He Knows No Fear became the biggest-price winner in Britain or Ireland since records began, scoring at 300-1 for trainer-owner Luke Comer and jockey Chris Hayes in an Aug. 13 mile maiden at Leopardstown.
Monthly Archives: August 2020
Adena Springs to Offer Southern Hemisphere Seasons
Adena Springs Farm near Paris, Ky., announced Aug. 13 that it will offer the services of its U.S. stallions for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season that begins Aug. 15 and runs through the summer and fall.
Shirl's Speight Could Target Kentucky Derby
When Shirl’s Speight turned in his second bullet work in as many weeks Aug. 13, rumors swirled that the colt could leave his Woodbine base to make a play for that most iconic of American races: the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
California Chrome Sires First North American Winner
California Chrome’s daughter Cilla won her second start Aug. 13 at Delaware Park by 7 1/4 lengths.
Ny Traffic Works in Company With Math Wizard
Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. worked two of his stable stars, Math Wizard and Ny Traffic, in company over a fast Saratoga Race Course main track Aug. 13. Both horses covered five furlongs in 1:00.38—fastest of eight recorded works at the distance.
Turf Paradise Cancels 2020-21 Meet
Turf Paradise will not run its 2020-21 meet due to challenges related to COVID-19, track representatives told the Arizona Racing Commission in a video conference Aug. 13. The track has traditionally run a meet from the fall through early May.
Curlin's Voyage Headlines Woodbine Oaks Field
Josie Carroll trainee Curlin’s Voyage headlines the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser Aug. 15 at Woodbine.
Queen's Juvenile by Sea The Stars Among Trio to Start
The Betway Novice Stakes at Lingfield drew a field of 11, including the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt Just Fine and Alba Rose, trained by Mark Johnston that is one of two fillies in the race.
Pneumatic Makes Bid For Derby Points in Pegasus
Winchell Thoroughbreds’ homebred Pneumatic will make his first trip around the Monmouth Park main track Aug. 15 when he faces a field of seven other 3-year-olds in the $150,000 TVG.com Pegasus Stakes.
New KY Medication Rules Go Into Effect in Late August
With new equine medication rules expected to go into effect the evening of Aug. 25, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has been working to get the word out about the expected new policies.
UFC 252 odds: Miocic vs. Cormier for heavyweight title
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Nothing quite beats a heavyweight championship fight in mixed martial arts, and arguably the most anticipated bout of 2020 arrives Saturday night from Las Vegas as Stipe Miocic defends his belt against top-ranked contender Daniel Cormier in their third and surely last battle in the Octagon.
It’s quite possible that both Americans retire after this bout no matter what happens due to age, family reasons, the pandemic, etc. Both have at least hinted at it.
The 37-year-old Miocic (19-3), ranked as UFC’s No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter behind light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (who has made noise about fighting Miocic) and lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov, won the heavyweight belt at UFC 198 in May 2016 as around a +140 underdog via first-round knockout of Fabricio Werdum.
Brad Booth a.k.a. ‘Yukon’ has been missing for a month
The popular poker pro and high-stakes regular Brad ‘Yukon’ Booth has been missing for a month.
Last seen around the Reno area, Booth, who has cashed for $795,429 in live tournaments, last cashed live on the Card Player tour back in 2013.
While Booth’s Twitter is a protected account and therefore inaccessible, his friend Adam Schwartz put out the appeal for information.
Brad Booth’s friends are very worried for him, he was last seen in Reno July 13 when he told his roommate he was going camping, attached is MP report
Brown Ships Etoile North for Dance Smartly Stakes
With his usual depth of talent in the female turf division again in place this season, multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown has entered group 3 winner Etoile (FR) in the Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) Aug. 15 at Woodbine.
Obituary: Seymour Twice Won Canada's Triple Crown
Canadian Hall of Fame jockey Don Seymour, 59, died June 26 at his home surrounded by family.
Polking the Beast: Who’s winning the War of Words between Doug and Daniel?
It has reportedly taken a lot for Doug Polk to return to poker, and not just his forthcoming heads-up challenge against Daniel Negreanu, but to YouTube content too.
Whether that’s true or not, the terms have been agreed for Polk vs. Negreanu and it’s become the big match-up that everyone wants to see.
Doug Polk has made a video to celebrate this fact – or commiserate, it’s hard to tell – and released it to plenty of views, in fact three times as many in a very short space of time than his previous three non-poker videos amassed in three months. He may be good for the game, but the game is clearly still good for him too:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXl-VdR9sZE?feature=oembed]
Covers Predicts That Sports Betting Won’t Go Bust If College Football Is Canceled
As COVID-19 continues to reshape upcoming seasons for professional and collegiate sports, Covers asks the burning question, what will the impact be on sports betting if the 2020 college football season is canceled?
Covers’ Senior Writer Patrick Everson spoke with Executive Vice President of Race and Sports at the Superbook at Westgate, Jay Kornegay, the American Gaming Association’s Casey Clark, and gambling industry strategist Chris Grove, about the potential effects of a canceled or delayed college football season on sportsbooks across the country.
“I’m not sure any of us really knows how that will impact us,” Kornegay said, speaking to the sportsbook industry as a whole. “If it’s completely canceled, it’s certainly going to be a punch to the gut. However, it’s not as bad as some might think, as long as we still have the NFL. Last year, 65 percent of our total football handle was NFL.”
