Category Archives: Featured

March Madness and MLB Linked by CEO Pool

By Joe Favorito

@joefav

How can baseball benefit from March Madness? It’s In The Pool.

As we head toward the Final Four and Opening Day of Baseball there is an interesting mix we had previously talked about that ties both sports together in an unusual way. At the beginning of March Madness, Bloomberg announced a pool with 32 high level CEO’s each kicking in $10,000, with the winner getting the whole pot, $320,000 to go to a dedicated charity of their choice.

The list of CEO’s ranged from Michael Bloomberg to AOL’s Tim Armstrong, and from the Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio to Under Armour’s Kevin Plank, all chipping in for the cause of their choice. From education to food banks, cancer charities to wrestling programs, the help would be for a wide range of programs.

As we turn the corner and head for home in Indianapolis the Final Four has little Cinderella and lots of favorites, all of which could lead to a compelling finish to a great event at Lucas Oil Stadium. Who in the Bloomberg pool could cash in? One unique mix has baseball potentially benefitting, while the other may have some good karma for basketball and LeBron James.

Gary Cohen, CEO of Goldman Sachs, leads the group with all four of his Final Four intact, but needs Bo Ryan’s Wisconsin Badgers to win it all. If Frank Kaminsky and company make it past Kentucky and through the finals, the windfall would go to HARLEM RBI, the not-for-profit that works with Major League Baseball to grow the game in inner cities.

Cohen’s 144 points places him ahead of Quicken Loans Founder and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers Dan Gilbert, who is second with 139 points and has 3/4’s of the Final Four left. The difference is Gilbert has overwhelming favorite Kentucky winning it all, which would move him to the top spot as he plays for the Children’s Tumor Foundation .

EBay President and CEO John Donahoe is third, with Milwaukee Bucks owner Mark Lasry fourth, although neither appear to have the mix to leapfrog the top two.

On the bottom, keep fretting Lakers fans, as it looks like CEO Jeanie Buss will be bringing up the rear with just 90 points, although she does have Kentucky winning it all. Plank sadly is just ahead of her and with no one left in his Final Four, he may hit bottom as well. All in fun and philanthropy though.

The new concept by Bloomberg could bode well for giving elsewhere as well. How about a Women’s World Cup pool coming up as well, with some global heads putting $10 K in the kitty.

View original Source: Bloomberg’s Brackets for a Cause

Dubai World Cup preview

Dubai World Cup preview
By Jerry Bossert @JerryBossert

Last year, California Chrome took trainer Art Sherman on an incredible journey, traveling across the country, winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, before ending with a fourth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

Now, the 77-year-old trainer has his bags packed again as California Chrome has taking him halfway around the world to Dubai, where he’ll compete in the $10 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race on March 28.

California Chrome drew the outside post in the field of nine and was made the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the mile-and-a-quarter race.

“I call him the California rock star,” Sherman said. “He’s got such a following all over the world. I thought nobody would know in Dubai but from the moment I stepped off the plane, people said ‘there’s California Chrome’s trainer’.”

California Chrome will try to become the third Kentucky Derby winner to win the Dubai World Cup in the race’s 20-year history, joining Silver Charm in 1998 and Animal Kingdom in 2013.

“He’s kind of push button,” Sherman said of the 4-year-old California-bred colt. “He’s not a one-dimensional horse and that’s important. Just keep him in the clear and have a place to go. That’s all I ask.”

California Chrome will once again be ridden by jockey Victory Espinoza, who rode the colt to victories in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness last year.

“By a $2,500 stud out of a maiden $8,000 claiming mare, to come by and win all these races, it gives an incentive to the little guy,” Sherman said. “This is a game where you can buy your way into a lot of things, but we are proof that a dream can happen. You don’t have to be a millionaire or a billionaire to win these kinds of races. In the end, I’d like to leave some sort of legacy with him that says ‘wow, I remember California Chrome, he was a great horse and we had a lot of fun watching him run.”

African Story, who won the World Cup last year, will try to become the first repeat winner of the race and will break from post three looking to give trainer Saeed bin Suroor his seventh win in the World Cup.

Trainer Bill Mott, who saddled Cigar to victory in the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996, is back to try and win his second with Lea, winner of the 2014 Donn Handicap.
“It is great to be back with a serious contender,” Mott said. “We are drawn in the middle (post five) which is perfect.”

My selections: Lea, California Chrome and African Story.
Back in the United States, two important prep races will be held for the Kentucky Derby – the $1 million Florida Derby from Gulfstream Park and the $750,000 Louisiana Derby from the Fair Grounds.

In the Florida Derby, Upstart will try to get back into the winner’s circle after being disqualified from last month’s Fountain of Youth Stakes and placed second.

My selections: Upstart, Materiality and Itsaknockout.

International Star will be the one to beat in the Louisiana Derby seeking his third straight stakes score and is a perfect 2-for-2 over the Fair Grounds surface.

My selections: International Star, Stanford and Mr. Z.

MMA Looks Like It Will Get Its Decision In New York

Joe Favorito @JoeFav

The lone state holdout on Mixed Martial Arts in any form may soon finally be coming to an end after years of debate and millions of dollars spent by the UFC and other organizations lobbying for a decades old ban on the sport.

On Tuesday, The New York State Senate again passed legislation to approve MMA as a professional sport, something which had happened five times prior. The difference this time is that both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie appear to be in support of the bill, one which was fought tooth and nail by former Speaker Sheldon Silver, a fight which the now indicted politician won each time under previous administrations.

