The Delaware casino that is land-based happens to be hit hard by increased competition from brand new markets in neighboring states, as the newer and shinier casinos of Pennsylvania and Maryland outperform its three struggling, and highly taxed, racinos.
Dover Downs is Delaware’s biggest and only publicly traded racino, but high domestic taxes and increased competition over the state line means crisis for the property and the state’s two other racinos.
The sector, which comprises Harrington Raceway, Dover Downs, and Delaware Park, peaked in 2006, the Pennsylvania began issuing its first casino licenses, when slot revenues hit more than $650 million year. By 2016, slots and table revenues combined had plunged to $398 million.
Meanwhile, outfall from the new MGM nationwide Harbor, which started in Maryland late last year, stands poised to be the final nail in the coffin. That property caused other casinos in Maryland and West Virginia to ramp up their own marketing drives, drawing even more customers away from Delaware’s ailing properties.
The three racinos cannot compete simply because they spend higher state taxes than their counterparts across the border, and they are begging legislators for help.
Taxed From the Market
This week, the Delaware’s Video Lottery Advisory Council (VLAC) met to discuss the status of Diamond State’s three casinos. The council is tasked with advising government policy on gambling and could urge lawmakers to pass a casino relief measure.
However the racinos will have to wait. VLAC will perhaps not publish its guidelines before the fall, and until then, it’s keeping tight-lipped.
Legislation that could have provided relief by producing advertising and capital credits, while quashing the table game fee and lowering the taxation rate on table games, received shrift that is short the typical Assembly in 2015 and 2016.
Begging for a Lifeline
A large budget deficit has made it difficult for a bill advocating tax relief to gain much traction while there is sympathy for the racinos’ plight in the legislature. Nevertheless, something has to be done, says Ed Sutor, president and CEO of Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, as he urged VLAC to put the racinos a lifeline.
Sutor told the Delaware State News that a concession that is simple could be easily enacted is to permit the racinos to work on Christmas and Easter, which would make a calculated $2.25 million more.
‘We’re the casinos that are only the country that shut down completely on Easter and Christmas,’ said Sutor. ‘We can’t throw in the towel, folks, so we can’t sit out another year of not doing anything.’
Impossible Odds? Betting Sites Offer Lines on Political, Celebrity Absurdity
Political betting markets are doing their best to stay relevant because the highly engaging 2016 campaign that is presidential by providing online bettors unique lines on activities that seem to have little chance of occurring.
Lines on Kid Rock while The Rock’s future in government are two markets to be had at political betting websites. (Image: Terry Renna/Associated Press/WWE/Collage by Casino.org)
From Kid Rock’s operating for the United States Senate to talk of The Rock building a serious bid for the White home in 2020, political betting networks are trying to keep a connection between celebrity entertainment and influence that is political. It undoubtedly worked in 2016 with Donald Trump.
Betting on governmental results is illegal throughout the United States (also in vegas), but American politics is a popular wager that is exotic Europe and elsewhere on earth.
PredictIt.org provides change wagering, which is really a slightly different variant of wager that trades stocks in genuine time on predicted outcomes of political events. (Exchanges charge a commission on trades instead of establishing odds.)
Kid Rock for Senate?
Musician and avid Trump supporter Kid Rock has recently teased a bid to run for Michigan’s US Senate chair in 2018 against incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow (D). However, betting money is currently against Rock officially operating.
PredictIt shares of Kid Rock, aka Robert Ritchie, running are selling for 40 cents, while no, he won’t run shares are at 60 cents. Carrying out a tweet in early July from rap star that revealed a yard indication reading ‘Kid Rock for all of us Senate,’ shares claim that is laying the concept which he would indeed run soared to 70 cents.
Rock implemented the image with a statement of political philosophy that read, ‘I believe if you work your butt off and pay taxes, you must be able to easily navigate the laws, income tax codes, wellness care, and other things the government puts in place that affects us all.’
The 46-year-old singer from Michigan has never run for or held elected office, but that did not stop the present president that is american. Ritchie apparently has yet to file official campaign paperwork, however, which undoubtedly factors into why the PredictIt line remains open.
President The Rock
Bettors, of program, have to be cautious not to ever confuse Kid Rock with The Rock. PredictIt is asking whether actor Dwayne Johnson will throw his name in to the ring for the presidency that is US 2020.
A campaign committee called ‘Run the Rock 2020’ recently did file paperwork with the Federal Election Committee, which appeared like a larger action in a direction that is serious. The Rock, nonetheless, isn’t actually behind the organization attempting to elect him. It’s instead the ongoing work of a fan who simply hopes he’ll run.
Even though the seed’s been planted, enthusiasm for a Rock presidency is rather low on PredictIt. Shares that Johnson will run are trading for 25 cents, while owning ‘no’ will cost you three quarters.
PredictIt’s willingness to own market on Johnson despite his public declaration that he is not even considering a 2020 run recommend that celebrity lines with without any possibility of striking are a revenue that is popular for the exchange.
