Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

We can’t do a Super Bowl 55 props story for the February 7 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and not have one of them feature odds on the game’s MVP as that’s always one of the most popular betting options for the big game at sportsbooks.

While there is no such thing as a lock in sports betting, if you wager on someone other than the two starting quarterbacks to win MVP then it’s probably lost money. A quarterback has won the award a whopping 30 times and thus the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes is the -120 betting favorite for Super Bowl 55 (because his team is favored) and the Bucs’ Tom Brady is the +210 second favorite – and then there’s a massive dropoff on the odds.

There is also a prop on the Super Bowl MVP winner’s position and a quarterback is -375; betting on that obviously eliminates the need to predict which team wins the game. A wide receiver is +375, tight end +850, running back +1000, any defensive position +1100 and a kicker +5000. No tight end or kicker (or offensive lineman) has won Super Bowl MVP.

Nevada casinos generated less revenue but posted larger profits in their most recent fiscal year, despite the pandemic’s impact on the final quarter of fiscal 2020.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board’s latest Gaming Abstract for fiscal 2020 show the state’s largest casino operators – those grossing over $1m in annual gaming revenue – generated combined revenue (from all sources) of $18.35b in the 12 months ending June 30, 2020. That’s one-quarter below the $24.55b those same operators reported in fiscal 2019. 

Gaming revenue totaled $6.75b in FY20, down $2b from FY19, although gaming’s share of revenue nudged up 1.1 points to 36.8%. All other revenue sources saw both their share and dollar values decline, with rooms down nearly 27% to $4.72b, food off 25.4% to $3.13b, beverage down 28.3% to $1.49b and ‘other’ falling one-quarter to $2.27b. 

Slots remained the casinos’ chief gaming breadwinner with $6.4b (-21.3%), followed by table games ($2.52b, -24.5%), sports betting ($216.7m, -19.3%), poker ($102m, -39.4%) and racing wagers ($29.7m, -31%). The overall gaming revenue figure was reduced by $2.5b in comps issued by the casinos, although that was down from $3.2b in FY19. 

Authenticity comes at a premium nowadays, and that’s true when becoming a leader of employees, customers, or the public at large. In his new book You Lead, Minter Dial doesn’t just tell the reader how to be a leader, because it’s not that simple. He helps them discover what kind of leader they were meant to be, and gives them the tools to apply that leadership to their life.

Dial begins to explain this concept through his own path to leadership. He was already an important person with years of experience at L’Oréal in the early 2000s, but having a first-hand view of the attacks on New York in 2001 helped give him perspective. It sent him down a path of discovery, re-learning lessons from his grand-father’s experiences in World War 2, and gave him a sense of purpose in the business world. It wouldn’t be enough to lead people to a nebulous corporate target anymore; there had to be core motivation to lead from.

Although You Lead touches on many topics of leadership, it’s all rooted in the firm foundations of first discovering what has shaped and motivated you and the organization you are a part of, and building from that

If you’re not sure what that means, Dial helps you find it. He touches on the ethics that you may not have declared out loud yet, but are integral to how you operate. He speaks of crafting a “North Star”, or a couple of key elements that you, your team, or your organization should strive for. He also offers great tips on establishing a model of leadership, adapting old ideas to the digital age, and little pieces of great advice on a wide array of topics.

Affiliate marketing has become increasingly popular, allowing companies to extend their marketing reach without having to put up a lot of cash. It has been particularly attractive to the iGaming segment, where operators find themselves in a highly competitive field, but affiliate marketing is only effective as long as the affiliates reach certain goals. One of the more established companies, XLMedia, found out last year how important it is to be in control of its network when penalties introduced by Google against it led to a major drop in revenue. However, the company is ready to bounce back and put those issues behind it. 

Last September, XLMedia announced that it was going to come up short on its revenue expectations for the first half of the year by around $2 million. Part of that was due to COVID-19, but it was also because Google slammed the company for allegedly playing tricks to achieve better positions in Google search rankings. XLMedia had reportedly come under fire for a number of transgressions and issued a “manual ranking penalty,” causing it to lose its place in Google searches. Among the activity that can lower Google’s ranking score are things like using hidden text and websites that use a lot of spam; however, the penalties attributed to XLMedia were not disclosed. 

The company is now rewriting the playbook on how it operates and is taking a “multi-track approach” to recover lost ground on Google. With its newfound dedication to structure and attention to detail, XLMedia expects to reach group revenue of around $54.5 million and, discounting certain business transaction expenses and share-based payments, believes it will achieve adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of around $11.5. That figure is in line with its current level. 

To help it rebound, XLMedia is going to reduce the number of websites it offers. At the same time, the sites that will remain in the portfolio, as well as new sites that are coming online, will see improvements and enhancements to make them align better with Google’s ranking requirements. Many of these upgrades have already begun and the company has reported shared its latest revamped data with Google to determine if it is more suitable. 

New Hampshire’s sports gambling market opened a year ago and sprinted off the blocks. Less than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court bashed lawmakers and certain lobbyists for having introduced PASPA, the state’s online sports gambling activity saw strong participation from the start, even though there was some concern over how the market might evolve. With that in mind, limits were placed on the number of licenses that would be issued and the type of venues that could hold a license. A new bill hopes to chip away at those limits, allowing New Hampshire to see a large sports gambling market with more sportsbooks popping up across the state.