The reasons for Silver’s vehemence were widespread; they ranged from lobbyists of boxing working behind the scenes to keep the sport out of one of boxing’s most profitable states to his abhorrence with the violence of MMA (his brother is a prominent physician who has dealt with head trauma and has always been firmly against the brutality of MMA) to frankly, other more pressing issues in the State such as gay marriage and other causes that needed more attention. Still at this point with casinos in the State lobbying to bring in small events, while large venues like First Niagara Arena in Buffalo to Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center in New York to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse all wanting to reap bigger gates and paydays that have gone to Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the time may have come for change.

Mixed Martial Arts in the non-professional sense has thrived in New York for years. There are scores of training centers throughout the state which house not just amateur but professional fighters. The Renzo Gracie Academy just two blocks from MSG has trained UFC star Georges St. Pierre as well as a host of Gracie jiu-jitsu fighters, but their buts usually have been through the Lincoln Tunnel at places like the IZOD Center or the Prudential Center or in Atlantic City. The only full-fledged MMA cards have been in unregulated underground gyms which have catered more to the unfettered violence lawmakers have railed against than the safer and more regulated state controlled events that legal MMA would bring and have brought to virtually every other state across the country.

This week the UFC even brought their latest star, Ronda Rousey to meet with Governor Cuomo and defend her sport. The final holdouts against the bill, which include state Senator Liz Krueger, worry about the sexism and open violence against women that legal MMA would bring to venues, even though the fights are seen in millions of homes across the country and around the world today.

“Having women shown fighting on TV shows that it’s OK for us to be strong,” she said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “It’s OK for us to fight. So much history is being made through MMA for women in sports. It’s a new sport so it’s not really bogged down in tradition the way that a lot of others are.”

The solution she says, is for those who find the fights offensive to simply not watch or buy tickets. Proponents see the legalization of MMA as a huge windfall to venues across the state. However that huge flow of dollars has not held true in many cases. Big fights bring big crowds, and the possibility of a UFC card on Broadway will garner the exposure the sport would love on occasion. However small shows do not regularly outdraw similar boxing events, and the rush to book events with lesser known fighters could backfire in some cases. Regardless, in a free economy the opportunity to create and host events to fill distressed seats and dates in a controlled and sanctioned environment is a good thing for the sport of MMA and for the state of new York, which regardless of successful gates, will reap tax dollars and registration fees for events that are going elsewhere right now.

While MMA is known for its quick endings, this battle in Albany, New York has been a long and bloody one, one which it looks like will finally come to a decision and it will be a good one for a still fast-growing sport popular more with millennials than anyone else. Controversial and entertaining to many MMA is, now with a potential new home not far from Madison Avenue

NFL Opens The Pay Fantasy Door For Teams

Joe Favorito @JoeFav

The end of this week’s NFL meetings in Arizona brought about what could be seen as a big crack in the armor for pay gaming and the gridiron. According to Dan Kaplan of Sports Business Journal, the league will allow daily fantasy deals for one year, formalizing a policy that has been more restrictive than the NHL and NBA and had forced several teams into a difficult situation when looking at new in-market revenue streams. The one year deals with companies like FanDuel and DraftKings will have a one year team opt out according to Kaplan, but will open a door that could be very lucrative for individual clubs, especially given the huge dollars that flow into fantasy football already every year. Which teams will formalize agreements now that the option is open remain to be seen, with one, the New England Patriots Jonathan Kraft’s Kraft Sports Group, having an equity stake in Boston-based Draft Kings.

The announcement in Arizona comes at a time when baseball, also with a small stake in fan Duel through MLB Advanced Media, should also be entering into the daily pay fantasy world more than ever before, although league sources say no deal is imminent as Opening Day comes into view this weekend. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said recently that he felt it was time to take a look at all forms of legal wagering as a revenue stream, echoing the statements that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made in recent months as well.

The NFL meanwhile has been the most silent on any kind of pay fantasy or gambling talk, with its owners most concerned about the ill-will that could be fostered from gambling talk, especially coming off a recent period of negative publicity that has damaged the NFL shield, but not its coffers. Whether one year deals will reap a windfall for fantasy businesses who choose to align themselves with teams remains to be seen, but the amount of money spent in marketing to NFL fans through broadcast and digital buys by the two biggest players in the market was at record levels in the tens of millions last year. Official designations with teams would allow any company to use the marks of their respective partner and could open up digital and in-stadium activation, but without a longer play the company runs a big risk of losing equity should the league change its stance, or create a league-wide partnership beyond 2016.

Regardless, the openness to accept pay fantasy partners is a signal of an acceptance trend that seems to be a long time in coming, and could be yet another escalation in a business, pay fantasy and legalized gambling, which many experts say could be a billion dollar industry within five years

Sportsjam’s Doug Doyle talks with TheDailyPayoff Scandale

The Daily Payoff Co-Founder Frank Scandale

Episode: 2015-03-25. Frank Scandale is the co-founder of The Daily Payoff, a website dedicated to informing the public about the gaming and gambling industry. Scandale, a long-time New York Mets fan, is a former editor with The Record (Bergen County) and The Denver Post.

see more here http://www.wbgo.org/internal/mediaplayer/?device=m&podcastID=6207&type=sportsjam

Rick Horrow the Sports Professor interviews Frank Scandale of TheDailyPayoff.com

Rick Horrow the Sports Professor interviews Frank Scandale of TheDailyPayoff.com – The Daily Payoff is the first U.S.-based platform to cover all business aspects of the gaming and gambling businesses. The site is powered by Sportsblog, the fastest growing independent sports publishing site on the web with over 20 million unique visitors a month

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Sports gambling hot topic in domestic leagues

special thanks to Tanner Simkins @TannerSimkins

From hockey to broadcast to global soccer, the legalization of sports betting in countries and territories where it is not yet legal continues to be a hot topic. While in the United States officials from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred are now more open-minded and forward-thinking about the possibility of legalized gambling on a national level down the road, most see the possibility as at least 3-5 years from becoming reality.

