health crisis upended his industry, the sports bettor widely known as Spanky traveled to Boston for the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. After attending panels and conversing with speakers each day, hed head to the same cigar bar every night, blissfully unaware of the ramifications his unwind time would soon yield.

The consequences revealed themselves on March 12, as the leagues that hosted the games that Spanky bet on started to shut down at the exact same time his body didand for the same reason. Pain shot through his stomach, sides and lower back. His shoulders and neck ached without end. He lost his sense of smell and taste, suffered from headaches, fought full-body cramps and registered a high fever. I didnt know if I was going to make it, says Spanky (full name: Gadoon Kyrollos). He sent text messages to his doctor that grew increasingly urgent, asking whether he needed to call an ambulanceand this personal hell lasted for more than two weeks.

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated; Frank Taddeo (ticket)

Spanky was eventually diagnosed with COVID-19, the now infamous and ubiquitous respiratory virus. Everyone who hung out in that cigar bar got it. Spanky did recover, but his industry, like so many other industries, did not. In the weeks after the conference, Spanky would put most of his sizable operation on holdwith a staff that helped him find betting opportunities, write computer programs to analyze markets and make wagers, the total well into seven figures. He would watch the sportsbooks in Las Vegas, where gamblers can place bets and watch games in person, close for the first time since they opened.

He would see other, less sophisticated gamblers pivot to wagering on the weather (the over-under on the high temperature), the rare and obscure sports leagues that still held games (Belarusian soccer, anyone?), the various stock indexes (an over-under on the S&P 500), politicians (who would win the Democratic nomination), documentaries like Tiger King (which actors would play which characters in the movie version) and television shows like Top Chef (where contestants would pack their knives and go on any given week). His office would sit empty. His four children would attend virtual schools. He would laugh at the experts selling their favorite Belarusian soccer picks. And, with an eye to the future, he would spend his postrecovery days writing code, examining the market for inefficiencies, preparing for when the games return and the action resumes at something much closer to full volume.

Spanky knew that sports gambling was a multibillion-dollar industry growing at an accelerated pace; he saw state after state consider legalization and watched as legal betting moved beyond Las Vegas and into every corner of the country, from New Jersey to Arkansas to Oregon. Books were opening in casinos, hiring employees, adding payroll, poised to capitalize on a surge in cashat least until COVID-19 hit sports gamblers with the worst kind of beat. To understand what happened, start with characters involved, from the people who make the odds to those who run betting websites to the bettors themselves. All have spent the past two months considering the same question as Spanky: What does sports betting look like without sports?

* * *

Jay Kornegay stood there, at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, where he works as the executive vice president in charge of the sportsbook. He stood there, looking up at the 240-foot-wide video screen that normally plays sports highlights 24/7 and watched as all the lights went out for the first time. His place of business had never actually closed before; the doors there didnt even lock. And he wondered: Just how had he ended up there, a casino executive inside a casino that had gone dark and silent?

Nobody saw the widespread shutdown coming. Not the total stop for major sports. Not the hiatus that lasted weeks, then stretched into months. Certainly not how dramatically the sports-gambling world would change overnight for people like Kornegay. Every year, his same group of friends gathers for the Mountain West basketball tournament, this March included. He had seen some reports about the novel coronavirus and its spread through Asia, but thought little of the future impact, at least until reports of an infected guest at the Mirage, the same hotel where his friends stayed on their trip.

Belarusian soccer is one of the few professional sports still going.

Natalia Fedosenko/TASS/Getty Images

The next week, starting on Monday, March 9, another group of friends flew in for the Pac-12 tournament. But this time, as panic spread along with the virus, Kornegay turned down their offer to sit courtside. What happened next remains a blur: Officials canceled that tournament, all major sports leagues shut down and his staff of oddsmakers was forced to scramble for offerings in places like Australian rules football, Russian hockey playoffs, minor league soccer and professional table tenniswhile many of those leagues halted their own schedules as soon as or even before his odds went up. After a little less than a week, we just shut down our book, he says. It wasnt worth it; we were scrambling for crumbs. When Nevada ordered all casinos to close on March 17, Westgate also shuttered its mobile betting app.