Following the mobile-only launch, retail sportsbooks began appearing in New Hampshire when DraftKings descended on The Brook in Seabrook last August (it later expanded and was included in the Filotimo Casino & Restaurant in Manchester). Over the past six months, there has been more than $225.7 million in sports wagers made, according to the New Hampshire Lottery, and around $18.4 million of that has gone to sportsbooks. Legislators believe there’s more money to be made, though, and want certain restrictions in the state’s sports gambling laws removed. 

One of these restrictions is on the type of wagers that can be placed. Currently, physical sportsbooks and gambling kiosks aren’t able to include live in-game odds, which handicaps gamblers. New Hampshire Representative Tim Lang, who sponsored the gambling bill, is leading the charge to get this changed and told The Center Square, “It makes zero sense. I could literally be sitting in the casino, where I could place a bet before the game started. But once the game started, I would have to take out my phone to place another bet.”

Lang put together House Bill 330 (HB330) to address that flaw in the gambling laws and took advantage of the effort to add some additional actions. Currently, only a maximum of ten retail sportsbooks are allowed in the state; however, if Lang’s bill were to be approved, there would be no cap. This might be tied to an initiative begun by the Lottery, which manages New Hampshire’s sports gambling market, given that the entity has trademarked a new name that is most likely linked to sports gambling. Sports 603 is expected to be a company run by the Lottery that would put sports gambling kiosks in locations around the state where residents can buy lottery tickets.

The gaming industry is showing how effective women are at running operations. Over the past several years, several casinos and gaming companies have promoted female executives into positions of leadership and Atlantic City is one of the locations that has been leading the charge. However, it isn’t alone and, around the world, it is increasingly common to find females taking over, a response to research that shows how women often make better executives. The latest to be added to the CEO ranks of gaming companies is Cristina Niculae, who is now heading up Interactive Gaming Group (IGG).

IGG turned to the long-time gaming executive to help take it into the future, relying on her expertise in strategy and business leadership to make the iGaming marketing company more successful. Niculae was previously the chief strategy officer at GiG and, prior to that, was the company’s chief operating officer, overseeing operations in its iGaming Cloud arm. The newly-appointed CEO said of her new role, “I am delighted to accept the role as CEO of Interactive Gaming Group and lead the company into its next phase of growth. I have been impressed by the innovative and experienced founding team and I believe in this motivated and highly skilled group of people driven by a mission to rapidly become the best streaming affiliate in the industry.”

Niculae has a long list of accolades she has accumulated over the years. She was listed as one of the most influential women in the gaming industry by iGaming Business two years ago and her solid track record of helping companies achieve better results is reflected in that nomination. Niculae sees a bright future ahead for iGaming and understands what is needed to make a company technologically and digitally superior in an industry that continues to become more crowded. She added, through a separate statement, “In the casino space, rapid digitalisation and increased competition between online casinos are creating a strong value proposition for what streaming communities have to offer. Therefore, I feel inspired by the tremendous potential of Interactive Gaming Group to innovate and create long term value in this exciting space.”

In addition to her successful track record in the gaming industry, Niculae also has extensive experience in technology. She previously worked as a network engineering director for Ericsson and as an IT center manager for Oracle. Her foray into the gaming realm came with her entrance into GiG in 2017 and, since then, she has had a lasting impact on how the iGaming segment has evolved. Niculae has the full support of IGG’s founders, who said, “We believe that Cristina is the perfect person to enable Interactive Gaming Group to scale to the next level and become a leading power-player in the iGaming industry.”

Imperial Pacific International (IPI) is reportedly trying to make good on its outstanding debt, but the casino operator is so far in the hole that recovery seems untenable. It has begun to give its employees the millions of dollars in backpay they are owed and has allowed them to have access to electricity and water once again; however, it is facing new problems due to ongoing disputes that involve virtually everyone in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The question of whether IPI can open its Imperial Palace resort in Saipan as scheduled next month has been answered, with the company admitting that it won’t be ready, and this isn’t sitting well with CNMI’s gaming regulator. Although, at this point, the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) honestly can’t be surprised.

IPI said years ago that Imperial Palace would be ready to go in 2018 and then changed the schedule, tacking on two more years in 2019. That wasn’t enough, though, and the company asked for another extension that would put the drop-dead launch date sometime in 2022. However, per IPI’s casino licensing agreement, it is expected to have the venue up and running by February 28. Last Wednesday, the CCC was given an update on the construction progress by IPI’s chief engineer, Eric Poon, and was left unimpressed with the details. 

CCC Executive Director Andrew Yeom was disappointed to hear that IPI can’t meet the February deadline, calling it “alarming” that the schedule for completion has to be changed once again. He added that IPI’s licensing agreement specifically mandates how the progress should go and warns that failure to adhere to the schedule could be considered a breach of contract. Although, after having been accused several times of breaching its contract and failing to comply with regulator’s orders, IPI is most likely numb, especially since it continues to be allowed to get away with violations without any severe repercussions. 

Poon reportedly said that it would be impossible to complete construction on time and believes that the only realistic schedule would put the probable launch date at around December of next year, as had previously been suggested. CCC Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero was present when Poon gave his update and said, “If you don’t do that at the end of February, CCC will again be forced to file an enforcement action for failure to comply with the license agreement. So, make sure that somebody in IPI with sufficient authority looks at this and takes some actions.”

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.

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