At last week’s Sportel North America Conference in Miami the topic came up several times ones again, as the billion dollar broadcast sports industry could also someday get a bigger piece of the legal gambling pie if and when all becomes free and clear. “Gambling is part of sports. The time is coming to bring it out of the shadows in the US,” said NBC’s Rob Simmelkjaer during a panel discussion on the media rights business. Simmelkjaer eluded to the recent comments by Silver and others in saying that the veil of secrecy around all the gambling that goes on illegally in places like the US should be lifted while the right system is put into places that brings revenue into the teams and networks that are investing in growing sport not just in the US, but around the world. One place that NBC may see a bump from starting in 2016 in in the Olympic space, where, at least in Las Vegas, the International Olympic Committee recently OK’ed the start of gambling on the games in sports books in the state of Nevada.

The impact of gambling in its legalized form is not just an issue in the US, but abroad as well where many countries are unlike France, the UK and Australia and still do not allow wagering on major events like World Cup and Rugby. That ban on implementing gaming companies into media rights discussions has been a well-raised sore spot with rights holders selling some of the world’s biggest events, especially in soccer. “We would love to be involved in sports betting but UEFA & the clubs we work with don’t want us to be yet,” added Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director, Sports Media Rights For Team Marketing AG during the panel. “We are well aware of the dollar value betting houses can bring, but right now it is not something our partners are willing to investigate as a revenue stream, but we will keep trying.”

Another rights holder now in the US is MP & Silva, who recently acquired the European rights to the NFL, one of the few American sports still silent on the gambling issue and opportunity, despite the common knowledge that football, as much as any US sport, probably benefits the most in attention because of all the small and large scale illegal wagering that goes on around the game. One of the biggest areas for growth should gambling become legal will be in the mobile space, as fans can engage in minute to minute wagering like is done in the UK on soccer, using any sort of analytics that are available. The mobile space, more than any other, is seen as the real sweet spot in the debate. “Right now “70 percent of people between 12-18 consume almost all sports content on mobile,” said MP & Silva’s VP of North America Dan Cohen when asked about the value of the mobile space going forward, an area which will become even more valuable as the years pass and revenues are realized.

Still for now, the wait and see atmosphere continues, even with the debate and the opportunity becoming more clearer. The estimated dollars being spent on the NCAA Tournament this month are in the billions, which leave broadcasters and rights holders from all corners of the world wondering “what if,” should the gambling seas part in the years to come.

N.J. spars with sports leagues once again over sports betting in federal appeals court

New Jersey’s long battle to bring legal sports betting to casinos and racetracks returned to federal appeals court last week, as attorneys for the nation’s leading sports leagues and lawyers for the state clashed over whether the latest betting plan violates a federal ban.

The arguments featured everything from a fight over what the word “authorize” means to a state attorney paraphrasing Dr. Suess’s “Horton Hears a Who” while making a point to a three-judge panel that includes the sister of Donald Trump and the wife of former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

This was the second time in less than two years that a U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Philadelphia heard the case, as New Jersey continues to push sports betting as a way to help revitalize Atlantic City and the state’s horse-racing industry, both of which are struggling. The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA are suing to stop the state’s effort, saying it violates a 1992 federal law banning sports wagering and threatens to hurt the integrity of their games.

Full credit to nj.com See here http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/nj_battles_sports_leagues_again_over_sports_betting_in_federal_appeals_court.html

Team Owners Among CEO’s Playing Bloomberg March Madness For Charity

36 leaders from top corporations and financial organizations submitted entries for Bloomberg’s Bracket Challenge, pledging $10,000 to the winner’s charity of choice. The champion’s designated non-profit will receive $360,000 in the winner-take-all competition.

Bloomberg CEO Mike Bloomberg, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank (playing for the V Foundation), AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, Strauss Zelnick, chairman and chief executive officer of Grand Theft Auto video-game maker Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, Cisco Systems Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, Lakers CEO Jeanie Buss, Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert, Bucks owner Mark Lasry, Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, Fortress CEO Mike Novogratz (Playing for Beat the Streets Wrestling), and Goldman Sachs CEO Gary Cohn (Playing for Harlem RBI) are amongst those in the game, which is updated in real time.

The full graphic can be found here: http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-march-madness/

Mondogoal To Launch First-Ever Fantasy Soccer Platform For 2015 Women’s World Cup

Fantasy sports has made its way to the women’s soccer game…

By: Joe Favorito @JoeFav

New Game To Include All Nations And Will Be The First-Ever Daily Fantasy Product For A Women’s Team Sport

“The Women’s World Cup is a phenomenal platform for the game, and will draw not just passionate soccer fans but a casual audience interested in both women’s sport and the majesty of a global event,” said Shergul Arshad, CEO of Mondogoal in a recent releas.. “By creating this game for a global audience we will provide a unique engagement platform for all, and we believe it will raise the visibility and the interest not just for soccer but for women’s sports as well. In North America, Daily Fantasy Sports has taken off, and interest in soccer is at an all-time high. With contests for Major League Soccer and now Women’s World Cup, we are making sure the North American soccer fan not only can play fantasy contests from popular European leagues, but also from the best available locally.”

Mondogoal will have daily pay fantasy games throughout the Women’s World Cup for all teams and all matches. Each day of the group stages, fans will pick a team of 11 players from the four games on that day using the Mondogoal salary cap format and then watch the Women’s World Cup to see players earn points for their fantasy teams with every contribution they make during the game. Like in any pay fantasy game, the best compiled scores at the end of the day from a series of statistics will win the top cash prizes.