The shutdown happened at the worst possible time for sports gamblers and the various entities that take their money. Most estimates, like those from the American Gaming Association, place the amount wagered on the NCAA tournament in the neighborhood of $8.5 billion, accounting for a larger handle than the Super Bowl. And: Since sports betting was legalized in more states this year, with added books in casinos and apps where consumers could wager on sports like college basketball, many believed the industry could have collected its highest-ever windfall, with states taking in a record in corresponding tax revenue.

Instead, in the weeks that followed, the casinos and their books remained closed. Kornegay sometimes came in for work anyway. He knew there were other people physically inside the building, whether managers or engineers or executives. Its just that, in a place that was once always packedoverflowing day and night for years on end with revelers drinking and smoking and spending money and losing money, the space brightly lit even at 4 a.m.Kornegay never saw another person. Every room, every floor, every parking garage he walked through was empty. Everything was different.

* * *

There is a professional gambler who lives in Las Vegas and gambles on sports and plays in high stakes fantasy sports leagues and says things like I could never be a normal person. Well call him Uncle Tony, trading anonymity for candor. His life these past two monthsthe bets he made before the shutdown, what he pivoted into and the madness he took note of but left aloneserve as an approximate for sports bettors everywhere this spring.

The canceled slips might hurt the most. Uncle Tony had placed NCAA tournament champion futures wagers on both Dayton (at 35 to 1) and Baylor (15 to 1) before both teams emerged as front-runners. He often did well in March, winning thousands of dollars, sometimes even six figures, betting on games throughout the tourney, increasing the amount he wagered while on hot streaks. A couple of years back, he correctly picked 25 winners in 28 plays, netting his largest March bounty ever, more than $100,000 in a matter of weeks, just like that. This year: zero bets, zero winners. All the air came out of me, he says. It was like a flat tire.

Headlines about the industry were salaciousbettors could shift to simulated contests, meaning approximations of games based on probabilities and rankings rather than ones featuring actual humans, or video game tournaments, or over-under wagers on the high temperature in Las Vegas on a Wednesday. But the idea that sports gamblers had simply shifted into other, wacky bets was misleading, too. The unusual wagers were being offered by offshore sites outside of federal and state-by-state regulations designed to ensure fair markets. And the action that was available in the U.S. for the books that had stayed open (all online) was limited in both what could be offered (leagues that met the regulatory standard) and the amount of money on the line (fractions of normal amounts in play).

Rather than shift, sports betting stalled, especially with the professional set. They dont resemble the caricatures portrayed in movies; shadowy types craving the big score, oblivious to the risk, wagering the family car when they run out of cash (like the movie that Uncle Tony hated, Uncut Gems, which featured those stereotypes on steroids). Real sports bettors like him and Spanky are steeped in methodology, even computer science, and they crave what they call a positive expectation. In Belarusian soccer, there is not enough information and thus no positive expectation and thus no reason to flip a coin against the house and see who wins. Gamblers win when they dont play.

During the shutdown, Uncle Tony has dabbled with some bets on horseracing at tracks that remained open or have reopened, but hes spent more time on the book he hopes to write, an autobiography of a pro gambler, rather than with any bookie. One of his friends claimed to have some insight on lower-tier soccer being played in Mexico. But when Uncle Tony asked for his friends picks that week, five of the six selections lost. Now, he could have had a bad week, Uncle Tony says, but thats why theres not much action.

