New Jersey decided years ago that Atlantic City wasn’t able to properly manage its casino activity and has made helping the city recover a state priority.  The NJ Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) was created in 1984 to help with the process and has, over the years, issued investment bonds to give Atlantic City injections of capital.  However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the recovery efforts to slip as casinos everywhere were shut down, and the city’s outlook has taken a hit, as well.  Fitch Ratings recently took a look at how things are going and decided that the prognosis for recovery is a little less positive.  As a result, it dropped the rating it had on the strength of the CRDA.

$215 million worth of bonds is now viewed as a little riskier after Fitch moved the CRDA from BBB+ to BBB. While the agency still believes the default risk for the bonds is low, a rating of BBB indicates “adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair” the risk. Fitch explains, “The downgrade of CRDA’s luxury tax revenue bonds to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+’ reflects the severity of pledged revenue declines in 2020, the likely slow trajectory of the recovery for casino and other entertainment activity in Atlantic City, and thus luxury tax receipts, and the resulting higher vulnerability of the structure to revenue volatility in the near term, relative to our pre-pandemic expectations.”

Currently, and since being able to reopen in July, Atlantic City casinos are operating at just 25% their normal capacity. As such, the money flowing into the CRDA has slowed substantially. The group is funded by a 1.25% “Investment Alternative Tax” (IAT) on the gambling venues’ gross gaming revenue (GGR) and this revenue saw a year-on-year drop of 15.1% in September as it only reached $190.5 million. In addition to the IAT, casinos give up 9% of hotel and entertainment revenue and 3% of liquor sales, all of which have suffered because of COVID-19.

Fitch adds, “Despite the severe revenue shock and resulting narrower resilience, the resumption of taxable activity at a reduced level suggests that recovery is underway. The Negative Outlook at the ‘BBB’ rating level reflects heightened uncertainty about the strength of taxable activity through the recovery period and the vulnerability of receipts to further pressures, including those posed by prolonged public health concerns.”

Fairmount Park, in partnership with FanDuel, has received a go ahead to be become a racino in Illinois. This development comes as the majority see further restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) granted Fairmount Park a Master Sports Wagering License at a October 29 special meeting. It’s also agreed to give the track a “preliminary suitable” status to add casino games. The decision, which will allow the park to operate as FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, makes FanDuel the first sportsbook to offer betting at multiple retail venues in the state.

Melissa Helton, President and General Manager of Fairmount Park, noted declining interest in horse racing a reason for applying for the licenses. “I am telling you this to communicate how significant this opportunity is for the company and all its people impacted,” she said. “The gaming bill giving us the right to apply to become a racino along with the sports wagering opportunity has been the biggest event to move Illinois horse racing back to what it once was and forward to greater heights.”

Eight of Illinois’ 10 casinos are operating under reduced daily hours and new capacity limits amid rising COVID-19 positivity rates in most state regions.

After the closure of one Subic-area Philippine Offshore Gambling Operator (POGO), a can of worms was opened revealing just what happens when Chinese employees are kicked to the curb. Now, the rest of the POGOs in the neighborhood appear to be closing as well.

3 more POGOs closing in Subic

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chair Wilma Eisma has revealed that the three remaining POGOs have signaled their intention to close due to the problems they face from the Covid-19 pandemic. They are still operational, but she noted at an online briefing that “the owners of the remaining Pogos have said that they are also in the process of winding down.”

“Actually, it’s saddening in a way, because the POGO closure is a signal that the economy is not yet there. And I would think [the] economy not just in the Philippines but also worldwide because the POGO clients are not in the Philippines, but outside of it,” she added.

The action has been fast and furious, there have been big swings this way and that and both men have kept us thoroughly entertained on the Run It Once Twitch channel during the month of October.

After some fantastic PLO action, Phil Galfond is $234,000 down in his latest challenge against former WSOP bracelet winner Chance Kornuth after 8,500 hands.

While that may sound bad enough, such are the odds and stake of the sidebet, which would see Kornuth cash for another $1 million

Playing at blinds of $100/$200 per hand, there are bound to be a lot more swings in the next 26,500 hands, after all, there are 35,000 hands to take place in total in this mammoth challenge, far more than Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk will play in their 25,000-hand clash that starts on Thursday.

Back in the summer, the World Series of Poker’s Online Series had a flagship event – the $5,000 Main Event. Hosted by GGPoker, it would break records to the extent that this week, the Guinness World Records department have been in touch with GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu himself to award the commendation.  

Here’s the GGPoker video where Negreanu takes the award from Michael Empric, the official Adjudicator for Guinness World Records.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nssvtZysAxI?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360]

The single largest prize pool for an online poker tournament, the WSOP Main Event being cancelled in the summer led to record numbers in the GGPoker event instead, with a $27,559,500 prize pool created by 5,802 players putting up the $5,000 entry fee.  

Macau casino gambling revenue fell ‘only’ around three-quarters in October, which apparently qualifies as a roaring success in this pandemic-plagued year.

Figures released Sunday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) show market-wide casino gaming revenue of MOP7.3b (US$914m), a 72.5% decline from the same month last year but the highest monthly total since the MOP22.1b reported in (mostly) pre-pandemic January.

The 72.5% decline was also the smallest in percentage terms since January and October’s financial sum represented a significant rise from September’s MOP2.2b. However, October did include the annual Golden Week holiday celebration, so perhaps everybody might want to opt for chugging their cheaper champagne for the time being.

For the year to date, gaming revenue sits just under MOP45.9m, an 81.4% decline from the sum reported over the first 10 months of 2019. But with gambling tax revenue accounting for 80% of the special administrative region of China’s budget, this unprecedented shortfall is having serious ramifications not just for casino operators but for Macau residents as a whole.

Singapore’s casinos saw fewer local gamblers following last year’s 50% increase in the cost of the casino entry levy, according to the local gambling regulator.

This week, Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) issued its 2019-20 annual report on its oversight of the city-state’s two integrated resorts: Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Genting Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).

Among the observations made in the report by CRA chairman Tan Tee How was that the April 2019 increases in the daily and annual entry levies for local residents wishing to gamble at either of the two integrated resorts had pushed the number of locals gambling in casinos down from 4% of the adult population in FY19 to 2.7% in FY20.  

The number of locals interested in casino gambling has been on the decline for some time and Singapore boasts an enviably low problem gambling rate. That rate has trended consistently downward following the 2010 launch of the two casinos despite a rise in overall gambling participation over the same period.