Because Mondogoal is licensed to operate globally, it is the only daily fantasy sports site available for cash play in multiple major markets around the world, with specific emphasis on the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Ireland, and Brazil. In just over 24 weeks since full season launch with its partners in soccer (Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC, West Ham United FC, Manchester City FC, and AS Roma), Mondogoal is already offering major cash prizes throughout the week, and the adoption of a new form of engagement with fans of soccer clubs not used to fantasy play is growing exponentially every week. With Mondogoal, simply login or create an account, add funds, and every matchday there is the chance to win money by building a formidable starting 11 and competing in a Head-to-Head battle or Multi-User-Tournaments.

Data analytics for use by consumers are compiled in real time by Perform’s Opta Sports, with points awarded for goals, assist, tackles won or lost, shots on goal, passes completed, shutouts and much more. Mondogoal runs contests on a daily or matchday basis for La Liga, Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, Major League Soccer, Ligue 1, the FA Cup, European Championship Qualifiers and the prestigious Champions League and Europa League.

For a full set of contests and to sign-up today please visit: www.mondogoal.com.

Mondogoal, incorporated in the Isle of Man with business operations in Boston, Massachusetts USA, has a compelling and unique fantasy sports engagement system to enable fans to have many ways for their players to earn points. With data provided by the world’s leading analytics company, Opta Sports, statistics are updated live, so fans can enjoy a true second screen experience as they watch their favorite matches on TV or at the stadium. While many sites can offer fantasy sports or even fantasy soccer, no one brings the excitement of real-time scoring, multi-league competition and large cash competitions to the global soccer audience the way Mondogoal does.

The company has an impressive roster of investors with backgrounds at Google, eBay, Morgan Stanley, Bingham Dana & Gould, and JBoss and has equity advisors who have been leaders in the eGaming space as well as in the business and digital operations of some of the world’s elite soccer clubs. For more detail go tomondogoal.com

Daily fantasy pushes to continue growth streak

By Eric Fisher

After more than 60 years in existence, fantasy sports has seen its foundation dramatically altered by a younger sibling.

The family newcomer — daily fantasy — is fun, popular and easy to get along with, and has quickly become a favorite child. But many wonder if the charm of youth will endure. So daily fantasy operators are acting aggressively to ensure that last year’s mainstream arrival was just the beginning.

Few business advancements have had as much effect on an industry as daily fantasy has over the past year, and the early signs of 2015 show no slowdown.

Boston-based DraftKings, one of two major daily fantasy game operators, is actively developing a Series D venture capital round that would exceed $100 million and value the company in the neighborhood of $1 billion, executives there said. A closing is expected sometime this spring.

New York-based FanDuel, DraftKings’ key rival, is said to be mulling a similar major fundraising move, industry sources said. This comes after both companies received significant funding rounds just last summer, worth a collective $111 million, that catapulted them into prominence.

Those prior funding rounds — $70 million for FanDuel and $41 million for Draft-Kings — nearly eclipsed the entire history of venture money in fantasy sports up to that point, and involved major entities such as New York investment bank The Raine Group and NBC Sports Ventures…..

Daily Fantasy sites have poured money into sponsor deals (like FanDuel’s deal with the Magic) and advertising spots.

Daily fantasy’s quick play and big payouts have drawn a desirable young demographic to the FanDuel (above) and DraftKings sites.

Full credit to Sports Business Journal and Eric Fisher

Your March Madness pool is probably illegal

By Mark Koba

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

An estimated 50 million people reportedly took part in March Madness office pools last year, and the number should be about the same this time around. And those people may be breaking the law.

Trying to pick the winner of college basketball’s men’s national championship tournament, while avoiding bracket-busting losses along the way, can be downright exhausting and time consuming.

In fact, companies are expected to lose at least $1.2 billion for every unproductive work hour during the first week of the tournament,according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

So is it legal?

“The answer lies in the legal meaning of ‘bet,’ ” said Tony Campiti, a lawyer with Thompson & Knight in Dallas.

Seen on CNBC. Read full post here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101488738#.

Americans will drop $9 billion betting on March Madness

JONATHAN MARINO

American Gambling AssociationIn 2015, 70 million Americans will wager up to $9 billion on NCAA March Madness

March Madness is kicking off, and from your office to the Oval Office, Americans are poised to bet more than ever before on the NCAA men’s basketball championship tournament.

The American Gambling Association, assisted by GfK Custom Research North America, estimates Americans will drop $9 billion betting on the games.

According to the AGA, on average participants will bet on two brackets each at a cost of an average $29 per bracket. Gamblers will wager $2 billion on bracket pools themselves, but many more will likely wager much more on individual games, which is how the American Gambling Association arrives at its $9 billion tally.

NCAA March Madness betting even outdraws the Super Bowl

The $9 billion to be bet on this year’s tournament amounts to more than double what gamblers bet on the Super Bowl, which was closer to $4 billion.

Real Madrid Looks To Turn Pay Fantasy Into A Winner For Fans

Real Madrid Looks To Turn Pay Fantasy Into A Winner For Fans
By: Joe Favorito @JoeFav

The pay fantasy space keeps growing in interest in the United States as well as now, globally. In recent months a host of European soccer clubs like FC Barcelona, Chelsea FC and AS Roma have launched pay fantasy games in hopes of drawing in new dollars and engaging a worldwide audience, especially one in the US that is now soccer savvy and used to playing pay fantasy in American football and baseball especially. The developer on many of these is Mondogoal, with offices both in the States and in Isle of Mann.

However this past week another high powered soccer club launched their own game, this one with a Million Dollar payoff. It was Real Madrid, and in partnership with US-based Hotbox sports, they created a game where a $5 wager can turn into a big winner. After months of quiet speculation and some difficult logistical hurdles which had to be cleared, the contest was unveiled before this coming weekend.