The NFL draft did create something closer to a sense of normalcy, for the brief three days that the event took place. Bettors could wager on how many running backs would go in Round 1 (one, it turns out), or who would be the second quarterback selected (Tua Tagovailoa, to the Dolphins at Pick 5). But the overall take was described by several people in the industry as not in the same universe as a normal year, with revenue failing to cover basic operational expenses, like the salaries of employees who run websites, set odds, run the books or work in them. So, yes, players could bet on chess, checkers and TV shows like Ozark (who would die and when). But those were novelty bets, not serious ones, catering more to degenerate gamblers or adrenaline junkies looking for a rush rather than real pros.

* * *

Ray Marino is laughing on the phone from Costa Rica. Hes the head trader for live U.S. wagering at the sports betting websitebookmaker.eu, and, as he details the turn his industry has taken, hes watching actual human beings wager on a simulation of a football game thats not being played. Its insane, he says from his home office, his setup for the last 45 days. The blinking screens in front of him are proof that while sports betting may have stalled, it has neverand perhaps will nevertruly stop.

Most days, in most years, Marino would set up in his tropical office around 7:30 a.m. and stay for as long as the heavy action lasts. His crew would deal live U.S. sports, the typical stuff, baseball and football and basketball, depending on the season. In recent days, hes considered placing odds on bitcoin, while pivoting to others areasesports, computerized simulations done by third parties and stock market exchangeshe never expected to grow like they have in 2020. Were not trying to make any profit now, Marino says. But the action thats going on is mind-blowing. The average total bets on a simulated football game in April rose near or surpassed the average typical take for an early-season Major League Baseball contest, which Marino estimates at $150,000.

In one of Wednesday's Madden simulations on Twitch, the Lions +6 was an easy winner, and a 56-yard pass interference penalty as time expired made Detroit money-line bettors (+170) happy as well.

I have no clue how to trade this stuff, Marino says, adding that some staff members are studying up on obscure sports leagues, like pro table tennis, while others scrutinize the early action, then adjust the lines based on what bets are coming in. The new process has forced some unexpected tweaks. Like how late-game clock management is worse in computer simulations of games than real ones. Or how the Dolphins own the worst collective ratings for his simulations but tend to pull off more upsets than their lowly ranked counterparts. In fact, as Marino laughed over the phone, Miami took a 7-0 lead over New England in a simulation on his site, after the line had closed at +14.

Marino says he isnt worried about nefarious activity in these simulations, which are run by a third party that offers them for football, basketball and hockey. Its harder to trade live for them, he says, because they move much more quickly, with only a five-minute break at the half. He worries more about the perception that these games will be fixed.

Overall, Marino estimates that the revenue his company collects is about 10% to 15% of what they were taking in before the major sports shut down. This is never going to replace real sports, but its something we can do for now, to give people their fix, he says. Its sick! Were talking about the strengths of virtual teams right now! But this is the current landscape. Were throwing s--- at the wall and hoping something sticks.

As long as we dont get killed, he says, Ill consider it a success.

* * *

Everyone in the gambling industry realizes that theyre not alone, that COVID-19 shut down way more than just the sports that people wager on, that while top bettors are built to withstand six-figure downswings, most sportsbook employees and workers at the betting sites have lost their jobs. Many immersed in the industry, like Joe Asher, CEO of one of the worlds largest bookmakers in William Hill, live in Las Vegas, a desert oasis built on tourists, conventions and casino revenue. Until theres a widespread vaccine available, Asher says, its hard to even consider when the Strip might begin to reopen, let alone recover. Its going to be a tough 2020, for sure, he says. But this is bigger than our industry.

William Hill remains openonline, anywaywith offerings stretching from sumo wrestling in Japan to baseball in Nicaragua to those now famous footballers in Belarus. Theyre losing money, Asher says, but thats balanced by staying in the market, being in touch with customers and giving them welcomed distractions from the chaos of the larger world. Look, we really have nothing to complain about, Asher says. The real people on the front lines of this are working in hospitals. Were all in awe of their courage, and we should be embarrassed they dont have the proper equipment. Im not feeling sorry for myself at all.

Asher felt more for the more than 600 workers he had to furlough. His company created a charitable organization for those workers, the William Hill Foundation, with the money raised being funneled directly to those impacted. Asher donated all his salary this year to the fund.