ElectionBettingOdds.com, meanwhile, gives the actor a 3.5 percent chance of actually winning the White House, comparable odds it offers for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who can turn 35, the age that is minimum allowed for A us president by the Constitution, in 2019.
What Hath Paddy Energy Wrought
Sites and markets such as PredictIt may be seeing the value of offering opportunities for wagering on wishful thinking and irrational fears, but really they truly are just following in the footsteps of Paddy Power.
The infamous Irish bookmaker set the standard for allowing people to bet the unthinkable, at one time asking clients whether or not then-President Barack Obama would be assassinated.
Paddy Power’s current odds on the winner of the 2020 election feature Trump as the favorite (2-1), followed by Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and current Vice President Mike Pence at 15-2.
But a slew of ridiculous names are included on the odds sheet. Leonardo DiCaprio (80-1), Kanye West (100-1), Beyoncé (200-1), fictional House of Cards president Kevin Spacey (200-1), and Kim Kardashian (275-1) are just a couple of the picks available for those who think they could see something in an longshot that is extreme.
Macau Police Bust Scam ‘Pop Up’ VIP Casino Op
Director of Judiciary Police Chau Wai Kuong said that gaming related crime in the gambling hub remained ‘serious’ despite the apparent economic recovery. (Image: Macau Constant Times)
Macau authorities have busted a bogus ‘pop-up’ VIP casino racket that bilked high-rollers out of millions in presumably baccarat that is crooked, according to the South China Morning Post.
The police research began in after a man told authorities he had been defrauded of HK$4 million (around $500,000) june.
Officers through the Judiciary Police raided an unidentified hotel in the gambling hub on Wednesday, arresting 15 men and four women, all from the Chinese mainland.
They have been accused of luring high-rollers to hotel rooms that your gang had gone to elaborate lengths to disguise as genuine VIP rooms.
Ruse Meticulously Planned
Police said the ruse, which was indeed in operation since 2015, was intricately prepared and executed, with members of the gang posing as dealers, VIP hosts, VIP room operators, protection guards and shill gamblers in order to trick their victim.
Four ‘customers’ were based in the process of being scammed when authorities swooped on according to Macau’s public broadcaster, TDM wednesday.
A lot more than HK$75 million ($9.6 million) worth of gaming chips were available at the scene. While reports didn’t specify, it’s likely these were ‘rolling chips,’ non-redeemable tokens issued to high rollers by casino as credit to gamble with, in place of the type of chips that may be exchanged directly for cash. HK$200,000 in difficult currency was also seized, around US$25,600.
The suspects, aged between 35 and 53, are dealing with numerous charges, ranging from fraud to managing a syndicate that is criminal.
Last week, 15 mainlanders had been detained and accused of running a loan-sharking that is high-interest focusing on casino gamblers on the Cotai Strip.
Taking Crime Seriously
Gaming-related crime has risen into the enclave since Beijing’s anti-corruption drive almost 3 years ago. The crackdown on the junket industry has put the squeeze on the gambling hub’s unlawful underbelly, with reports of a increase that is sharp triad-related criminal activity.
Police have said that the number of illegal detentions, which mainly involve the forced collection of gaming debts by loan-sharking triads, are up 11.8 percent year-on-year, after having almost doubled between 2014 and 2015.
‘Although the performance of Macau’s gaming industry has stabilized since the second half of final year, the gaming-related crime situation remains serious,’director of Judiciary Police Chau Wai Kuong said this week in a statement.
‘We have witnessed a boost in the number of situations of unlawful detention related to loan-sharking operations,’ he included. ‘As such, police have strengthened patrols, having detected 20 situations of gaming-related unlawful detention in a single day.’
Macau’s Judiciary Police recorded an overall total of 734 suspected gaming-related crimes in the 1st five months of this 12 months, up by 74 situations weighed against the period that is corresponding of.
Nj’s Chris Christie Urges President Donald Trump and Congress to Support States’ Rights in Online Gaming Battle
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) put his signature on a bill later last week that urges President Donald Trump, members of his administration, and Congress to oppose any legislation that could prohibit individual states from authorizing and regulating gambling that is online.
Nj State Representative Vincent Mazzeo has authored https://1xbetwebsite.ru/ a bill that asks federal leaders to rebel against any measures that will impede states’ right in the gambling that is online, and it’s gained the support of Governor Chris Christie. (Image: Jackie Schear/Press of Atlantic City)
Introduced by State Rep. Vincent Mazzeo (D-Northfield) in January, the resolution that is joint to inform the president and Congress how internet casinos are playing a vital role in the recovery of Atlantic City. Of course, it’s an opinion only and another that holds no given weight, as state governments don’t have any input that is direct federal laws.
The main issue is once again the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), legislation that would reverse a 2011 US Department of Justice opinion that said the longstanding Wire Act applied just to activities betting, and maybe not other types of gambling.