Unlike the traditional salary cap games that fantasy consumers are used to, the Real Madrid game is pretty simple; supporters pick nine players from any position for the match. There is no cap limit on stars. There are a series of analytics that will rally points for your nine players ranging from shots to saves to passes to time on field, all based on the playing roster the club has that day. Your best points totals overall will help net a winner, no pun intended. A series of tiebreakers will also help create the best possible winning scenarios.

“The concept of the game is simple, and the potential payoff is huge,” said Terry Lyons of Hotbox Sports, who has created a similar pick em game with the NHL New Jersey Devils, the first ever for a US sports league. ‘While many pay fantasy games are complicated and sometimes difficult to understand, we have taken a concept with a global brand and made it very understandable for everyone who follows the team. You control the roster and you root for your team. The better your guys do, the better the chances are of cashing in. We think it will be a big hit with the global audience Real Madrid has.”

Real Madrid hosts Levante in a La Liga match on the 15th before their showdown with FC Barcelona on the 22nd.

GAMBLING GROWTH SHOWN IN KEY STATES Just ask Ohio and Maryland

GAMBLING GROWTH SHOWN IN KEY STATES
Just ask Ohio and Maryland

By Frank Scandale

If you are living in New Jersey, you might think the commercial casino gambling industry is two steps from sliding into the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s not without good reason. Casinos in Atlantic City seem to be closing faster than Radio Shacks. Revenue consistently declines year to year as competition to the north, west and south increases.

If there wasn’t an Ocean to the east, it might be worse.

Yet, if you stand back and look at the industry across the nation, the overall picture is not without promise. Just ask the three companies that are wagering on new casinos in Upstate New York. Among the states that are cause for optimism are Maryland and Ohio, each registering significant double-digit growth figures in 2014.

“When you look at Maryland and Ohio, for instance, it’s growing. Overall there is growth,” says David G. Schwartz, director of The Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. “There seems to be a tradeoff. In 2014, the commercial gaming market grew by 2.14 percent. “

That figure includes casinos and racinos only, but not traditional state lotteries, horse racing and other non-gaming elements.

He cites states like Florida (+8.5 percent), whose racino industry is expanding, and Illinois (+15 percent), which since adding electronic poker in bars has spurred overall revenue growth, as other states that are offsetting the flat or declining revenues in other states.

Ohio and Maryland are growing strong, owing to a variety of reasons. contrasting a dismal scene in New Jersey, where Atlantic City casino revenues have been in a steady decline for years. Revenue in New Jersey has dropped 47 percent since 2006, according to the center’s research reports, when it hit its peak in terms of revenue at $5.2 billion.

Yet, at least one expert still marvels at Atlantic City’s situation and revenue numbers if only because of its unique geographic characteristic: all the state’s casinos are packed into a two or three mile square area at the southern end of the state.

“What is extraordinary is that no place outside of Nevada has that much supply and still does $2.5 billion in business with no local population to sustain it,” said Dr. Izzy Posner, the executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Richard Stockton College in New Jersey. “If Martians came down and looked at this, they’d say, “What? How’d they do that?’ “

Posner provided historical perspective, reminding us that the legislation to allow legalized gambling in New Jersey in the 1970s was done so to spark the economy in Atlantic City.
“Now, everywhere else that has legal gambling, they spread it around the state. “And Pennsylvania has its licenses so that they are also on the borders of New Jersey.”
The competition is what is sparking growth nationwide in the industry, Posner said.
“A lot of that decline (in Atlantic City) did not wash away with the incoming tide. It kind of spread around a bit.”

Garden State, meet the Buckeye State.

For Ohio, a relative newcomer to the gambling industry, the gains are strong. Experts point to the growth due to its continuing additions each year.

With four fully licensed casinos now and seven racinos scattered around the state, Ohio has benefited from growth in properties from eight in 2013 to 11 last year.

Ohio, which entered the casino and racino business in 2012, now boasts four fully licensed casinos and seven racinos, with total revenue for last year topping $1.4 billion, up from $1 billion the year before, or 36 percent.

“If you look at the total revenue of the tracks and casinos, we have more properties open than last year,” explained Jessica Franks, director of Communications for the Ohio Casino Control Commission. “All four casinos are up and running for a year or more now. And the last racino opened in early Fall last year. That accounts for some of the growth.”

In Ohio, the racinos and lotteries are overseen by the state’s Lottery Commission, explained Marie Kilbane of that office’s communications department. The state is just starting to get a fix on what the potential growth might be in the state.

“You need to get your sea legs first to figure out the marketplace and now that all the operations are working, you can see how the Ohio market bears with having the VLT (Video Lottery terminals) entertainment across the state,” Kilbane said. “The gambling game is always changing in reaction to economic conditions.”

Ohio has approximately 10,500 VLTs in operation today.
Meanwhile, Maryland, where the state operates five casinos (a sixth is on the way next year), saw its February revenue this year jump 25 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, which released the latest figures last week.
With nearly 9,000 slots and almost 400 table games, the state’s casino business kicked of with the inaugural opening of its Hollywood Casino Perryville in 2010. Even the Center for Gaming Research referred to Maryland’s gaming industry as “one of the most talked about gaming markets on the East Coast.”

As it nears its five-year anniversary this September into the gaming arena, its monthly revenue is robust, taking in $83 million in revenue in February alone. However, agency spokespeople explain that year-to-year comparisons are difficult, as Maryland has added one new property each year since its inception, which also contributes to the overall growth as more casinos come on line.

Maryland’s revenue registered $931 million in all of 2014, up from $745 million in 2013, according to the Center for Gaming Research.

Levenson’s Posner concurred on the Maryland and Ohio reasons for growth, and expounded on the positive revenue of Florida and Illinois.

