February was a pretty good month for east coast gambling, as both New Jersey and Delaware report growth in revenue. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) and Delaware Lottery released their monthly figures on March 13.

Sports wagering continues to improve year over year in New Jersey, but took a slide from January. Revenues came in at $17 million, 33.8% higher than the $12.7 million last year. This figure was also 68.3% down from January’s strong $53.6 million.

This figure came from $494.8 million in total volume, 54.4% better year over year. $436.5m of that came online, with $58.3 million at retail sportsbooks. Total handle for 2020 so far has surpassed $1 billion.

For individual operators, Meadowlands was king with $11 million in revenue, a 35.8% yearly improvement. Resorts Digital brought in $4 million, Monmouth Park $1.2 million, and the Golden Nugget posted a loss of $444,311.

My first car was a piece of crap. It always had problems. One really annoying problem I remember very clearly was that it would stall out every time I took it out of gear. In order to keep it from stalling, I would gently tap the gas when putting it into neutral to keep the engine turning.

The engine of the global economy – the banking system – is now completely out of gear. It’s in neutral. It’s idling. And it is about to stall out. People aren’t going to work, payments aren’t being made, money is not circulating, and everything is going to pot. In order to keep the engine of the economy from completely stalling out, the Federal Reserve hasn’t just tapped the gas. It has slammed the gas. Here’s just part of the announcement from the New York Fed yesterday, March 12. It’s OK to be wide-eyed and incredulous. I said this was going to happen, many times. And believe me, this is nothing compared to what’s about to come:

Today, March 12, 2020, the Desk will offer $500 billion in a three-month repo operation at 1:30 pm ET that will settle on March 13, 2020.  Tomorrow, the Desk will further offer $500 billion in a three-month repo operation and $500 billion in a one-month repo operation for same day settlement.  Three-month and one-month repo operations for $500 billion will be offered on a weekly basis for the remainder of the monthly schedule.  The Desk will continue to offer at least $175 billion in daily overnight repo operations and at least $45 billion in two-week term repo operations twice per week over this period.

So that’s $1.5 trillion over the next two days plus another $1.5 trillion for the next three weeks plus $175 billion every day plus $45 billion twice a week. That’s, uhh…a flagillion or whatever. Who cares?

The coronavirus brought a whirlwind of news to the sports and gambling world on March 12. Several leagues announced the suspension of their play, bookmakers scrambled to make new lines as old ones were voided, and casinos took new steps to keep their doors open.

Sporting Events Cancelled

After the NBA took the lead by suspending its season, several other leagues and events had to decide what they would do to help fight back Covid-19. The beginning of the day saw several college tournaments, including the ACC, Pac-12, Big Ten, SEC, and A10 cancel their tournaments entirely. With one game tipping off at noon eastern, the Big East got in half a game of their tournament before also cancelling.

The Big East tournament is still happening. pic.twitter.com/TLCNqi8tVa

An entertaining night of Europa League action saw Rangers fall from their lofty ambitions to land in a heap at Bayer Leverkusen’s feet, while Manchester United recorded their biggest away victory of any sort for a long time in front of an empty stadium in Austria.

LASK 0-5 Manchester United

They say that a joke is only funny once it’s been laughed at, and if that’s true, then is a football match only thrilling if people are there to see it? While Manchester United have the biggest fanbase in the world and Red Devils fans will have been watching their side’s latest victory in an 11-game unbeaten run in their millions, no-one was inside LASK’s stadium last night.

With the game being played behind closed doors on medical ground, United tore LASK apart in a blistering performance from the Premier League’s in-form side. Odion Ighalo, who has now scored every time he has started for United, juggled the ball from right foot to left before smashing in an unstoppable shot off the crossbar.

The coronavirus has the ability to cause entire industries to stand on their heads. It causes chaos and disruptions in decision-making processes that can see changes being required literally from one minute to the next. What the World Health Organization has now identified as a pandemic is proving to be one of the biggest disruptors of global economies in recent times, and no country is immune. A few days ago, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) expected the country’s gaming industry to reach $5.69 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR) by the end of the year. However, less than a day later, the head of the country’s gaming regulator and operator of casinos, Andrea Domingo, had to update that projection and it now seems that there’s no way to know that the final numbers will show.

