Some could argue that Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, is responsible for forcing the U.S. Supreme Court to change the country’s position on sports gambling.  It took several tries, but Christie repeatedly fought to have the courts overturn PASPA, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a move that has allowed states to begin offering sports wagers and, in some cases, online gambling.  As some lawmakers have been pushing for the federal government to intervene and create federal sports gambling framework, Christie has spoken up and wants the lawmakers on Capitol Hill to keep their hands off the industry.

Last month, two lawmakers, Senators Orrin Hatch and Charles Schumer, respectively from Utah and New York, introduced legislation that would allow the federal government to control sports gambling.  However, this could potentially be damaging to the industry and is a gross overreach of the fed’s power.

During a meeting of the National Council of Legislation from Gaming States (NCLGS) in New Orleans, LA last Friday, Christie emphasized that lawmakers need to not fall for the tricks established by sports leagues that seek integrity fees.  He asserted, “We’re going to reward the people who fought us for seven years with fees that are going to diminish your margins?  They don’t need it, and given [the sports leagues’] conduct over the last seven years, they don’t deserve it.  We do not need a federal solution to this problem.  States have been regulating gambling for decades without incident.”

Ever since the Supreme Court reversed PASPA, a number of states – such as Delaware, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Mississippi – have already introduced sports gambling and several more are actively pursuing their own legislation.  2019 is beginning to shape up to be a great year for the industry.

Though just barely into the month, the outlook for Macau’s casinos isn’t looking too good for January. Gross gaming revenue (GGR) has been suppressed across the first week of the new year, leading industry analysts to make stark predictions for the rest of the month. Both Sanford C. Bernstein and Nomura expect the growth rate for January to end in the red.

Yesterday, Bernstein asserted in a note that the GGR for January could be between 2% lower and 2% higher than what it was a year ago. Macau’s casinos, according to the brokerage, saw GGR of only $105.27 million per day in the first week of January, which is around 12% higher than what it was for the same period last year; however, analysts with the firm indicate that the overall GGR should be viewed with “a bit of scepticism as weekly channel checks have proven to be less than accurate” and that the actual numbers are “volatile.”

The analysts, Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu, further noted that persistent weakness in China’s economy could lead to smaller amounts being wagered in Macau. They asserted, “As we have been highlighting, the macro environment in China is creating headwinds risk for GGR growth in Macau in 2019.”

Nomura’s Instinet stockbroking division expects January’s GGR to be the same as it was a year ago, or as much as 5% higher. Instinet said in its note from yesterday, “We believe GGR-per-day benefited from a slightly higher weekend-to-weekday proportion, which we estimate positively impacted daily GGR by about $2.10 million assuming weekend demand at about 1.5 times that of a typical weekday.”

A Cambodian casino, popular with gamblers from neighboring Thailand, was the scene of massive fire yesterday. According to the media outlet The Nation, a fire broke out late in the day at the Genting Crown Casino (another news agency called it the Golden Casino) in Poipet, resulting in several injuries. The blaze reportedly started due to an electrical problem in an elevator.

Reports are still coming in, but the fire reportedly swept through an 18-floor building that housed the casino beginning at 9:35 last night. It began near the fourth floor before expanding quickly to the 13th floor. According to the chief of police of the Nanteay Meanchey province, Major General Ath Khem, “No one died in the flames. However, six men got injured due to smoke inhalation when they got trapped in the [elevator].” The fire was brought under control by 2 AM this morning.

The six were identified as five Cambodians and one Chinese national. All were sent to a local hospital for treatment from the smoke inhalation. 10 fire trucks, 3 of which belonged to the casino, were used to put out the fire.

Locals reported on the blaze, as well. A Twitter user, Emil Perera, said, “Huge blaze breaks out in the block of flats in casino city Poipet in Cambodia. A fire in Cambodia has ripped through 18 floors of a high rise block of flats. A report from the fire service states some people have been injured in the blaze.”

I often call gaming the canary in the coal mine for the wider global economy. Here I’d like to go into that idea a little deeper. The import of that comparison is not necessarily laden in technical patterns, but rather within the broader concept of human liberty. The gambling industry is currently at the frontier of liberty. Meaning, it is right at the border between what governments allow and forbid. Whether you see governments as inherently good, necessary evils, or entirely unnecessary in the first place, there is no denying that government, however you may view it, is the quintessential resistance against human liberty on this planet. Whether that’s for good or for bad, that’s everybody’s individual call. But that’s what it is by nature of the fact that it is set up for the very purpose of restricting and regulating human activity.

So what does gaming as the canary in the coal mine really mean? According to economist Murray Rothbard, in his introduction to his opus on prerevolutionary America “Conceived in Liberty,” he begins with a preface, confessing his view on what he thinks is the actual stuff of human history (pages xv-xvi):

My own basic perspective on the history of man…is to place central importance on the great conflict which is eternally waged between Liberty and Power… I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself… but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all the other goods that mankind cherishes: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity… But liberty has always been threatened by the encroachments of power, power which seeks to suppress, control, cripple, tax, and exploit the fruits of liberty and production. Power, then, the enemy of liberty, is consequently the enemy of all the other goods and fruits of civilization that mankind holds dear.