He cites the demographics and growing population of Florida, now the third most populous state with 19.9 million people, according to Census figures. “If you look at the last couple of winters in the Northeast, it’s really helping Florida. And think about the wealth going there. You have a lot of discretionary income and a lot of seniors.”

As for the future of New Jersey’s casino industry, Posner cautioned that the ongoing speculation about casinos in the Meadowlands in North Jersey, while tempting, is not without speed bumps.

“Obviously the northern part of the state is attractive. There’s a lot of red meat there,” he said. “If you are a lion, it’s a good hunting ground. It’s a densely packed part of the state and if you add the wealth there, it is very attractive.”

Though voters’ approving such an expansion is not, in golf parlance, a gimme, he said.
The last poll by the Levenson Institute last year found voters were against it by a 2-1 vote, however, that included a large number of undecided.

And then there is New York City and those politics. New York’s legislation currently prevents a casino from going into the New York City area for another seven years.

“Would New York sit still if it saw the Meadowlands getting a casino?” he asked. “So before anyone puts a billion dollars into North Jersey, you have to take the region into account.”

With March Madness Here, FanAngel Rolls the Dice On Funding Athletes

By Joe Favorito @JoeFav

Pay for play has been a popular theme in the debate over college athletics, but pay for stay?

Another of those seem like a good idea platforms has arisen in the past few weeks to somehow try and solve the issue of keeping elite athletes in school. It is a crowdfunding site called FanAngel which will allow fans to anonymously contribute to pay college athletes to stay in school through donations that are given to the athlete when his or her eligibility expires.

According to an ESPN.com story, founder Sean Fojtik said that when a fan commits a pledge to an athlete, that money is immediately taken out of the account. Eighty percent of the money will be held for that athlete if that athlete does choose to stay in school, 10 percent will be given to that athlete’s teammates, and 10 percent will be earmarked for charity and scholarship funds. The money is given to the athlete when that athlete’s eligibility expires. FanAngel’s revenue source would be to take a fee, as much as nine percent, from the donation to help facilitate the fund.

While the site says it will steer clear of NCAA rules with regard to mentioning names, many have argued that the site would create an unfair advantage for big schools and marquee names, easily creating an unfair advantage. And although the site is anonymous with regard to where the funds could go, corruption could easily ensue. The story also says that there is no way for athletes to contact the company or crowdfund on their own through his site, although we are talking enterprising young people and deep pocketed donors, which can be a lethal mix in many cases.

Is the idea a low risk, high reward play for the creators, a legitimate solution to help solve the one and done rule, or a symbol of much that is wrong with college athletes, where big schools find big donors with big ways to circumvent the rules? For one thing it is creative, but as we have seen in the free market, the only way for it to work is to pull big dollars from anonymous sources, while the NCAA watches very closely.

Fan Angel gets high marks for buzz and creativity. Whether it translates into a legit business solution is anyone’s guess and some people’s gamble.

Kentucky’s Unbeaten Season Makes Vegas Squirm

(Bloomberg) — The University of Kentucky’s undefeated regular season has Nick Bogdanovich sweating. If the Wildcats don’t lose this year, his employer will.The director of trading at sports book operator William Hill U.S., Bogdanovich in July listed 50-1 odds that the Wildcats would win a national title with a perfect 40-0 record.

He took about 10 bets at that price before narrowing the odds, which fell all the way to even money as Kentucky rolled through its regular-season schedule. With the 31-0 Wildcats scheduled to take the floor again this week in their conference tournament — and the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament after that — William Hill is facing a high six-figure loss on that offer if Kentucky runs the table.

“We’ve got quite a bit of danger on that go-undefeated prop,” Bogdanovich said in a telephone interview. “Not seven figures, it won’t reach that high thank goodness.”

PERSONALITY CORNER: Tim Rooney Sr.

By Frank Scandale@FScandale

Age: 76

Title: President of Yonkers Racing Corp and Empire City Casino.

Former Life: Part owner in the Pittsburgh Steelers

Duties: “Keep everyone in line and make sure expenses are under control.”

Favorite Sports Moment: “Very easily, when we won our first Super Bowl.”

Favorite Family Moment: “ Ha. Reviewing it, it has to be the same moment because of the family involvement. Unbelievable.”

Most Admired Person: Wellington Mara. I knew Cardinal (Terrance James) Cooke, but as a regular human being, Wel Mara was special.”

Favorite Golf Spot: Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, NY.

Even a guy who used to co-own one of the best NFL teams in a city that saw its share of horrendous winters and can’t avoid talking about this winter’s hottest topic – the weather.

Relentless sub-freezing temps, snow and lingering ice have made 0 degrees the new 32 in the Northeast and its effects have not have escaped Tim Rooney Sr. and his operation at the Yonkers Raceway Corp. which also operates the Empire City Casino in the shadow of New York City.

This became the second consecutive winter when the region took it on the chin.

“Last year, the first quarter hurt dramatically against the same quarter in 2013. When the weather hit, we were down, but we came back up at the end of the year. January (2015) started off fairly strong, but then the bad weather even supplanted the weather from the last year!” Rooney laughed. “We came back again and were up every day until last Saturday when that 5 inches of snow hit us. We had the accounting department check how many days we had under 25 degrees or snow and we are double the number of bad days this year compared to last year.”

Weather is only one of the factors that determine how the casino and harness racing business will go for Rooney. The competition and proliferation of brick and mortar casinos and online betting made his days as a football team owner seem orderly.

In a wide-ranging interview, the gregarious Rooney touched on football, gaming, horse racing, online gambling, his family and golf.

