
An aggressive $1 million marketing campaign backed by Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, is attempting to block legislation in Pennsylvania that would allow video gaming terminals (VGTs) in truck stops, restaurants, bars, and off-track betting facilities.
Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is funding a combined group to fight proposed legislation that threatens his hold on gambling activity within the Keystone State.
Adelson’s Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is leading the fight against House Bill 1010, which would permit certain establishments to install VGTs real-money that is offering, poker, and other casino games.
You will find presently almost 27,000 VGTs in Pennsylvania, every one of them in the state’s 12 casinos. The number could more than double if HB 1010 passes.
John Cunnane, a Wall Street gaming and leisure analyst for Stifel Investment Services, told the Allentown Morning Call that this kind of expansion of VGTs and authorized locations that are VGT could harm founded gaming facilities.
‘That’s a number that is insane of, and we’ve heard of impact that’s had on casinos in places like Iowa and Illinois,’ Cunnane said. ‘It will not cause a mass exodus from gambling enterprises, but they will feel the pain, no doubt.’
Media Wars
Through Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, Adeslon provided $1 million to Pennsylvanians For Responsible Government (PRG), a newly formed lobbying company producing the ads for TV, radio, and social media marketing.
The million-dollar ad campaign launched just two months after a $1.3 billion deal to market Sands Bethlehem to MGM Resorts fell apart, supposedly because of the risk the legislation posed.
The ads feature ‘doom and gloom’ prognostications outlining how VGTs in places anywhere other than a currently certified casino will destroy Pennsylvania neighborhoods and cost the state $1.4 billion in tax revenue.
The claims are largely unsubstantiated, or at use that is best out-of-context ‘facts’ and numbers to mislead viewers about what the bill’s proposing as well as its impacts.
Deceptive Tactics
State Rep. Mark Mustio, (R-Allegheny) criticized the advertisements for using tactics that are deceptive mislead Pennsylvania citizens about the problem.
‘These are typically wanting to create a boogieman and I’m not enthusiastic about playing that game,’ Mustio told The Morning Call. ‘If they could spend $1 million for an advertisement campaign, maybe we ought to raise their fees.’
The Sands is the only person of Pennsylvania’s 12 casinos presently participating in the astroturf alliance. Company spokespeople say they truly are specific more will join quickly.
Part of PRG’s message is the fact that HB 1010 will cost a huge number of jobs if gambling laws are changed to allow taverns to supply casino that is video.
‘This proposal would destroy the brick-and-mortar casino industry and risk the almost $1.4 billion in tax revenues that these establishments create annually,’ said PRG spokesman Michael Barley. ‘Worse yet, because VGTs are made to run without employees, the 18,000 people casinos collectively employ in Pennsylvania will be put in severe jeopardy.’
The ads put out by the combined group additionally state that the VGTs could be just a gateway provision legislatively that would eventually expand to permit slots on just about any corner.
Does Isolation of Qatar by Neighboring Arab Nations Jeopardize 2022 World Cup?
When seven nations in the Middle East announced this week they were severing diplomatic, economic, and travel ties with Qatar, very nearly immediately punters on Twitter wanted to know if any worldwide activities books had been using action on the fate of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Controversies began after former FIFA president Sepp Blatter (far right) awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Blatter has since been banned from soccer for six years as a result of corrupt leadership methods. (Image: Getty)
The World Cup is the most bet upon sporting event in the world. And Qatar 2022 may be the most controversial host selection in the quadrennial tournament’s almost history that is 90-year. And which was before Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, accompanied by the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, and Maldives collectively decided to ostracize their small but rich peninsular neighbor for its supposed support of terrorism.
Both Paddy Power and Sky Bet reacted to calls on social media odds that are requesting Qatar would nevertheless host the World Cup in 2022, and both said they have nothing to offer at the moment.
Qatar in Trump’s Crosshairs
The growing alliance of Gulf states and other nations recalling diplomats and travel that is restricting and through the Qatar is being heralded by United States President Donald Trump as an indication of unity in the Middle East fighting terrorism.
‘During my recent trip to the Middle East, we stated that there can not any longer be funding for radical ideology,’ President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday from the @realDonaldTrump account. ‘Leaders point to Qatar.’
Qatar is also a major US military partner, and site regarding the al-Udeid Air Base, which houses more than 11,000 US and coalition troops operating in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
‘Seems like a solid place to host the 2022 World Cup,’ Westgate SuperBook supervisor Jeff Sherman responded in Twitter.
Slave Conditions, Rampant Corruption
Qatar’s selection as a global world Cup host nation has been controversial since FIFA in 2010 announced the host metropolitan areas for 2018 and 2022. First complaints revolved around the effectiveness of selecting a location online casino real money no deposit where summer temperatures reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
And since work has begun building stadiums that are new allegations of worker punishment have persisted. an investigation by The Guardian found construction workers being worked like slaves. Immigrant workers have reported receiving minimal pay, being forced to work with extreme heat, and residing in crowded tangible cells with no air-con. A lot more than 1,200 workers have reportedly died since Qatar 2022 World Cup preparations began.
