The week is coming to a close, and boy was it quite an eventful one. Below is a quick circumnavigation of planet Earth as it relates to gaming markets, the week’s events that affected them, and maybe what to watch out for next week.

United States

The Super Bowl betting indicator is flashing green, though increasingly less brightly, with betting volumes in Las Vegas up 5.5% over last year. $154 million in total were staked in Nevada compared to $146 million last year, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The NGCB, like the Iowa Democratic Party, released the full figures late this year due to technical difficulties with one sportsbook. Either the machines are rising up, or the novel coronavirus has gotten really novel indeed and started infecting computer systems everywhere.

The 5.5% growth figure could, on the one hand, be seen bearishly since it is down from last year’s more solid rate of 10%, which was down from 2018’s rate of 14%. Growth in Super Bowl betting volumes does appear to be slowing, which potentially means credit flows could be slowing. We will have to examine MGM visitor volumes when earnings are released next week to gather more evidence. Alternatively, it could just be that betting volumes are simply being spread out over the country with Nevada losing market share. I favor this latter interpretation at this point, though it is not entirely clear.