Hes not alone in considering the impact on sports gambling as less important than the toll this health crisis has exacted on the world. Professional sports bettor Rufus Peabody was concerned about the rapid changes in his industry, all the states legalizing sports betting, the various legislative bodies involvedand the public health crisis has only reinforced his desire to help shape the industry when it returns. That impact will be bigger than just wagers, too.

Peabody had started to help form an American Bettors Coalition to give people like himself a voice in all the changes, combatting, he says, blatant and unethical behavior by operators, especially in states where legislators knew little about sports gambling. In a more ideal world, bettors, rather than lobbyists, would educate new operators. Having the interests of bettors adequately represented will be good for the ecosystem long term, he says.

Peabody had to pause that pursuit when sports ended and the world changed and he was diagnosed as COVID-19 positive. His symptoms werent as bad as Spankyshe experienced a headache behind his eyes, a minor fever and some unusual shifts in his sense of taste, like the good bottle of wine that he mistook for rubbing alcoholbut he likely passed the disease at the cigar bar in Boston.

Like Spanky, Peabody pretty much stopped betting, save for one Outlaw Tour golf tournament. He built a spreadsheet, scraping minitour data back to 2015, creating power rankings. He bet $13,000 and lost $5K. So while hes down roughly $3 million to $5 million in volume this spring due to the PGA Tour stoppage, its pretty easy, he says, not to lose more than he would otherwise. Im trying to focus on things that give me purpose, he says, like the future of his industry.

* * *

Captain Jack Andrews saw the disruption coming back in February, at a ski trip in California for fellow sports bettors where no one actually skis. Most of their conversations centered on the novel coronavirus and how quickly and far it might spread. People were saying how bad it was going to be, that it could be crippling, he says. Then, it was like someone just turned off the faucet.

Like his fellow pros, Andrews pivoted away from most of his bets. He had wanted to film educational videos about sports gambling for years and now, suddenly, he had the time to try a new pursuit. He signed up for the webcast option on Zoom and started working on his editing skills, filming videoslike one with Spanky and Peabodyand dispensing them on YouTube.

This pivot allowed Captain Jack to not only look toward the future of his industry but to influence it. Hes not trying, at this point, to make money off his segments. He is looking to help stabilize the market, introduce new bettors to the industry and make sure more casual ones continue to wager on the same events as he does. They become a sustainable part of the economy, Captain Jack says. I need people who are putting money in the market, so that I can take that money out when I win bets.

While that happens, Captain Jack has also spent time fine-tuning his models, like his fellow pros. He has studied which NFL teams might be most impacted by a shorter or nonexistent offseason program, like those with new quarterbacks or offensive coordinators or changes in their schemes. For every project that helps to illuminate his future there are several others that lead nowhere. But Captain Jack is pointed forward, to when sports return, to what the market might look like and how he might best exploit it. Theres a secret sauce to how sports betting works, he says. Its not guys in a back office setting a line and then the world betting into it with half on one side and half on the other. What really happens is theres a line put out there, and the sharp bettors bet into it, and the line moves based on their action. If, as he believes, the pros have sharpened their respective approaches, then the market should also be sharper and thus more efficient when games come back.

Theyre all grappling with the same uncertain future. Captain Jack believes that many of the new sports books will fail without customers. He wonders if states in need of revenue will be more likely to embrace legalization.

Kornegay, who runs the Westgate sports book, says theres no playbook to reopen a casino. It will have to be done in phases. How far apart can people sit? How many gamblers can occupy any one table? Its hard to put too much stock into any scenario, he says, because two days later everything changes again.

Marino, the trader offering bets on simulated games in Costa Rica, wonders how he might handle all the action if so many sportsbaseball, basketball and footballall return at the same time. He worries about the more responsible bettors, too, many of whom will have lost much of their discretionary income. Perhaps their $200 bets will become $50 ones. Or maybe theyll stop betting entirely for now. The percentage of professional players to non-pros will go up for sure, he says.