FIFA, meanwhile, remains engulfed in debate of its very own. In 2010, when soccer’s governing agency issued Qatar the global World Cup, outsiders almost straight away knew something ended up beingn’t right. a multinational investigation, led by the usa and Switzerland, found that corruption in FIFA was ‘rampant, systemic, and deep rooted.’
According to your DOJ, international football’s governing body routinely participated in racketeering, money laundering, fraud, and bribery. Under ousted FIFA President Sepp Blatter, whoever reign ran from 1998 to 2015, the association is thought to own taken more than $200 million in bribes in exchange for hosting privileges, along with other marketing contracts.
People understand how Qatar got the global World Cup in 2022. As more details become clear, the more chatter there is by people attempting to see it moved (to either the US or Australia).
In 2014 and 2015, Paddy Power and other online sports books were offering bets in the likelihood of Cup-hosting duties being stripped from Qatar. For now though such lines that are betting where the Cup are held in 2022 are non-existent.
No matter corruption allegations and investigative findings, what’s certain is the next World Cup will take place in 2018, hosted by Russia.
Connecticut Legislature Passes East Windsor Tribal Casino Bill at Zero Hour
It’s game on for Connecticut’s contentious casino that is third. Within the early hours of Wednesday early morning, their state’s House of Representatives voted to accept SB 957, which will authorize construction of the state’s first casino outside tribal lands, in East Windsor, close to the edge with Massachusetts.
Uri Clinton, senior vice-president and deputy general counsel for MGM, called Connecticut’s bill the ‘worst example’ of just how to form casino legislation. He vows his company shall fight it in the courts. (Image: Christine Stuart/CTNewsJunkie)
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has suggested he shall perhaps not veto the bill.
It’s one of the most issues that are controversial be passed by the legislature in recent years, and this one went right down to the wire. The House finally voted 103-46 to grant final legislative approval for the new casino as the clock ticked past the end-of-session midnight deadline.
It is section of a gambling package that will additionally authorize the expansion of off-track wagering, in addition to laying the groundwork that is regulatory the legalization of activities betting, should New Jersey’s legal challenge to PASPA prove successful into the Supreme Court.
Let’s Make a Deal
The bill’s passage would not come without some last-minute quid pro quo negotiation between your two chambers. The Senate’s approval, hours earlier in the day, of the bill reducing restrictions on mixed fighting techinques, a cause long-supported by the House but compared in the chamber that is upper signaled that the major agreement had been struck.
The vote represents a turnaround that is shocking the House. Just fourteen days ago, the casino proposal seemed to be on life support, when lawmakers that are democratic they did not need enough agreement to assure the bill’s passage.
There was a conviction that is strong the home that any third casino should be subject to a bidding process that included commercial, out-of-state operators. MGM, that is presently constructing its MGM Springfield casino in Massachusetts, simply 13 miles away from proposed site, agrees with this specific assessment.
But rather, there will be just one candidate: an enterprise that is joint as MMC, formed by Connecticut’s two existing tribal operators, the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots. The two tribes operate the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos, respectively, within the south of the state.
Constitutional Challenge
MGM believes that the lack of commercial competition on private, non-tribal land means a breach of the Equal Protection and Commerce clauses of the Constitution, and certainly will challenge the East Windsor casino in federal court.
‘It’s Frankenstein,’ Uri Clinton, MGM’s senior vice-president and counsel that is legal told reporters after the vote. ‘It’s possibly the example that is worst of exactly how to make casino legislation. [Namely], just how do you get the votes for a bill?’
‘we will continue to vigorously advocate in the courts as we seek to protect the constitutional rights of any ongoing company hoping to do company in Connecticut,’ Clinton added.
Gunshot Fired at Planet Hollywood, While Las Vegas Orders Bollards to Better Protect Strip
The scene was chaotic at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas Tuesday that is early early morning. An underage male fired a gun in the Strip resort as Metro Police were attempting to take him and another teenager into custody. No one was injured, but it was a reminder that is sobering after last week’s Resorts World Manila tragedy in the Philippines, that anything can and does happen, anywhere, these days.
Bollards, like those seen here in New York City, are visiting the Las Vegas Strip to protect pedestrians. Safety remains a concern that is top city officials. (Image: Calpipe Security Bollards)
Recent incidents all over the world have significantly more people on edge about the possibility of catastrophic violence, and casino executives across the globe are thinking about the way that is best to supply their players maximum protection.
The teenage suspect tried to flee when officers approached him and a friend about violating curfew at Planet Hollywood on Tuesday. A scuffle ensued, and that generated the teenager’s gun going off as he and officers wrestled for their weapon.
