New Jersey’s sports bettors finally have another digital wagering option after MGM Resorts launched its mobile betting app.

On Wednesday, MGM’s playMGM digital brand announced the soft-launch of its new sports betting app in New Jersey, making good on a timeline issued earlier this month. This is the second state in which MGM has launched mobile wagering, the option having been available to bettors in Nevada for a couple years now.

The playMGM NJ Sports app is currently only available for Android devices and also currently lacks a browser-based option. The company says apps for other platforms will be released ‘shortly.’ The Associated Press reported that the first mobile wager was a $50 bet on the Philadelphia Eagles extending their hot streak from January’s Super Bowl victory by winning their first game of the 2018 NFL season.

MGM operates Atlantic City’s Borgata casino, which was the first AC casino to launch land-based sports betting in June. The Borgata ranked second among AC operators behind the new Ocean Resort Casino in New Jersey’s July sports betting revenue chart, taking in $563k worth of the local definition of revenue.

Pennsylvania casino operators are going to court to stop the state lottery from horning in on what they claim is their exclusive turf.

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Casino Gaming Coalition filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court against the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, which has oversight over the Pennsylvania Lottery, and Department Secretary C. Daniel Hassell. The Coalition is seeking an injunction to halt the Lottery’s new online iLottery games.

The iLottery games, which launched in May, have proven quite popular with the state’s gamblers. But the casinos note that the games were originally promoted as “slot-style” and “casino-style” despite last year’s legislation explicitly forbidding the Lottery from offering online games that “simulate casino-style games.”

The Coalition, which represents seven of the state’s 13 licensed casinos, also objects to the fact that the state’s as-yet unlaunched online casinos will only be accessible by state residents aged 21 years or older, similar to rules for entering land-based gaming floors, while the iLottery site accepts customers as young as 18 years.

America’s commercial casino gaming revenue topped $40b in 2017, with five-sixths of US casino states reporting year-on-year revenue gains.

On Wednesday, the American Gaming Association (AGA) released its annual State of the States report, which showed non-tribal casino gaming revenue hitting $40.3b in 2017, up 3.4% from 2016. State governments’ share of this bounty improved 3.1% to $9.2b.

The number of casinos surveyed fell from 515 in 2016 to 460 last year due to “a rigorous effort to accurately and consistently identify individual gaming properties.” Nevada was responsible for the bulk of the decline under this new metric, with its casino count falling from 273 to 215.

Of the 24 states with commercial casinos, 20 reported year-on-year gaming revenue gains. Twelve states set new revenue records, with the largest increase (34.6%) coming in Maryland, thanks to the late-2016 opening of MGM Resorts’ new National Harbor venue.

Three tales that aren’t big enough to conjure up 300 words on their lonesome including Maurice Hawkins winning a Heartland Poker Tour title, Alex Jim taking down a massive World Series of Poker Circuit event at Foxwoods, and PokerStars offering an olive branch to those affected by the recent DDoS attacks.

Typically, I like to find three topics that gel in my 3: barrel articles, but it’s late, I’m cream-crackered, and I’ve missed my deadline for the second day in a row because I don’t know where I am, what day it is, or what my name is.

So.

You.

UK-listed race betting operator Sportech Plc is eyeing US market expansion after reporting essentially stagnant results over the first half of 2018.

On Wednesday, Sportech reported revenue of £31.6m in the six months ending June 30, a nearly £2m decline from the same period last year, although the numbers were actually up £400k in constant currency terms. In real terms, gross profit was down £1.4m to £22.9m while adjusted earnings dipped by £800k to £3.3m.

The results don’t include contributions from the Netherlands-facing Sportech Racing BV division, which the company sold to RBP Luxembourg in April for £2.5m.

In constant currency terms, the Racing & Digital division reported flat revenue of £16.6m, while earnings dipped by £500k to £3.3m. Sportech operates around 27k betting terminals and 26 white-label betting sites for just under 300 racetrack, off-track betting network, casino, lottery and website customers.