Spanky and Peabody, both now recovered from the virus, plan to jump back in like Captain Jack once the real action resumes. What we all want is for sports betting in the U.S. to be successful and sustainable long-term, Peabody says. That looks less like the stereotype, the degenerate gambler in the smoky room, and less like the current landscape, with wacky bets and furloughed workers. It looks more like what sports betting is poised to become: a widespread, heavily regulated, multibillion-dollar industry. At least once sports return.

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The World of Sports Betting in a World Without Sports - Sports Illustrated

Michael Jordan will forever be celebrated for the remarkable feats he achieved during his legendary career.

However, his greatness was often accompanied by several controversies, perhaps none bigger than the connection between his supposed gambling problem and the murder of his father, James Jordan Sr. in 1993.

Long-time sports journalist Andrea Kremer delved into this sensitive issue during the latest episode of ESPNs The Last Dance docu-series which aired on Sunday.

Kremer, who was working for ESPN as a correspondent in 1993, added more fuel to the longstanding rumor that Jordans first retirement from basketball was a secret suspension from then-commissioner David Stern.

Look at some of the events that recently happened: His father was tragically murdered. Theres a number of questions about his gambling. You start to connect some dots and you think: Is this all related? Was this a secret suspension? Kremer claimed.

Michael Jordans world was turned upside down on August 3, 1993 when James Jordans body was recovered in a swamp in McColl, South Carolina. The elder Jordan went missing since July 23 of that year.

MJ was extremely close to his parents, who served as his ultimate support system during his transition from college to the pros.

Back when His Airness dealt with public backlash from his trip to Atlantic City during the 1993 playoffs, it was his father who dealt with the unwanted media attention from the press.

Daniel Andre Green and Larry Martin Demery would be later charged for his murder. However, the events that led to his gruesome murder remains uncertain to this day.

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Andrea Kremer discusses rumor that Michael Jordans gambling was connected to his fathers death - ClutchPoints

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "The South African Gambling Industry in South Africa 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

South Africa's gambling industry reported mixed results last year. While the casino segment continued to generate the lion's share of total gross gambling revenue, its market share declined markedly as bingo, betting and limited payout machines became popular. Online gambling had been increasingly taking share from on-the-ground casinos and other betting outlets. Although casinos generated higher revenues than other forms of gambling, the National Lottery attracted the highest number of players.

Coronavirus: Horse racing and sports events have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely since the coronavirus outbreak, and totalisators, casinos, bingo halls and other gambling establishments have been closed until further notice. While the traditional gambling industry is facing unparalleled losses, online gambling sites have reported a surge in activity since the national lockdown came into effect on 27 March 2020. While online casinos worldwide have reported a sharp increase in gambling, as lockdown periods are extended and financial stresses intensify, analysts say that people may become increasingly hesitant to spend money on non-essential pastimes, such as gambling. There are also concerns about the slow resumption of business at casinos once the lockdown ends.

This report on the South African Gambling Industry includes comprehensive information on the sector and its subsectors including the lottery, casinos, limited payout machines, bingo and betting including betting on horse racing. There are profiles of 21 companies and national and provincial gambling boards in the sector. Profiled companies include major players such as Tsogo Sun, which completed the unbundling of its hotel division and Sun International, which announced plans to increase its holding in hotel and casino resort Sibaya. Others include Ithuba, which manages the lottery and Phumelela Gaming and Leisure, a major player in horse racing.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Description of the Industry

