California’s latest effort to legalize online poker would sideline PokerStars, shut out the racetrack industry, and offer a twist that makes traditional casinos and card rooms part of the game.
Inside Gaming
Richard N. Velotta’s Inside Gaming column appears Sunday and Wednesday in Business.
rvelotta@reviewjournal.com … @RickVelotta on Twitter. 702-477-3893
The irony was not lost on Gavin Isaacs. On Nov. 21, 2013, Gavin Isaacs watched as SHFL entertainment, where he was CEO for 32 months, was sold to slot machine giant Bally Technologies — his former employer — for $1.3 billion. The next day, Isaacs was out of work.
Caesars Entertainment, the nation’s largest casino operator with almost 40 properties in 14 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario, is under attack as it struggles to restructure its gaming industry-high debt load of $22.8 billion.
Pennsylvania gaming regulators this month drove another nail into the coffin containing Atlantic City’s gaming market. At the same time, they unwittingly damaged their own state’s casino industry.
A congressional hearing on a bill to restore the Interstate Wire Act has lost steam in the current lame-duck session.
California is shaping up as the nation’s Internet poker battleground in 2015. Everyone wants a piece of the Golden State’s potentially lucrative pie.
Nevada’s virtual monopoly on legalized sports wagering could be in danger. But that isn’t necessarily bad for business.
Boyd Gaming Corp. plans to revamp its restaurant offerings throughout its locals-oriented properties.
The past 10 years covering gaming nationally and internationally have been nothing short of a theme park thrill ride that Disney’s greatest designers couldn’t conjure. Las Vegas hit an apex in 2007, only to be brought low by recession. The market is slowly recovering.
American Gaming Association CEO Geoff Freeman would like to believe the trade group had at least a small role when Massachusetts residents overwhelmingly voiced support for casinos by a 60-40 margin. He’s probably correct.
On a whole, the locals market gaming revenue through September is down less than 1 percent from 2013, according to the Gaming Control Board.
It’s unclear if Boyd Gaming Corp. will ultimately spin-off all or a portion of the company’s casinos into a real estate investment trust. But the idea certainly piqued the interest of the investment community.
By all accounts, a referendum to undo Massachusetts’ casino law should get crushed in Tuesday’s election and lose by some 15 to 20 percentage points. That’s what the most recent polls say. Then again, this is Massachusetts.
In the grand scheme of things, the proxy fight over Full House Resorts seems like small potatoes. But with regional markets on a downward trajectory, the company is ripe for the taking.
New smoking rules have been the least of the problems to beset Macau this year. The Chinese gaming enclave has experienced four straight months of gaming revenue declines.