The Rooney name has been synonymous with professional football since 1933 when Art Rooney Sr. founded the Pittsburg Steelers for $2,500. Tim and two of his four brothers were forced to sell their shares in 2009 in the team because the National Football League’s concerns about the family’s other business interests in gambling entities. The move was painful for Rooney for many reasons, not the least of which is passion for the pigskin despite his love for horses.

“Well, there is no comparison. My father was in the business (racing) his whole life, but football is football.

He likes to say his favorite sports moment was the first time the Steelers won a Super Bowl, Super Bowl IX in 1975. “Nothing possibly comes close. They were all good (wins) but there is no emotion ever having equaled that first one.”

When pressed about his favorite family moment – he has five children and 19 grandchildren – he laughs and hesitates, saying, “I probably shouldn’t say this, but it might be the same moment because of the family’s unbelievable moment (together)…winning the Super Bowl was unbelievable.”

So much has changed now with respect to sports and gambling, but Rooney wishes the NFL then had allowed them to hold their shares.

“When we were closing in on the sale, I honestly did not want to sell my stock in the Steelers. My father had done this (racing) long before this and we had been running the team in this manner,” he continued. “On the other side, my brothers who stayed in will be a lot wealthier, especially when Buffalo sold for $1.4 billion.”

Despite his love of football, he says he does not attend games anymore. Too easy to stay home and watch it on television, he says. He used to fly to Pittsburgh on Saturday, have dinner with his brothers that night, go to the game and fly home on Sunday night.

Today, his focus is on Yonkers and Empire with his son Tim Jr. and son-in-law Bob Galterio. With casinos popping up all around the Northeast and siphoning off potential and former customers, Rooney says the trick is to keep reinventing and innovating. Rooney, in fact, hinted that Empire would unveil something new soon along with a strong advertising campaign.

“We’re going to try out some new things this year, a little more refreshing,” Rooney, now 76, said. “We have a new ad campaign coming out at the end of February or so. It’s more of a return to a stronger campaign on TV.”

The table games at fully licensed casinos has been a draw for some players, he said, but New York State’s upcoming budget has a provision for Empire to receive a higher quality electronic table game, something Rooney insists will level the playing field somewhat. The legislature still has to approve it, but he is optimistic that will happen.

“Our facility is very good. We just opened another restaurant and put a lot of money into our food business. Two of the three restaurants are doing very well. But the biggest thing we have coming is that part of Governor Cuomo’s budget is to give us a higher quality of electronic table games, one of which is blackjack. “

That looming boost and the weather’s inevitable improvement has Rooney eyeing a 5 percent improvement in 2015. “I think we will be up a couple of million dollars this year.”

The real issue down the road is becoming a fully licensed casino when New York State allows those businesses in the metro region to apply. Under the state’s gaming law, New York City and its surround suburbs, including Yonkers, are prohibited from receiving any casino licenses for at least seven years, according to a story in the New York Daily News last December.

“We’d be looking to get one of those new licenses,” Rooney said.” Basically if we had a license now, we could open immediately.”

That would complement Rooney’s operation that features approximately 6,000 electronic machines now. “For us not to get a license would be hard to imagine.”

For now, the only non-tribal casino licenses will be located further upstate, which Rooney believes will not impact business.

The other big issue looming on the horizon is online gambling and sports, a mounting issue as prominent figures such as current NBA commissioner Adam Silver and his predecessor David Stern call for legalized sports betting outside of Nevada.

For Rooney, it’s a complicated issue, while he knows there is so much betting now in sports. According to the American Gaming Association, the estimated amount bet illegally on the recent Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl game was said to be approximately $3.8 billion, compared to approximately $100 million bet legally.

“The only question I have for it and somebody smarter than me can figure it out is when a guy makes an unbelievable catch in the game and then later on an important third down drops the ball, everybody is suspicious of everything that happens. Is somebody going to ask if he dropped it on purpose?

He recalls the days at the track when people were betting heavy on sporting events at the pay phones, back before cell phones existed. “If you go out and see the pay phone lines, all I can tell you is that they are not calling home to find out what’s the wife is making for dinner.”

Today, the game is more interesting and exciting for a wider ranger of people.
“If say Denver is playing Seattle and you don’t have an interest in either team, I don’t care who wins the game, but people watch them because they are betting on the game. That is really part of the popularity of the game.”

When the snow finally melts in the East, you’ll likely find Rooney relaxing on a golf course, one of his favorite other sports. The mere mention of golf gets him going about Tiger Woods, the stalled champion nursing injuries and a bruised mental game.

“Tiger Woods. When you looked at his position, the only other guy who dominated a sport like Tiger was maybe Michael Jordan. Not Bradshaw. Not Manning. None of them was a dominating in their sport as Woods.”

He recalled how small the purses were in comparison to today’s average first-place prize money being way north of $1 million, and cited his family’s own tournament, The Philadelphia Golf Classic back in the 1960s.

“We had this match, we owned it, sold the tickets, everything. The purse total was $150,000. That was tied for the biggest purse on tour at that point,” he explained. “In our tournament we got lucky. (Jack) Nicklaus and (Arnold) Palmer tied and went into a playoff. It’s the only thing that got us to break even.”

Devils, Sixers Co-Owner Bullish On Gambling

by Joe Favorito @JoeFav

It hasn’t been the easiest of years on the field and ice for Devils and Sixers co-owners David Blitzer and John Harris, but neither has lost their enthusiasm for the business and both are bullish on the future of sport, especially their two currently suffering franchises.