2.1. Industry Value Chain

2.2. Geographic Position

3. Size of the Industry

4. State of the Industry

4.1. Local

4.1.1. Corporate Actions

4.1.2. Regulations

4.1.3. Enterprise Development and Social Economic Development

4.2. Continental

4.3. International

5. Influencing Factors

5.1. Economic Environment

5.2. Illicit Gambling, Fraud and other Criminal Activities

5.3. Regulatory Uncertainty

5.4. Rising Operational Costs

5.5. Technology, Research and Development (R&D) and Innovation

5.6. Negative Social Consequences of Gambling

5.7. Labour

5.8. Environmental Concerns

6. Competition

6.1. Barriers to Entry

7. SWOT Analysis

8. Outlook

9. Industry Associations

10. References

10.1. Publications

10.2. Websites

Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/yo00j9

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The South African Gambling Industry 2020: How COVID-19 Lock-Down Has Affected the Industry - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

Seventy percent of former gambling addicts said they would have wagered away the new coronavirus emergency cash payouts if they had received the cash before they had overcome their addictions, a survey showed.

The results of the survey, released May 8 by the Society Concerned About the Gambling Addiction, a Tokyo public interest incorporated association, showed that people with a gambling problem might use the moneyto feed their addictions.

The government decided last month to issue lump sum payments of 100,000 yen ($937) to every man, woman and child, as well as foreign residents, to help them weather the health crisis.

I am concerned about a possible backlash from people who had refrained from gambling, said Noriko Tanaka, president of the society. If gambling venues are open again and they have the cash to spend, some may go on wagering sprees.

Pachinko parlors and other venues have been asked by local authorities to shut down to help stem the spread of the pandemic after the government declared a state of emergency last month.

But in areas with a small number of confirmed infections, some pachinko parlors and gambling venues have reopened.

In the survey, conducted on the internet on May 6-7, thesociety received responses from 216 former gambling addicts who are involved in the societys activities.

Asked about the emergency payout to each person, 47 percent replied that they would have used the 100,000 yen for gambling if they received it while they still were addicted.

Twenty-three percent said they would have gambled away the handouts for them and even for their family members if they received the cash while they still had an addiction.

When asked what they would have done if pachinko parlors in their neighborhood had been closed, 60 percent said they would have looked for similar establishments open in other prefectures.

Originally posted here:

Survey: 70% of ex-gamblers see cash handouts as money to wager : The Asahi Shimbun - Asahi Shimbun

Karthik Subbaraman

The novel coronavirus-led lockdown in India has provoked severe withdrawal symptoms among those denied their daily tipple and hapless state governments denied revenue from sale of liquor. Despite loud protestations about morality and public good, most state governments could not wait to profit once again from this vice. Likewise, governments are greedily watching the till as desperate smokers return to puffing to their hearts content and lungs discontent. Millions more are back to chewing gutka while ravenous state governments count the rupees.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), state excise duty on alcohol accounts for 10-15 percent of tax revenue for most states and is the second or third-biggest source of tax revenue. (Bihar and Gujarat prohibit the sale of liquor). Governments are said to to collect more than Rs 40,000 crore year from the sale of tobacco products.

There is another (arguably) less harmful private vice gambling and betting (the terms will be used interchangeably here) for the government to profit from. With India poised for record low economic growth and tax collections, there is no better time than now to legalise, organise and profit from an activity that Indians incontrovertibly love: gambling.

Hard to say because the industry operates mostly underground. A report some five years ago by the Doha-based non-profit International Centre for Sport Security estimated that the illegal betting market in India was worth $150 billion, or nearly 10 lakh crore at the exchange rate that prevailed then. In 2016, Indias GDP was about $2 trillion. In other words, turnover from illegal gambling and betting was estimated at 7.5 percent of GDP.

In five years, gambling and betting have no doubt grown rapidly, but let us assume that Rs 10 lakh crore is the total turnover. Now, if we were to assume a turnover tax of 10 percent, the potential revenue would be Rs 1 lakh crore, or about the same as Goods & Services Tax (GST) collection in a good month. The assumptions are broad, but not outlandish.