The 17-year-old small has been charged with a felony and now awaits a trial date in juvenile court. The other suspect, age 19, was arrested for an fugitive that is outstanding, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He was additionally holding a hidden handgun.
Bollards as Barriers
These incidents as well as other concerns that are ongoing protecting city roads from potential physical violence and terrorism have locales across the globe contemplating how they could well keep relaxed and carry in.
The Clark County Commission announced plans this week to spend nearly $5 million to install 700 bollards along Las Vegas Boulevard with ISIS reportedly directing its operatives to carry out lone wolf attacks using vans and other vehicles. The heavy metal barrier articles will prevent most cars or trucks from operating onto sidewalks in high-traffic areas outside major Strip casinos.
The bollards will be strong sufficient to avoid a truck that is flatbed 55 MPH, authorities state.
In December, a 24-year-old woman in Las vegas, nevada plowed into pedestrians on Las vegas, nevada Boulevard, killing one. Though police are saying it was clearly intentional and charging her with murder, other people contend the woman may have been having a medical event causing her to speed up into a crowded sidewalk.
Last thirty days, a man attempted to mow down pedestrians in Times Square in ny, one of many busiest pedestrian areas in the globe. One person died prior to the suspect’s vehicle ended up being upended by a bollard. The attack could have been much worse, but ‘The Crossroads of the World’ was remapped in 2009, with the implementation of Pedestrian Plaza and Broadway closed to traffic that is vehicular.
Safety Matters
Regardless of the two teens were up to at Planet Hollywood, security protocols worked, no one was hurt, and by all reports, things could’ve ended up much worse.
Last Friday, a man apparently with a serious gambling addiction joined Resorts World Manila within the Philippines, set the casino gaming tables on fire, shot at empty banks of slot devices, and finished up in a shootout with protection personnel trying to stop him. He’d eventually take his life that is own not before leaving 36 visitors and employees dying from smoke breathing as the fires and toxic fumes spread.
Casino authorities this in China responded to that disaster by calling for all Macau resorts to submit security audits so they could begin to prepare for both preventing and responding to such an attack week.
Nationwide Sports Betting Will Be Home Run for ESPN, Likelihood of Legalization Shortening
Last month, a ‘discussion draft’ to finish sports prohibition that is betting america was introduced by Rep. Frank Pallone (R-New Jersey).
Less fans are changing into SportsCenter, but that might change for ESPN should Congress take steps to expand legalized activities betting. (Image: ESPN SportsCenter)
The shell bill’s introduction by the longtime lawmaker that is congressional the Garden State was in response to Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall’s suggestion to the Supreme Court that they reject an appeal challenging the merits of this pro and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). While thousands of People in the us would like to be afforded the opportunity to place a wager on their favorite team, sports betting legalization could give a bounty of riches for ESPN.
Gambling drives engagement, as a Nielsen Sports research last fall found that adults who bet regarding the NFL watch 19 more games during the regular period compared to those who don’t.
That would gain ESPN, which is spending over $8 billion this year alone in television rights. The predominant sports network in America continues to struggle as households continue to cut the cord and cancel costly cable subscriptions in favor of streaming media.
ESPN has lost 11 million subscribers since 2011, which resulted in a high-profile layoff month that is last.
Chalking up a Win
In-may, ESPN terminated numerous journalists, on-air personalities, and skill that seemingly couldn’t be fired. But one unit the media company didn’t touch was Chalk, the gambling section of its web site.
The decision to keep business as usual in the department that writes about odds and sports betting might hint that ESPN is well mindful that gaming expansion across the US would provide a boost that is substantial their dwindling subscriber base.
Chalk, led by journalist David Purdum, became the hyper link between your national sports media and oddsmakers in Sin City, and regularly put sports gambling stories on the ESPN website.
PASPA Repeal Odds Shorten
The 1992 federal statute ended gambling on pro and college athletics in all but Nevada, that has been one of four states given an exclusion for having some kind of appropriate sports betting whenever what the law states had been passed 25 years back. Today, there seems become a movement that is growing not just in Congress, however the general public, to repeal or replace the ban and invite states to decide their own laws and regulations relating to the market.
Annual activities such as the Super Bowl and March Madness routinely highlight that PASPA isn’t stopping Americans from gambling on sports, but only forcing them to work well with offshore books or syndicates that are underground. The United states Gaming Association (AGA) estimates nearly $4.7 billion ended up being wagered illegally during Super Bowl LI, and almost $10.4 billion in the NCAA basketball competition.
Commissioners of the NBA, MLB, and NHL have all come out in support of sports betting, or expressed interest in holding a discussion to reconsider the suppression. President Donald Trump has also stated that he would amuse an overview of PASPA.
The NFL is headed to the activities capital that is betting of US, probably in 2020, using the Raiders relocating from Oakland. The Vegas Golden Knights begin play there later this year.
Pallone among others believe now’s the right time to make recreations wagering a state’s right. ESPN presumably shares a stance that is similar.