Monthly Archives: February 2015

Massachusetts Lottery to replace aging lottery terminals

For 18 years, an unremarkable blue machine has been a fixture at corner convenience stores, its tired keys accepting millions of bets from players hoping a lucky string of numbers – a kid’s birthday, an old address – will just this once bend the rules of probability and change everything. But, with casino gambling coming to Massachusetts, the state lottery is looking to replace the 8,500 aging blue terminals and the massive computer system that processes nearly $5 billion in bets a year.

DJ Chumlee set for Palms spinfest; Elvis' ceiling target practice at Hilton remembered

Austin “Chumlee” Russell arrives at the 2013 Fighters Only World Mixed Martial Arts Awards at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The Kats Report Bureau is Starbucks on West Sahara and Decatur, across the street from where Tower Books & Records was once located at the Wow! retail center.

Politicians have been urged to address the issue of social mobility

The UK could become a “permanently divided nation” unless political leaders commit to measures to reduce poverty and improve social mobility, a major report has found. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission found there was already a postcode lottery, with some parts of the country faring far worse than others in offering educational and employment opportunities.

The Olympic Gamble Arrives…

The Olympic Gamble Arrives…
by Joe Favorito @JoeFav
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The past few weeks have been another whirlwind of activity around the fantasy sports and gaming space. There was the news that European soccer clubs like FC Barcelona were embracing pay fantasy sports more and more, a host of pieces on FanDuel and Draft Kings reporting record quarters for engagement amidst massive marketing, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association held its annual winter meetings, New Jersey politicians continued their amplified fight to bring sports wagering to the Garden State and other places still on the outs with Federal Law, and oh yeah, the State of Nevada finished the process to allow sports wagering on the Olympic Games.
While most of the news was part of the escalating dialogue in the value of fantasy sports as a revenue driver and engagement barometer for casual fans, the Olympic push was a relatively new salvo fired into the sports and gaming world. While it is somewhat ironic that Nevada, the state where lobbyists spend big bucks to keep Federal laws blocking other states to engage in sports wagering, is looking to increase the opportunities on global sport, would look to add international and potentially obscure sports to its wagering platform, the reality is that the petition shows just how much global fantasy and gaming is gaining steam, and consumers are getting more used to gaming as a regular part of their engagement experience.
The Olympic question is interesting for many reasons. The statue right now does not allow wagering on the Games because of “amateurism” and the use of judges who could influence votes, yet there are as many as seven countries in Europe where Olympic wagering is allowed, with no discernable issues. There is also the growing blurring of what is considered amateur in a world where the Olympics have become much more high tech, much more expensive, and much more subsidized by brands and events where athletes get paid…and rightfully so. The amount of security spent on The Games these days’ accounts for all kinds of monitoring in the digital space, so the thought of even more corruption being brought into The Games because of wagering seems to be becoming more and more of a non-issue.
The real intriguing aspect for Olympic gaming is on the fan engagement and revenue side. The IOC is constantly looking to engage a younger audience, one which is digitally savvy and is accustomed to finding new ways to be involved with whatever event they are watching or experiencing, whether that is in entertainment or sport. The gamification of The Games, one where you can, either for dollars or points, better follow athletes and the goings on in sports big and small from hundreds of countries, raises the value and the consciousness of The Games beyond what is done today. On the revenue side, the IOC, always looking for new streams of revenue, can reap huge licensing fees for data to companies who would engage in Olympic gaming and fantasy, an area which professional sports from the Premier League to the NBA and the NHL, are realizing today.
Like with all fantasy and sports wagering issues going on today, for Nevada this will be less about a brick and mortar engagement (although it wouldn’t hurt to have more consumers in a sports book during the dog days of August watching the Rio Games) as it is a play to grab more of the fast-growing global digital space.
The digital gaming space, as the NBA and NHL have now acknowledged with their team and league deals with Fan Duel and Draft Kings, is where the real dollars will be made going forward, and the ability to have that space as an offering to casual Olympic fans makes great sense. Rest assured the major leagues in North America will continue to watch the developments with Nevada and the Olympics, as gaming and gambling continue to be a lucrative, enticing and still controversial engagement point for all.