For actual numbers, let us consider estimates from France. The French government expects to earn 586 million euro (1 euro equals nearly Rs 82) from sports betting in 2020, 420 million euro from betting on horse races, 66 million euro from poker, 787 million euro from taxes on casinos and 2.48 billion euro from the national lottery and gaming operator La Franaise des Jeux (which was privatised in late 2019). Of course, these are pre-coronavirus estimates, but this is what a normal year would look like. The above figures work out to about Rs 35,000 crore.

Other than trackside betting on horse races, some states also allow lotteries. Kerala, for example, earned Rs 1,273 crore in tax revenue from its state-run lottery in 2019-20. Lotteries are taxed at 28 percent nationwide from March 1. Goa, Sikkim and Daman & Diu permit gambling at casinos. Fantasy games are fine, because they are considered games of skill and not chance. Online gaming is the other big growth area. And yes, gambling is a state subject.

India has forced most bettors and bookmakers to ply their trade in dark corners while a vast underground industry thrives with no regulation and no revenue to the government. Even the Law Commission in 2018 recommended permitting regulated gambling to minimise fraud and money-laundering.

There can be no better time than now, when governments are struggling to raise revenue, to legalise gambling. In addition to the money governments stand to make, it is important to rescue the industry from shady operators. Professionalising betting and gambling is the responsibility of the government. Gambling may be immoral and abhorrent, but that is not why it should be illegal. Yudhishthira, who gambled away his kingdom and his wife in the Mahabharat, won the Kurukshetra war and returned as king of Hastinapura and Indraprastha. Why taint mere mortals?

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Interested in Rs 1 lakh-crore tax windfall every year? Legalise gambling - Moneycontrol

NewsA psychologist who works with gambling addicts in Leeds says more needs to be done to tackle the problem which will have worsened under lockdown.

Saturday, 9th May 2020, 6:00 am

Matthew Gaskell from the Northern Gambling Service says a public health approach at government level is the most effective way of tackling what he has branded the hidden addiction.

It comes just days after the UK's biggest gambling firms agreed to remove all TV and radio advertising for games and products during the coronavirus lockdown, and, after the Government wrote to firms asking them to provide regular updates on how they are tackling problem gambling during the lockdown.

Around 30,000 people have a problem gambling addiction in Leeds, latest figures show, and a study by Leeds Beckett University revealed that the city has potentially twice the national average rate of addiction.

Mr Gaskell said it was difficult to get an accurate picture of the situation as there had been no national prevention service since 2010 and researchers were working behind the scenes to conduct a proper survey.

The statistics from Leeds Beckett, which were compiled in 2016, say seven to eight per cent of people in Leeds are classed as problem or at risk gamblers compared to the national average of five to six per cent.

And times such as the coronavirus lockdown and the far-reaching consequences have left people vulnerable and more likely to turn to gambling.

Mr Gaskell explains: Problems with pandemic conditions have a number of risk factors for people. They want to get out of financial problems, there is job insecurity, there is confinement, stress, sometimes there is conflict at home and online gambling is available 24/7.

The way people are gambling is different under the current conditions but when betting shops reopen and sports betting recommences, with football and horse-racing for example, he expects that numbers of people gambling and needing to seek help will spike.

He said: It is quite a complex picture from the data we have got so far. Because there is no land-based sports betting, it means overall gambling rates and revenue have reduced under the pandemic. People that have problems with online gambling, slot machines and casino games, I know that these people are betting and gambling at the same, if not higher, rates.

These are the people that we are worried about. It takes time for harm to develop. People who come to us are a bit further ahead but we expect those gambling online to be more likely to seek help once lockdown is finished.

Although appointments with people already accessing treatment for gambling addiction are continuing via phone or video call, new calls to gambling addiction services across the region are down - which is also being attributed to lockdown and confinement in homes.

The rates of people accessing help are also disproportionate to the extent of the numbers of people who have a gambling addiction, the psychologist warned.

Mr Gaskell said: Calls to treatment clinics and referrals are down and that is the same across other treatment services as well as third sector services.