As the impact of travel restrictions into the Philippines begin to be recognized, gaming revenue across the country has slipped 30%-40% in just the last month, according to Domingo. According to the Manila Bulletin, revenue had expected to grow by around 11% compared to last year, but COVID-19 is making it difficult to know what will happen.

Junket operators, which have accounted for the bulk of foreign arrivals, are taking a massive hit and have seen their revenue drop by as much as 60%. Domingo asserts, “Right now, the only ones who are meeting their targets are the ones operating tables and slot machines. On junkets, they’re declining by about 50 percent since February. In the [integrated resorts], we never experienced this, but they are beyond their targets.”

Things will only get worse before they get better, too. Okada Manila has implemented additional health measures on the gaming floor and across the entire property in order to provide better protection. On the gaming floor, all tables are limited to four players with no one standing to watch the games and there is a “one seat apart” rule in place for slot machines. Temperature checks will be taken when patrons enter, and sanitization of all electronic gaming machines will occur every two hours.

Lawmakers in Utah just proved that they can, in fact, make decisions within a normal period of time, negating the theory that they need months and months to reach a conclusion. A bill was introduced in the last week of February by Senate minority leader Karen Mayne that was designed to provide better clarification of certain aspects of gambling, notably what is referred to as “fringe gambling.” Now, less than three weeks after the bill first showed itself, the Utah House and Senate have both given their approval.

Fringe gambling is used to describes gaming machines that are billed as “for entertainment purposes only,” but which are really gambling machines at their core. They have been found all over the state because there was no law preventing their use, despite strict anti-gambling laws in Utah. That was where Senate Bill 214 (SB 214) came in and sought to close the loopholes exploited by the gaming machine operators.

SB 214 makes a clear distinction between what is considered a legal or illegal machine. It also puts a definition to fringe gambling, and introduces higher penalties for those who own or operate the machines. Users who lose money can also claim reimbursement of double what they put in.

When Mayne presented her bill last month, she didn’t hold back her opinion on the subject of the gaming machines. She told the press, “It’s a cancer that needs to be out of the state of Utah. If they want this kind of practice, it needs to be elsewhere because it’s bringing down all our communities, and bringing drug use, more violence, all those kinds of things. These are slot machines that are in mini-marts, laundromats, beauty salons, and they’re more aggressive every single day.”

In the middle of last month, a day before Valentine’s Day, MGM Resorts thought it would show some love by offering to buy back $1.25 billion in company shares – at a lower rate, of course. The market slide as a result of the coronavirus had seen the casino operator’s stock price slip, as well, and MGM brass looked to take advantage of the opportunity. The company then reduced the rate it would pay again about a week and a half ago, but the inevitable has now happened. The entire exercise has been called off.

Jim Murren, soon to be the former CEO of MGM Resorts, announced the cancellation of the buyback program yesterday, explaining in a press release, “As a result of the unforeseen and unprecedented volatility in the financial markets due to coronavirus, and the resulting impact on our ability to determine and maintain an offering price range, we have decided to terminate the tender offer.”

As any business executive would, Murren timed the announcement when it would have the least impact on the company’s market performance. Instead of issuing the statement while trading was still active, which could have potentially caused greater selling pressure, Murren released the update just after the markets closed. However, the stock was still down 15.6% from the previous day’s trading. In after-hours trading, it dropped another 10.22%, putting the price at less than half of what it was a month ago.

Initially, MGM was prepared to spend between $29-$34 to purchase the stocks when, on February 13, the price was about $31.80. The stock began to drop the following day and, by March 4, was down to $23.30. That caused MGM to update the offer again based on the new price, but further declines – sitting at $18.08 as of Wednesday – resulted in the plan being scrapped.

A variety of sports are coming under the microscope for how they are dealing with the coronavirus crisis this week, and tennis may well be the leading light for how to deal with the devastating effect of the virus quickly and confidently.

With football throwing up many concerns about whether cancelling or postponing sporting occasions is right or wrong, couple with the implications of running games behind closed doors, the ATP has today put out a statement briefing the public on how the sport will be suspended for six weeks due to the mounting safety implications of large gatherings at live events.

With all tennis tournaments on the ATP Tour and sister tour (the ATP Challenger Tour) cancelled until the 27th April, there won’t be any professional tennis played for at least the next six weeks.

ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi made the following statement:

Gambler Joe Hillbilly places a wager through an online non-regulated sportsbook. He has $5,000 riding on the Florida State Seminoles taking down the March Madness tournament, which would mean a healthy payout should they pull it off. However, between the placement of the bet and the start of the tournament, in comes the coronavirus to disrupt the flow and March Madness is canceled. Ethics and sports gambling regulations have provisions for such a scenario, but Hillbilly placed his bet with a non-regulated sportsbook. Chances are, he just lost his money, as did everyone else using that platform, with no legal recourse possible. This is why sports gambling should be legalized in the US, as there are ways to ensure sportsbooks follow the rules, but that’s a topic for another day. Many gamblers are probably wondering what happens to their wagers in the event, like what has happened now, the entire sports world comes to a screeching halt. Sportsbooks, at least the legal ones, have an answer.

The coronavirus is going to have a permanent global impact. Recovery will come, but it will take a while, and the gambling industry is going to have to rebuild step by step. Many states, and gaming operators, just spent millions of dollars launching sports gambling activity, only to have the chance to see an immediate return on investment ripped out from under them. Not only does canceling sports leagues like the NBA, MLB, NHL and the rest cause gambling to stop, but futures bets that had already been placed need to be dealt with in one way or another.

The Lines got in touch with a couple of sportsbooks this week to see how they were planning on handling futures bets on sporting events that have been canceled. While the general consensus is that the operators want to remain in a holding pattern until the leagues determine their next courses of action, they acknowledge that refunds could be offered if things reached that point.

Last year, FanDuel refunded futures bets when the Alliance of American Football suddenly went belly up. However, that was just one small league – not the entire world of sports. Just like FanDuel was ready to show its customers extra good will, that could be seen again with the current situation. The decision partly depends on how the bet was placed – was it part of a parlay, was it a single bet, etc. Even then, the decision has to be made after the particular league determines if it will continue play or end the season early and if it will truncate playoff games or allow the entire season to run its course. Only then can the sportsbook determine if refunds are in order.

On March 9, Swedish gaming regulator Spelinspektionen warned Entertainment Laboratories (Enlabs) that a lack of activity in the re-regulated Swedish marketplace could lead to revocation of their license. Enlabs has until July to commence gaming activities.

Enlabs was first issued a license to operate online betting and gaming in Sweden in December 2018, days ahead of the country’s new regulatory regime started. However, despite holding this license for over 14 months now, the company has done nothing to launch their live platform.

Despite the stern warning, executives at Enlabs have been unfazed. They have assured regulators that they will be operational in the next few months. President and Chief Executive Officer of Enlabs George Ustinov explained:

“The Swedish Gambling Authority decision to give us a warning due to inactivity was not unexpected and did not change our communicated strategy for the Swedish market. We believe the authority’s assessment is reasonable and we will offer games under our Swedish license no later than June 2020, and thus retain the license.”

On March 12, the Gauselmann Group announced that they have acquired a significant majority stake in Bede Gaming. Bede develops and markets online gaming platforms for casino operators, sports betting platforms, and lottery offerings operators.

Gauselmann Group plan to launch their new online gaming market in Germany in 2021. This creates new opportunities ahead of that release according to CEO and founder Paul Gauselmann:

“Bede’s technological expertise is very impressive and its highly complex solutions are the first choice for leading gaming companies not only in the UK but around the world. This acquisition will allow us to significantly broaden the existing technology base within the Group and at the same time enable us to offer it to our customers and partners.”

According to the agreement, Gauselmann Group will further expand its operations into the North American lottery market using its partnership with Bede Gaming, who has a partnership with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).

In a big legal victory for the New South Wales (NSW) government, the full bench of the Supreme Court ruled that Melco must provide documentation related to the company’s acquisition of the Crown Resorts. This decision came March 12 after the court ruled in favor of the appeal by the NSW government.

The Supreme Court overruled a prior verdict finding the regulatory agency had the legal power to demand these documents related to Melco’s acquisition of Crown Resorts from James Packer:

“The court held that the primary judge erred in concluding that… the Royal Commission Act did not confer a ‘power or authority’ on a commissioner [the judge heading the inquiry], with that section extending the general power to compel the production of documents to include the power to compel the production of legally privileged documents,” it was explained in the court’s decision.”