Las Vegas' The Duck Commander Musical Finds Its Stars on Broadway

Casting has been announced for the stage production of The Duck Commander Musical, based on the popular, yet controversial family from the A&E series “Duck Dynasty.” The Duck Commander will begin previews April 8 at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas with an official opening night set for April 15. The cast will include Broadway actors Mimi Bessette as Miss Kay, Ben Thompson as Willie, Tad Wilson as Phil and Russell Arden Koplin as Missy.

Bill limiting lottery scholarships and boosting prize fund advances in Senate

SANTA FE >> Money from the New Mexico Lottery that is dedicated to college scholarships would be limited to a flat amount under a bill that is headed to the full Senate. The Senate Finance Committee voted 7-2 Thursday night for the measure, which is intended to invigorate lottery ticket sales by pouring more money into prizes and advertising.

Pearson confident after completing restructuring

The U.K. publisher on Friday said it sees sales this year, excluding acquisitions and disposals, increasing for the first time in five years amid a recovery of its core educations markets, including the U.S. The company has also completed a two-year restructuring plan which has hit Pearson’s earnings but saved the business hundreds of millions of dollars. Pearson, which publishes the salmon-colored Financial Times newspaper, said its 2014 net profit fell to GBP470 million from GBP538 million the prior year.

Portugal approves online gambling legislation as casino biz struggles

Portugal’s new online gambling legislation has been approved by the Council of Ministers, needing only the signature of President Aníbal António Cavaco Silva to become law of the land.

The legislation will end the online monopoly of Santa Casa de la Misericordia and allow international companies to apply for online gambling licenses, although it remains to be seen how many companies will be interested. The new regime involves tax rates that have been slammed by many observers are unworkable, particularly a variable tax rate on sports betting turnover of between 8% and 16%.

Online casino and poker are to be taxed at 15% of gross gaming revenue if an operator’s annual income is less than €5m. The rate rises 3% for every €1m in income over €5m, capping at 30% once annual income hits €10m.

The country hopes this new regime will generate €25m annually for the government’s tax coffers. But PricewaterhouseCoopers analysts have suggested the betting turnover tax could cause up to 80% of licensed operators to quit the market in the first year, and that could reduce the country’s online tax revenue by €20m over the first three years.

Turismo de Portugal, a branch of the Ministry of Finance, will oversee the new online gambling regime. The country hopes to issue the first online licenses before the year is through. Interested operators will have to pony up a security bond of €500k before their application will be accepted.

PORTUGAL’S CASINO TAX HELL

Illegal online gambling is being cited as one of the culprits behind a 33% decline in Portuguese land-based gaming revenue over the past six years. Local newspaper Público says casino revenue fell 2% in 2014 to €267m from a high of €381m in 2008, the year the global economy collapsed.

Act 218 scraps lottery panel

With no fanfare, Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday afternoon privately signed into law legislation abolishing the nine-member Arkansas Lottery Commission and placing his administration in control of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. The Office of the Arkansas Lottery is now under the state Department of Finance and Administration’s Management Services Division.

Weekly Poll- Will Loretta Lynch reverse 2011 DOJ’s 1961 Wire Act’s opinion once confirmed as attorney general?

Take Our Poll

President Obama’s pick to serve as the next attorney general, Loretta Lynch, is having a hard time finding Republican supporters. She expressed her stance about Justice Department’s 2011opinion, saying that she will unlikely reverse it, which is why we decided to ask our readers, “Will Loretta Lynch reverse 2011 DOJ’s 1961 Wire Act’s opinion once confirmed as attorney general?”

55% said, “No” while 45% voted “Yes.”

During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary last month, Lynch was asked by Sen Lindsey Graham her familiarity with 2011 DOJ opinion that reinterpreted the Interstate Wire Act of 1961. Lynch initially said that she was familiar with the opinion but hadn’t studied it in detail, but in a follow-up written response, she said that, if confirmed, she would unlikely reverse DOJ’s current opinion of RAWA.

Despite having different opinion on topics such as online gambling and legality of the president’s executive action on immigration from Republicans, Lynch’s nomination got still got approved on Thursday, with a 12-8 votes, advancing her nomination to the full Senate.