That is partly because some are unavailable and because people are in their own homes and dont have the privacy to come forward with these problems. Gambling is the hidden addiction.

We have a real problem with treatment prevention. Two per cent (of people with a gambling addiction) are in the treatment system. That needs to be sorted out, we need to encourage people to come forward earlier and to seek the help that is there.

It is so easy to keep it hidden. Drink and drug addiction are more obvious to people around you and gets in the way of functioning. You can have a fairly significant problem and keep functioning and keep it hidden from those closer to you.

The recent playing down of gambling adverts and the banning of credit cards to fund gambling last month shows there is a pressure on the government to address gambling problems but is that enough?

Mr Gaskell added: The gambling industry is worth 151bn a year. There are very sophisticated groups lobbying the government but we need the government to step forward and review the Gambling Act and change the rules and regulations to protect the young and vulnerable.

It is political, the industry is very powerful but we were in this position with tobacco advertising and we have been able to get that off the television and follow a public health approach. That is what is needed with gambling.

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Original post:

'It's a hidden addiction': Psychologist warns of rise in online gambling during Covid-19 lockdown in Leeds - Yorkshire Post

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) may be looking to acquire Wynn Resorts, an analysis by a boutique investment bank and advisory firm for the gaming industry suggests. Union Gaming LLC, in a note published Thursday overnight, cited Okada Manila in the Philippines, Australia-based Crown Resorts, and Wynn Resorts, all three as potential acquisition targets for the Nevada-based casino and hospitality operator.

Im going to add on to our strategic thinking, strategic priorities that we can acquire because most of the other companies dont have the balance sheet that we do, and they dont have the potential market that we doIm now taking on the strategy of both acquiring and building and developing.

Reading between the lines of LVS Chairmans Q1 2020 conference call, Unions analysts come up with three potential acquisition targets as the most suitable regarding LVSs preference for being as close as possible to the Asian client, with special emphasis on the Chinese consumer.

Okada Manila looks like the best bet for LVS to enter its third Asian market, after its presence in Macau and Singapore is now firmly established, with the integrated resort targeting the high-end clients in a market that resembles the early years of Macau. Analysts estimate the property, after the completion of its final hotel tower, would generate around $300 million of EBITDA, enough to attract interest from Las Vegas Sands.

The second mentioned target, Crown Resorts, has high quality assets in a first world market, plenty of owned real estates and some additional development prospects, as well as a solid Chinese VIP junket business, traits that would make it attractive to the ambitions of the 28th in the Forbes 2020 Billionaires list Sheldon Adelson.

Wynn Resorts acquisition, though, would make the most sense from strategic point of view, argue Unions analysts, as it would add $1.6 billion of EBITDA, increase LVSs hotel capacity in Macau with another 2,700 rooms and would create cost synergies both in Macau and in Las Vegas.

Last week, Wynn Resorts President and CFO Craig Billings, announced during an earnings conference call the groups Asian subsidiary, Wynn Macau, was burning a hole in the cash reserves, to the extent of $2-2.5 million per day, due to the slow restart of the industry in the Special Administrative Region of China, still under the grip of travel restrictions. Mr Billings pointed out groups management optimism remained that business would pick up as soon as travel restrictions were lifted.

Wynn Resorts posted its Q1 2020 financial report, reporting a 42% drop in revenue, outlining the significant impact on its operations from the ongoing casino closures due to the health crisis and the measures undertaken to contain the spread of the virus.

During the same conference call Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox stated that the group was not looking into any M&A activities, pointing out the company was looking to utilize its expertise in the development and running of industry-leading assets.

Mr Maddox admitted though, that during these times some really interesting assets could come up and all the strongly positioned in the industry would be looking to take advantage of the strength in their balance sheets. And even if Wynns stock may not be attractive for investor stock portfolios, it may be a great acquisition for a competitor like Las Vegas Sands.

See original here:

LVS May be Considering the Acquisition of Wynn Resorts, Analysts Suggest - GamblingNews.com