Mazzeo’s resolution explains, ‘Recent federal measures, such as [RAWA], introduced in the 114th Congress, if pursued by the 115th Congress and supported by President Trump and his management, would prohibit the transmission of wire communication of any bet or bet … including internet video gaming.’
A copy of this finalized legislation is being sent to the president, United States House and Senate leaders, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and different other political powers in Washington, DC.
Internet Gaming Wins
Garden State politicians have lots of reason to support Mazzeo’s bill. Atlantic City’s staying seven casino operators are finally posting gains, and online gambling is playing a leading part in the recovery that is fiscal.
Through June, land-based gaming win is up 1.5 percent. However, internet gambling has soared over 28 percent, bringing the casinos’ main point here to 3.5 percent.
Internet gambling has delivered $121.4 million to operators through June, about $26.6 million ahead of where these were this time around year that is last.
‘A federal prohibition against internet gaming would directly and negatively impact brand New Jersey by dismantling the investments that their state and Atlantic City casinos have actually already made,’ Mazzeo explained.
iGaming’s prominent role in revitalizing Atlantic City is excatly why Mazzeo had small trouble in garnering support for the resolution that is joint. Just a single ‘nay’ vote came in from either chamber, State Senator Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) being the lone opponent.
Not Biting
There doesn’t appear to be much enthusiasm in Washington to take up RAWA, or similar gambling legislation that is anti-online. Previous committee hearings in the home and Senate did not change the undeniable fact that most in Congress simply aren’t terribly invested in discussing gaming that is internet at the federal level, a matter that the Republican-controlled Congress would seemingly prefer to leave as much as each state to choose for themselves.
RAWA ended up being introduced into their particular chambers by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah that is former). It’s mostly thought that those actions came at the behest of Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, A gop that is powerful financier has made it his life’s work to block iGaming.
After lingering for just two years, RAWA has not been re-introduced to Congress for its 115th session.
Scott Blumstein Wins $8.15M at World Series of Poker Main Event with Three-Outer on River
Scott Blumstein, a 25-year-old medium stakes poker pro from New Jersey, made a decision to play his first World number of Poker tournament a couple of weeks ago, the 2017 Main Event. It turned out to become a pretty decision that is good as late into Saturday night, Blumstein survived an initial industry of over 7,200 entrants to collect $8.15 million plus a jewel-encrusted champ’s bracelet worth another half-million.
WSOP 2017 Main Event winner Scott Blumstein, now in a greater tax bracket he entered the World Series of Poker’s most prestigious tournament two weeks ago, says fame and fortune will not change who he is than he was when. (Image: ABCNews.com)
It was not long after midnight Pacific Time on Sunday morning, readily available 256 of the WSOP Main Event table that is final Blumstein defeated Pennsylvanian Dan Ott to be poker’s “” new world “” champion.
‘I’m still in shock,’ Blumstein told reporters afterwards. ‘ I thought I would get even more emotional that the things I got in real time but it’s just the most useful feeling, I can’t also place it into words.’
First Time’s the Charm
This was the first time Blumstein had ever ventured to the Rio in Las Vegas to play live in a World Series event despite making a living as an online grinder back home in New Jersey.
Utilizing the November Nine concept scrapped in favor of three consecutive sections of final-table play, broadcast with a 30-minute delay by ESPN on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Blumstein began the brand new structure last table with a commanding chip lead. It was a lead he relinquished just once over the course for the match, when jovial crowd favorite and British granddad John Hesp briefly wrestled top spot through the chip-stacking juggernaut.
Hesp busted out in fourth, setting up a final nights three-handed action between Americans Blumstein and Ott, and France’s Benjamin Pollack.
Two Plus Two Equals $8.15 Million
The short-stacked Pollack had everything to gain and was willing to get his chips in and gamble. Ultimately, though, he hit the rail soon after 9 o’clock PT, after some intense three-way action.
Pollack shoved from the button with Q-T, while Ott lived as much as their title, coming over the very best (OTT in poker parlance), re-raising all-in from the blind that is small K-9. Blumstein saw potential to go on it all down right there, and called from he big blind with A-Q. Blumstein was ahead pre-flop, therefore the entire tournament could have ended then and there. Alternatively, a master on the flop tripled-up Ott and sent Pollack to the rails.
The last moment ended up being postponed for the next 60-odd hands, and when it came, it came via a slice of luck for Blumstein, who played sturdily throughout the event that is 10-day. With all the chips going in pre-flop, Ott was ahead with A-9 versus Blumstein’s A-2, but one of three remaining deuces hit in the river, ending the Main Event and assuring Blumstein a spot in poker history.
The champ that is new that, although the cash is nice, it will not alter his lifestyle all that much. The Temple University graduate, whom holds an accounting level, told WSOP officials after their win:
‘Just two weeks ago I was a New Jersey online grinder and nothing has really changed.