In February, a Supreme Court judge had ruled in favor of Melco Resorts, barring the government from being able to acquire certain documents that the New South Wales’ Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) had ordered produced. Included were the demand for nine documents which the company declared as legally privileged.

Figures released on March 11 by the Indiana Gaming Commission showed that all sports betting in in February reached a total of $187 million in the state, up 10% from the previous month. That brought in just over $1 million in taxes.

What was more encouraging for the state was the fact that even with no NFL football, the state still drew in huge numbers on wagers placed on basketball. Wagers placed on the Super Bowl reached $11.6 million, while wagers on the NBA and college basketball drew $90 million.

“The Super Bowl was the single most significant event in February, but Indiana has done exceptionally well with basketball,” said Jessica Welman, an analyst for PlayIndiana.com. “That balance is helping Indiana avoid a post-football slump, which is common in jurisdictions such as Nevada.

According to lead analyst Dustin Gouker at PlayIndiana.com, much of the success has come from the fact that people from neighboring states have come to Indiana to place wagers. This has made the Hoosier state the perfect option for neighboring residents where sports gambling is allowed.

This week, there’s only one book we can cover, as the 2019 Global Poker Award handed out at the weekend for Written Media Content went to Martin Harris for his book of last year, Poker & Pop Culture.

The scope of Poker & Pop Culture is vast, covering the origins of poker from the game that originated in popularity in America on the riverboats on the Mississippi and developed in popularity across the Old West. The book captures the way poker fuelled the imagination of gamblers and gold panners everywhere as it grew and grew, turning into the game we all know and love today.

Covering 200 years of poker from the steamboats to the online poker scene that exploded post 2003 and The Moneymaker Effect, the book may have a rambling range of centuries of poker, but the writing is tight and the subjects all feel like important pins of the map of poker.

From the old days, poker was a social game and, as the book details, it is both fascinating and funny for its expansion into the global game it now exists as. From poker in the movies to games played during the war, the greatest card game on the planet has been through so many changes it is hardly the same game, yet the thread of poker is pulled tight and keeps it all hanging together with Harris the master of the narrative.

With many live poker festivals being cancelled in the next few weeks, plenty of players will be focusing their attention on the online events that are forthcoming. It’s good timing for partypoker, then, to have put together their biggest online series of the year to date as Powerfest returns from March 15th, running until March 29th.

At present, Powerfest will last 15 days, though with the coronavirus having spread around much of the world to the extent that it was officially classified as a pandemic at the time of going to press, many poker players are calling for online brands to ramp up their offerings to encourage players to stay at home and play the game they love all the more.

With a massive $20 million up for grabs in guaranteed prize money over the fortnight, a lot of the hype centres around the Main Events that all take place on the final Sunday, the 29th March. With 145 Powerfest events meaning High Roller, High, Medium and Low buy-ins constitute 488 tournaments in total, there is a wide range of entry prices, with it costing between 55 cents all the way up to $25,500 to enter.

There are two game variants to choose from on offer, with no limit hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha the order of the festival. With rebuy tournaments, freezeouts, Progressive Knockouts (PKO), PKO Battles and 8-Max, 6-Max, 8-6 Mix-Max and 6-4 Mix-Max formats to pick from, there should be more than a few games for you to get your teeth into.

The week after a major card, the UFC tends to schedule a Fight Night event in an international market. That’s the case this Saturday from Ginásio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia, Brazil, with UFC Fight Night 170 headlined by a lightweight bout between American Kevin Lee (18-5) and Brazil’s Charles Oliveira (28-8).

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Brazil is an MMA-mad country and Brasilia is the third-largest city in it, behind Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Brasilia, in the center-western region, is the federal capital of Brazil. Unbeaten Khabib Nurmagomedov reigns supreme in the lightweight division, while Lee is ranked eighth and Oliveira 13th.

Lee, a 27-year-old from Michigan nicknamed the “Motown Phenom,” has lost three of his past five bouts. He did win his last visit to the Octagon, however, beating Gregor Gillespie by first-round knockout at UFC 244 in November 2019. It was only the third career win by knockout or TKO for Lee. The majority of his victories (44 percent) are by submission. Lee’s most notable bout was losing to Tony Ferguson in October 2017 for the interim UFC lightweight belt.