Trends, News & Interesting Reads

A debate is brewing in Nevada over whether there’s enough oversight via existing federal harassment rules to prevent sexual harassment in the states’ casinos or whether additional regulations need to be created. It’s no secret that the live casinos have more than their fair share of harassment complaints (while no such issues exist with the online casino), both from staff being harassed by customers and by their own supervisors and by the customers who contend with harassment from other patrons.

The WV Lottery Commission is encouraged by the trend which shows the number and level of wagers rising from week to week. The majority of the action took place at West Virginia’s newest casino, the Hollywood Casino, located at the Charles Town Racetrack.  

The first week’s wagers totaled $457,788 and the amount rose to over $1 million in the 2^nd week and reached almost $2 during the 3^rd week. No data is available to indicate how the numbers break down between the sportsbooks or across individual sports.

The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that states can legislate online casino and live casino sports betting but that doesn’t mean that Congress is turning the field over the states’ legislators totally. In an attempt to place some kind of federal oversight on the new opportunities that sports wagering offers, the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigation is considering ways to limit the states’ independence on gambling issues.

Earnings reports for the second quarter of 2018 weren’t encouraging for Vegas-based online casino and live casino operators. Both MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment reported soft numbers for the period encompassing April, May and June and indications are that the third quarter won’t be much better.

Across Vegas, operators reported declines in their revenue per available room (RevPAR) profits. RevPAR is the most commonly-used metric to assess profitability of Vegas casinos. The second quarter RevPAR showed a 4% decrease in overall Strip occupancy, a 1% decrease in overall visitation and room occupancy and a 3% decrease in convention attendance – of particular concern since convention guests spend significantly more on dining and rooms, even though they tend to spend less time on the gaming floors than other guests. 

Gambling is permitted in all Canadian provinces. The provincial Gambling Corporations control the lotteries, land-based casinos and online casino gaming based on their individual province’s laws and regulations. The variety of casino offerings differs from one province to the next – some provinces offer brick-and-mortar casinos, lotteries, online casino activity, racetracks and other gaming organizations while others feature a more limited menu of gambling options.

Almost as soon as the United States Supreme Court handed down its ruling that allowed individual states to legislate sports betting in their domains, the FanDuel Fantasy Sports Provider started to carve out its piece of the pie. The company has made some valuable partnerships which makes it a logical resource to get sports betting going in the states in which it’s been legalized.

FanDuel’s place as a pioneer in the world of sports betting gives it certain advantages but it also means that it is testing the waters.

Japan is getting ready to move forward with the development of three new casino resorts which were OK’d by Shinzo Abe’s coalition in July. There are still many unanswered questions about how the new bill will actually function. Where will the casinos be built? Will there be an online casino? Who will operate them? How will the government address criminal elements and gambling addictions which are certain to become problematic?

The epicenter of the casino world is shifting. Whereas only a few short decades ago Vegas was the focus of global gambling, new online casino and land-based centers have opened around the world. In the East Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and even Japan are developing casino industries. Macau, however, has become the epicenter of Asian gaming with a multi-billion dollar infrastructure that continues to grow annually. 

Less than 12 months ago Wynn Resorts was rocket by allegations that founder and CEO Steve Wynn had sexually molested women. The story caused stocks to plummet, Wynn to resign and release his stock holdings in the company and officials to launch investigations in multiple locales.

Today however, the company seems stronger than ever. It is expanding land-based and online casino venues in both America and overseas and may even become one of only three selected companies to open the casino entertainment business in the lucrative Japanese market.

Casinos run online Vegas games tournaments for many of their games but the highlight of any casino’s tournament schedule is the poker tournament. If the casino is a big one and if the prizes are major, the tournament may draw the world’s top poker players to the competition. It’s not uncommon for the poker pros to fly from one tournament to the next and the casinos schedule their tournaments to accommodate the big players’ schedules. 

Many amateur poker aficionados pay significant buy-ins for the chance to play with the pros. Usually the opportunity to sit with the world’s top poker players is enough but every once in awhile a newcomer walks away with the grand prize.