Casino operator Bally’s Corp has struck a deal to build a new Pennsylvania mini-casino, just as the state’s existing gambling venues reopen following their latest pandemic shutdown. 

On Monday, Bally’s (formerly known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings) announced that it had signed a ‘framework agreement’ with real estate developer Ira Lubert, who holds a Pennsylvania Category 4 casino license, to “develop, construct and manage” such a casino within a 15-mile radius of Unionville Borough in Centre County (near Penn State University).  

Bally’s says construction will get underway sometime in H1, with completion expected to take around a year. Once complete, the property will boast up to 750 slot machines and 30 table games, while the partners will also seek the right to launch retail and online sports betting along with online casino products. 

The project will cost around $120m and Bally’s will hold a majority stake in the finished casino, including 100% of its sports betting and iGaming activity. The deal requires the standard regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, but those don’t appear to be in any serious doubt. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

It’s frankly a minor miracle that this college football season made it all the way through with all the coronavirus-related postponements, cancellations and such. However, the College Football Playoff will crown a champion on January 11 from Miami when top-ranked Alabama and No. 3 Ohio State clash. The Tide are listed as 8-point favorites and are 7-2 ATS in their past nine games.

Alabama didn’t cover the spread in the Rose Bowl semifinal against No. 4 Notre Dame, which was a 19-point underdog. The Irish got a “backdoor cover” when Ian Book scored on a 1-yard run with 56 seconds left and the PAT made the final score 31-14 in favor of Nick Saban’s squad.

Tide quarterback Mac Jones and receiver Devonta Smith continued their record-setting seasons as Jones threw for four more touchdowns and had just four incompletions, while Smith caught seven passes for 130 yards and three scores. He leads the nation in catches, receiving yards and receiving TDs and is the heavy favorite to be awarded the Heisman Trophy on Tuesday night. Jones likely will finish second and then both along with star running back Najee Harris are off to the NFL and all three could be first-round picks in April.

Argentina’s largest province has issued seven online gambling licenses, with some major European operators making the grade. 

On New Year’s Eve, the Official Gazette of the province of Buenos Aires published the names of the seven companies granted permission to offer online gambling within its borders. The province opened its licensing derby nearly two years ago and received 19 applications from interested parties, which were then whittled down to 14 finalists. 

The new licensees (along with their local partners) are 888 Holdings, Bet365, Betsson, Intralot, Playtech, The Stars Group (Flutter Entertainment) and William Hill. The partnerships require the local operator to hold a minimum 15% stake in the business. 

Companies not making the grade included Latin American online betting stalwarts Betcris, Betway, Italy’s Sisal and Spanish operators Codere and Luckia. No reasons were provided for why these companies didn’t make the cut. Betsson originally ranked eighth in its application vetting, but was elevated to seventh after Flutter withdrew the application for its Paddy Power Betfair unit following Flutter’s takeover of The Stars Group. 

Getting off to a good start in poker isn’t just a game-by-game ambition, but it’s often a yearly one. By now, we’re sure that  you’ve read our New Year’s Resolutions for 2021. But there’s no two ways about it – an inspiring sentence from your poker hero can underline your aims and dreams and underpin your own ambitions at the felt.  

Let’s kick off 2021 with the words of a player who was tragically taken from us in 2020.  

1.     “The difference between winners and losers in poker is that winners bet most of the times and losers call most of the time.” 

Mike Sexton said a great many meaningful things in his life, but the late, great former partypoker Chairman was spot on here. Make sure that you’re the fisherman not the fish in the next 12 months. Check out Sexton’s play in this great spot in recent times.  

Entain, the gaming company formerly known as GVC Holdings, helped MGM Resorts International get its sports gambling operations off the ground when the two entities partnered to launch BetMGM. They created Roar Digital to spearhead nationwide sportsbook efforts in the U.S. over two years ago and have both continued to open their wallets to help the company expand, but MGM might now think it’s time to take over completely. It is reportedly interested in buying out Entain, but nothing has yet been cemented. 

The Wall Street Journal broke the news yesterday, explaining that it had received confirmation from unnamed sources that MGM was pushing to acquire the company. It reportedly had made an offer of $10 billion to buy Entain, but that offer proved to be less than appealing to its target, and MGM may have returned with a higher bid. That new bid was apparently made possible through some outside help, with InterActiveCorp (IAC) providing the additional support. IAC already owns 12% of MGM.

Entain’s market capitalization sits at around $9 billion and, as most high-profile deals go, anything less than at least one-quarter above that valuation most likely wouldn’t be considered. The Wall Street Journal suggests that the new bid could include both cash and equity, and is substantially more than the previous offer. That offer was based on a price of about $17.56 per Entain share, which, putting things into perspective, is already well above the $15.70 price Entain saw when the markets closed at the end of last week. 

Mergers and acquisitions in the gaming space are expected to pick up over the next couple of years, and Caesars Entertainment is helping set the stage with its acquisition of William Hill. The sports gambling operator partnered with Caesars for the latter’s U.S. sportsbook, and the deal is expected to see Caesars control all U.S. activity while it sells the rest of William Hill’s operations. After finding approval from shareholders, that deal should be wrapped up before the end of June.

Total control of the U.S. congress is up for grabs on January 5 as Georgia goes to the polls, again, and votes for two senators…again. Not having decided on who their senators would be on the November 3 election, the race has been narrowed to two sets of two, and Bodog has odds for everything.

In the first race, unelected incumbent Kelly Loeffler (R) is hoping to hold off Reverend Raphael Warnock. Loeffler got her senate seat in 2019 when Governor Brian Kemp selected her to replace the ailing Johnny Isakson, and has never won an election. Warnock is also running for the first time, but has had a history of political activism, for some of which he’s now being attacked.

During the November 3 vote, Warnock led Loeffler 32.9% to 25.9%, with several other Democratic and Republican candidates splitting the rest of the vote, with Doug Collins notably taking 20% of the Republican vote. The R vote added up to 49.3%, the D vote added up to 48.4%, and the remaining 2.3% going to Green Party and Independent candidates.

In the second race, Senator David Perdue (R) is hoping to beat Jon Ossoff. Ossoff, an investigative journalist previously lost a close race for a congressional seat in 2017, and got 47.9% to Perdue’s 49.7% in the November 3 election, with a Libertarian taking 2.3% of the remaining vote.