Category Archives: Featured
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
NFL Opens The Pay Fantasy Door For Teams
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
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
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.
Team Owners Among CEO’s Playing Bloomberg March Madness For Charity
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
Daily fantasy pushes to continue growth streak
Daily fantasy pushes to continue growth streak
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
Your March Madness pool is probably illegal
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.
Americans will drop $9 billion betting on March Madness
Americans will drop $9 billion betting on 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.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ncaa-tournament-gambling-projection-2015-3#ixzz3UUmyQrei
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
Kentucky’s Unbeaten Season Makes Vegas Squirm
Kentucky’s Unbeaten Season Makes Vegas Squirm
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.
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
Devils, Sixers Co-Owner Bullish On Gambling
Full credit to John Brennan of NorthJersey.com. Certain quotes used from his 1-1 with David Blitzer.