This week at the Leaders in Sport Conference in New York, Blitzer touched on one of the hottest topics in sports; gambling, and where it may, or may not end up in the sports landscape as New Jersey wages an ongoing battle in the courts to have law overturned that prohibits sports betting outside of Nevada. Both the Devils and the Sixers were first adopters in taking on an online poker site as a sponsor, and earlier this year New Jersey became the first NHL club to bring in a daily pay fantasy partner to test those waters as well. “I have felt for a long time that ultimately – gaming, let’s call it, in sports – should be regulated and taxed,” he said. “I just feel like more information – I actually think one of the arguments against [full legalization], the ‘integrity of the sport’ question – that having it more out in the open rather than sort of being underneath the floor will actually enhance that [maintaining the integrity of the league] rather than degrade it. That’s been my view for a long time. When it comes and how it comes, I don’t know.”

This past weekend at the MIT Sloan Analytics Conference MLB commissioner Rob Manfred admitted that baseball will take a look at the options on gambling as well, but will also follow the proposal that NBA commissioner Adam Silver has put forth, with a federally-mandated program vs. a state by state approach which many feel would be unmanageable and fraught with issues.

“That’s a whole different question, what the business model eventually looks like,” Blitzer added. “But clearly if one is providing the content, should they at least be ‘in the value chain,’ let’s call it. That’s something for people to argue about in ‘x’ number of years. But I’m sure the leagues will be some part of the value chain.”

He also chimed in on the growth of sport abroad, both for the NBA and the NHL. “I truly believe that the NBA has the ability to be the highest-growing international business over the next decade,” he added. “Managing that growth is not easy. It’s very different managing a business in Asia or Europe than it is in America. To manage that in the right way, on a variety of continents, is going to be interesting. I think they will succeed.”

In order to keep the coffers humming, it is thought that legalized gambling will be a key growth component, some feel second in revenue only to broadcast rights. That is why teams are constantly testing the waters for revenue streams that are currently legal like pay fantasy, and that teams on the bottom looking to innovate, like the Devils and Sixers, are the ones pushing the envelope open more.

Full credit to John Brennan of NorthJersey.com. Certain quotes used from his 1-1 with David Blitzer.

Wagering On Baseball? MLB Comish Manfred Open To Talking

by Joe Favorito @JoeFav

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Sports in the United States and the relationship with some form of advanced gaming and gambling continue to do a very slow and seductive dance toward an eventual plan, and the gyrations continued all weekend at the annual MIT Sloan Analytics Conference, the ever-evolving stats geekfest that this year drew over 3,000 media personalities, innovators, entrepreneurs, visionaries and business leaders to the Boston Convention Center for two days of stats filled discussion and debate.

It was the largest-ever gathering for the conference, the brainchild of two MIT grads, now Houston Rockets now GM Darryl Morey and VP of Customer Marketing & Strategy, The Kraft Sports Group Jessica Gelman, who saw the continued confluence of analytics and data into every aspect of sports business, and as that area of evaluation and innovation has grown, so has the event.

While wearable tech, wireless devices and every form of statistical breakdown was on the docket, the issue of gambling as a new frontier was a constant subject when the biggest of the big, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, MLS commissioner Don Garber and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred all took the stage at various times. While Silver has been the out-front champion of acknowledging and then finding ways to adapt some form of legalized national wagering, it was really Manfred in his new role that had the most to say on the issue in a Friday conversation with MLB Network Brian Kenny. In years past, especially under former commissioner Bud Selig, the notion of anything progressive with gambling and baseball would never have even been part of the conversation. But baseball’s latest leader has taken a more progressive and outspoken stance on several topics, from international play to the speed of the game, and the “someday” notion of legalized gambling seems to fit the bill.

“In terms of the ‘away from the field’ issues associated with the legalization of gambling – I think that enough has happened out there that it’s incumbent upon me and my staff to take to the owners the developments in this area, to have a conversation about some of the rules that go beyond the play of the game on the field that we’ve had traditionally in baseball and revisit those,” he said during the conversation.

He later told CNBC that the gambling “landscape is changing very quickly” but that no one should expect “players or on-field personnel” betting on games anytime soon. Manfred admitted again that the “industry will have to take a hard look at” the larger issue of legalizing sports gambling and went on to praise Silver for taking the leadership role in the conversation and driving the talk to see if there is a Federally-controlled system that all sports would participate in going forward.

The great irony in such a discussion Manfred pointed out, is that the actual office he now holds is a product of the 1919 Black Sox scandal which has forever changed the face of gambling on baseball. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed by the owners to basically keep themselves and the clubs in line when it came to the integrity of baseball, and the sport has had a zero tolerance rule ever since when it came to gambling and baseball of any kind, with the Pete Rose case still being the greatest challenge to the issue of gambling and baseball.

The other irony is that baseball’s long standing preponderance with numbers has actually given rise to much of the conversation on gaming and sport in America today, starting with the advent of what was then Rotisserie Baseball and is now full-fledged fantasy baseball, and then moving on to the concept of “Moneyball” and the new era of detailed analytics in sports. Without baseball and its analytic preponderance, who knows where all this talk would be today.

Now where legalized wagering goes in the near future is anyone’s guess. Later in the weekend a panel hosted by ESPN The Magazine editor Chad Millman had the consensus that legalized federal rules on sports gambling is probably four and a half to five years away, but the growing opportunities in daily pay fantasy games for all sports, including baseball (where MLB.com has a minority stake in the uber site Draft Kings), continue to escalate with each passing week. No less than ten companies with some sort of fantasy attachment were on display at MIT, with hundreds more wannabees roaming the halls.

What was clear from Manfred’s comments with regard to legalized sports wagering is that he, like Silver, see the potential opportunity in the future and are willing to examine and publicly discuss the risk and the reward. In a world where teams are constantly battling for other new areas of revenue to offset the rising costs of doing business without continuing to zap the fans pocketbooks, baseball and legal gambling may make for strange, but smart bedfellows down the line, especially now with a commissioner willing to engage in the discussion for the first time.