History then, according to Rothbard, is the unending battle between Power and Liberty. And which industry is on the very frontlines of the battle more so than gambling? As the canary, it is the first to experience tax hikes and extreme regulatory burdens. Bureaucrats test out their attempts at power grabs by first trying them out on gaming, to see if they work without damaging their hold on power and money. First, they tend to herd up the entire industry into a specialized zone so the state can keep close track of everything, charge anything they want for arbitrary licenses, and limit the industry’s spread. See Nevada, New Jersey, Macau, the Russian Primorye gambling region, the absolutely transparent idiocy of the Cambodian regime’s restrictions against gambling only for Cambodian citizens, but not for foreigners.

Day 2 of the PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship is in the books, with 1,039 players creating a $26,455,500 prize pool, with six people walking away with seven-figure scores, including the winner who will net an astonishing $5.1m.

In September, Facebook launched its dating service in Colombia. It’s a brilliant idea – one that makes Tinder seem like dry hard bread. Colombians have to create a separate account for dating purposes, but the developers have made it simple to transfer data from one account to another with images the key to success.

Imagine one showing you winning $5.1m.

It would take you a month to get through the applicants.

The Oneida Indian Nation has tapped Scientific Games to provide its gaming technology solutions for three casinos in upstate New York, in anticipation of sports betting being legalized in the state.

In its press release, Scientific Games said it has agreed to support the Oneidas in the launch of its sportsbooks for the Turning Stone Resort Casino, Yellow Brick Road Casino, and Point Place Casino.

According to Scientific Games, the Oneidas will make use of the company’s SG Digital sports betting technology platform OpenBet, which provides access to in-house pre-game data and feeds, made possible by the company’s recent acquisition of Don Best.

Oneida representative and Nation Enterprises CEO Ray Halbritter said, “After rigorous assessment of the supplier market, we determined that partnering with Scientific Games and SG Digital will give our players the best sports betting experience starting on day one.”

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) remitted PHP2.59 billion ($49.36 million) in dividend contributions to the Philippine government during 2018.

The country’s Department of Finance (DOF), in a press release, reported the gaming regulator as among the top remitters among government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), who contributed PHP40.18 billion ($764.87 million) in total for the year, 32% higher than in 2017.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez partly credited the increased remittances to efficient monitoring of the agencies by the DOF Corporate Affairs Group (CAG).

GOCCs are required to declare and remit half their annual net earnings “as cash, stock or property dividends to the National Government.” According to the DOF-CAG, the cash dividend collections constituted 15.72% of total nontax revenues collected by the Philippine government for the year.

Another piece of work from the PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Player’s Championship this time an interview with the comedian and poker player Clayton Fletcher on why the chickens cross the road, his love for Joe Stapleton and much more.

The plan was to be there at 11 am, and Clayton Fletcher was there by 11 am. Had he not made the grade as a comedian and poker player, I could have hired him to run my trains when I worked on the iron road.

But he did make the grade, as a comedian.

There is potential for poker.

Maryland’s six casinos closed out 2018 with a modest gaming revenue gain, although Horseshoe Casino Baltimore’s ongoing decline showed no sign of abating.

Figures released Monday by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Agency show statewide casino gaming revenue hitting $148.4m in the month of December, a 5.2% improvement over the same month last year and $8.4m better than the market reported in November 2018.

Total gaming revenue for calendar 2018 came to $1.746b, up 8.1% from 2017’s $1.614b. Total slots revenue hit just under $1.1b in 2018, up from just under $1b in 2017. Table game revenue was up 6.3% year-on-year to a little less than $654m.

The state’s market-leading venue, MGM Resorts’ National Harbor, opened its doors in December 2016, making 2018 the first year in which proper apples-to-apples comparisons apply. National Harbor had a solid December, rising nearly 6% to $59.9m, while its annual haul was up 15.8% to $705m.

Spain’s state-owned lottery is under fire after a 15-year-old was revealed as the winner of a €200k jackpot.

This weekend, Spanish media revealed that Cosmin Rotariu, a 15-year-old Barcelona student, held a winning €200k ticket in the latest El Niño lottery draw. The lucky kid helpfully informed reporters that he purchased the ticket with the €20 he’d won playing the El Gordo lottery shortly before Christmas.

Trouble is, the state-run Sociedad Estatal Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE) requires lottery players to be 18 years or older. Rotariu claims the ticket was purchased with his father Valeriu’s permission, although that doesn’t absolve the ticket seller or SELAE of its obligations to uphold the law.

Naturally, groups representing Spain’s licensed gambling operators – who are routinely subjected to accusations of luring underage gamblers to their doom – are calling on the government to hold someone – anyone – to account over this public relations cockup.

Another report from the PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship this time an interview with the golfing legend, Sergio Garcia, on the subject of fatherhood.

PokerStars PSPC Report: speed interviewing with Sergio Garcia Audio