Trends, News & Interesting Reads

As the World Cup moves into its third week of the five-week festivities, the betting activities are cranking up even higher. You don't have to be a professional gambler to have some online Vegas games betting fun by placing some wagers on the games. Here's a short summary of everything that you need to know to join the World Cup frenzy and -- hopefully -- make a few dollars along the way. 

The ink has barely dried on the Supreme Court's recent ruling that overturned the PASPA Congressional Act. The Court's ruling allows individual states to legalize sports betting. Multiple states, including New Jersey, which took PASPA to court, and Delaware, which had laid the groundwork for legalized sports betting before the Supreme Court handed down its ruling on  the case in May, have launched sports betting in their states and other states, as well as the Grande Vegas casino, are close behind.

June 2018 marked the first full month of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) in Pennsylvania. The Vegas casino industry's two major players, DraftKings and FanDuel, reported revenues of $673,013 and $632,008 (adjusted to account for the income received after the winnings were distributed). That number accounts for 98 percent of Pennsylvania's entire DFS Vegas games market. 

Daily fantasy sports is now legal in Pennsylvania. DFS has been in a bit of a gray area for a number of years but Pennsylvania has now authorized six fantasy sports sites, including FanDuel and DraftKings, to operate legally. The bill was authorized as part of a larger statewide gaming expansion.

The U.S. and China seem to be steaming toward a full-fledged trade war. If the battle heats up, American casino companies could absorb a good portion of the collateral damage. Mainland China has been the largest source of international travel and travel spending since 2012.

Beijing can easily direct these travelers away from sites that represent the disfavored US government as it uses online Vegas games to reward its friends and punish its enemies.

Now that the general outline of casino regulations has been approved in Japan the ruling Liberal Democrats submitted the IR Implementation Bill for parliament's approval. The introduction of the bill remains a key milestone in Japan’s push for a casino industry.

Key measures of the bill, which would allow for Grande Vegas type casinos to be built in 3 Japanese locations, include requirement of a  ¥6,000 entry fee for residents, a 3% cap on the size of the gaming area within an integrated resort and a 30% flat tax rate on revenue. Japanese citizens will be restricted to three casino visits per week and 10 casino visits per month.

Wynn Resorts has been at the forefront of development throughout the casino world. The fallout from allegations of former CEO and founder Steve Wynn's sexual misconduct with Wynn employees has been hard for the company, causing investigations, losses in earnings and bad press. Now the company seems to be back on track in its leadership role as a provider of Vegas brick-and-mortar and Vegas online events.

The U.S. Supreme Court left standing a Nevada court's ruling that prohibited the casino from forcing dealers to share their tips with supervisors. SCOTUS denied a petition by Wynn Las Vegas to overturn the lower court's ruling that required dealers to share 15 percent of the tips that gamblers leave when they win at their Vegas table and online games. 

As soon as the Supreme Court ruled that Vegas casino style sports betting could be adopted by individual states, gaming commissions in multiple states discussed plans to get started. Some states, such as New Jersey and Delaware, had already passed the legislation that would allow sports betting to take place in their state and were waiting for the formal OK from SCOTUS to get started. Others began the legislative process within weeks of the SCOTUS ruling.

Some of the newest updates in the American sports betting arena include new moves in Mississippi, Kentucky, Illinois, and New York.

A development company owned by James Parrish has announced that it is partnering with Kentucky-based Encompass Develop, Design & Construct to open a casino along the waterfront in Long Beach Mississippi. The plans call for the casino to be built at the site of the old Sav-a-Center grocery store and Kmart with a wide variety of table games, slots and other online Vegas games. 

The 12 acre site is located on a beachfront property on Hwy 90 at 241 East Beach Blvd. As soon as the Mississippi Gaming Commission meets in July the partners expect to receive approval to build what will be Long Beach's first casino. 

Artificial intelligence is being used to tackle some of the world's biggest challenges, ranging from controlling environmental damages to enhancing the study of computer science, medicine and human resources. It's also used to spur on the development of finance, education, music, customer service, transportation, telecommunications, aviation and health care administration.

In a recent whimsical, yet fascinating application of Artificial Intelligence, Grande Vegas casino players and other poker enthusiasts had an opportunity to observe AI compete in a poker battle with some of the world's best poker champions to test the limits of this mix of technologies.

When people have more pay, they play. That's an old observation about the state of the economy that's as true today as when it was first spoken. Probably the most effective observation point for the American economy is Las Vegas where people take their leisure funds to spend on relaxing accommodations, sightseeing excursions, Vegas casino gambling action and theatre entertainment. 

Observers watch the Las Vegas scene closely to get a sense of the state of the American economy. Some recent observations are discussed here.