Some NCAA football betting statistics include:
- Although sportsbooks don’t separate NFL versus NCAA football in terms of total handle (bets placed) on football, estimates are approximately 35% of total handle in Nevada came from NCAAF football in 2019.
- Based on total handle on football in Nevada sportsbooks in 2019, approximately $650 million was bet on NCAAF football.
- New Jersey took in $939 million in football handle in 2019 and given that same 35% estimate for college football action, over $328 million was bet on NCAA football in 2019 in New Jersey.
- The best NCAAF football bets in 2019 were Kentucky and Navy, both went 10-3 Against the Spread.
Could the college football season be postponed to the spring? Many in the media and the sports betting space are speculating that a spring college football season would provide a huge boost on the wagering front. Among the main reasons for such speculation is that NCAA football wouldn’t be competing with the NFL every week.
Gambling Industry Announcement and Partnership Roundup – August 13, 2020
In the fast moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.
Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements. Our Press Release section is updated constantly.
Online Casino & Sportsbook BETZEST™ goes live with leading Casino provider JFTW™
Online Casino and Bookmaker Betzest™ increase their offering in a new partnership with leading casino provider JFTW™.
DraftKings launches first New Hampshire retail sports book
Sports is back, with the NBA, MLB and NHL all playing games to sports bettor’s delight. New Hampshire is finally in the position to benefit from all the action with it’s first retail sports betting location: The DraftKings Sportsbook at The Brook opened on August 12.
Seabrook, the lucky town hosting DraftKing, voted for the right to be a sports betting location. Now they have a 90,000 square foot facility with betting kiosks, video walls, and “The Stadium,” which offers couches, movie theater chairs, three cinema screens and hundreds of TVs to watch sports on.
“We built the Stadium at The Brook to be the best place to watch sports anywhere in New England,” said Andre Carrier, CEO, The Brook.
Eureka Casino Resorts, which operates the Brook, notes that due to the Covid-19 pandemic they will be following strict physical distancing standards, and hand sanitizing stations will be available. Anyone who visits will have to wear a mask, of course.
The NFL has a new broadcasting home launching in Europe
Fans of American football living in parts of Europe have something to look forward to this season. Watching NFL games live can be difficult due to lack of broadcasting options, as well as time zone differences. At least one of these is controllable and is about to change. Fans in the UK and Ireland will now have much easier access to games each week, thanks to a new agreement reached between the league and major European TV broadcaster Sky. An entire channel dedicated to nothing but the NFL is about to be launched ahead of the upcoming season.
Sports Business reports that the deal will run from the upcoming season, set to get underway on September 10, through the 2024-25 season. Sky Sports NFL will provide coverage of at least five games a week, as well as some Sunday games, all playoff contests, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. There will also be additional programming thrown in to cover the gaps when live games aren’t being aired.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says in a statement, “This new five-year agreement and the launch of a dedicated Sky Sports NFL channel will undoubtedly continue our rapid growth in the UK and Ireland. We are excited that our expanded partnership with Sky will provide even more NFL content to our millions of UK and Irish fans.”
The NFL and Sky have had a working relationship in place for the past 25 years, but this is the first time the league is getting a dedicated channel on the network. It will give NFL greater exposure across the UK and Ireland, where it has held one or two games annually for the past several years. This upcoming season would have included four games if it hadn’t been for the COVID-19 debacle. England has consistently been seen as a worthwhile springboard for further league expansion into Europe.
Indiana’s casinos bounce back from COVID-19 shutdown
As states across the U.S. have begun to ease up on their coronavirus-induced restrictions, the results within the gambling space have been mixed. Las Vegas is nowhere near what it wants to see in terms of revenue, while Ohio pulled off a coup as its casinos began to open their doors last month. Indiana gave its gambling industry the green light to resume activity on June 15 and, according to figures just released (in pdf) by the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC), gamblers wasted no time hitting the gaming floors. July’s revenue was only slightly lower than what was seen a year earlier.
The IGC indicates that Indiana’s 13 gaming properties saw gross gaming revenue (GGR) in July of $175.8 million. That covers slots, table games and sports wagers, and is only $10.1 million under what was reported in July of last year for a difference of just 5.4%. Taking into account the fact that casinos didn’t start opening until the middle of the month and that social distancing measures were in full force (and still are), the results are even more impressive. Those measures include a maximum of three players at table games, four at roulette tables and six at craps. The number of slot machines has also been reduced, and there is no poker.
A Caesars Entertainment property that has consistently been able to brag of being the strongest in terms of revenue, Horseshoe Hammond, saw the most action last month. The IGC indicates that its GGR was $30.5 million, which is only $2 million below its take a year earlier. Next in line was the Indiana Grand with $26.05 million, followed by Ameristar Casino in third with $20.79 million.
Inarguably, sports gambling has played a huge role in helping the gambling venues return to normal. A year ago, there was no market in the state, with Governor Eric Holcomb having only given the final approval for legal sportsbooks in May. By September, three properties had been issued licenses, officially allowing sports wagers to be taken. Within two months, Indiana had a robust sports gambling market that had seen its handle increase by over 80% in that period.