Media Man Gaming Blog
Casinos, Internet and Sports Betting
New Jersey casino, internet, sports bet revenue up 6.6% in October
ATLANTIC CITY — New Jersey’s casinos, racetracks that take sports bets and their online partners won more than $423 million in October, up 6.6% from a year earlier, according to figures released Friday by state gambling regulators.
But the casinos’ key metric — the amount of money won from in-person gamblers — continued to trail pre-pandemic levels at five of the nine casinos, an ongoing concern for the city’s gambling industry.
Only four casinos — Ocean Casino Resort, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and Resorts Casino Hotel — won more last month from in-person gamblers than they did in October 2019, before the COVID19 pandemic broke out.
“Despite anecdotal observations suggesting a decline in on-property activity, the numbers for brick-and-mortar activity for 2023 year-to-date are favorable,” said Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market.
She noted that with $2.4 billion in revenue from in-person gamblers through the first 10 months this year, those numbers are on track to surpass those from all of 2019, and have a chance of surpassing 2022 levels as well.
Atlantic City’s casino revenue through the first 10 months of the year is its best in the last decade, added James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
The casinos must share internet and sports betting money with third parties, including sports books and technology partners; it is not solely for the casinos to keep. That is why the casinos focus most on money from in-person gamblers.
In terms of money won from in-person gamblers last month, Borgata won nearly $57 million, down nearly 9% from a year earlier; Ocean won $43.3 million, up more than 53% from a year ago, and Hard Rock won $41.2 million, up nearly 6%.
Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City won $17.8 million, down nearly 12%; Tropicana Atlantic City won $16.4 million, down 5.6%, and Caesars Atlantic City won $14.4 million, down 18%.
Resorts won $13.3 million, up 3%; Bally’s Atlantic City won $12.4 million, up nearly 15%, and Golden Nugget Atlantic City won $12.2 million, up 1.6%.
Ocean attributed its strong October to a particularly good result at table games and continuing increases in slot machine winnings.
“We played pretty lucky at tables,” said Bill Callahan, the casino’s general manager. “We’ve been investing in this business, investing in the building and our customers, and it’s all starting to come together.”
When internet gambling and sports betting money is included, Borgata won more than $100 million, down more than 11%; Golden Nugget won $61.5 million, up more than 22%, and Hard Rock won $51.9 million, up 17.5%.
Ocean won more than $48 million, up 52.6%; Tropicana won $28.1 million, up more than 11%, and Bally’s won $19.7 million, up more than 27%.
Harrah’s won $17.8 million, down more than 12%; Caesars won just under $15 million, down nearly 17%, and Resorts won nearly $13.3 million, up 2.4%.
Resorts Digital, the casino’s online arm, won $61.3 million, up 8.5%, and Caesars Interactive Entertainment NJ won just over $6 million, down more than 34%.
Overall internet gambling revenue was $167 million, up 13.3% from a year earlier.
The casinos and tracks took in just under $1.3 billion worth of sports bets, falling just short of their record total reached in January 2022 and closely approached several times since then.
Of that total, $92.2 million was kept as revenue after paying off winning bets and other expenses.
The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, near New York City, had the largest share of that revenue at more than $60 million. Monmouth Park in Oceanport, near the Jersey Shore, had $2 million in sports betting revenue, and Freehold Raceway had nearly $1.8 million.
Florida Betting News
Big news as the Seminoles have relaunched their mobile sports betting site on a "test" basis and plan to begin offering sports betting at their state casinos in early December.
Florida Bettors Pounding Hard Rock Hard
MIAMI BEACH, FL - There have been reports of multiple large sized wagers being won in Florida following the relaunch of the Hard Rock Bet app.
David Purdum of ESPN highlighted one such winning wager.
Bettor with @HardRockBet
in Florida just hit a $500,000, four-leg same-game parlay that paid a net $5.5 million, per company spokesperson.
Legs were:
Devin Singletary Over 51.5 Rush Yds
Singletary anytime TD
Over 45.5
Texans money-line
Giant bets in Florida continue.
Then there was Monday night's football game between the Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills. It's not all bad for the Seminoles.
BIG BET ALERT: One bettor in Florida lost $2 million betting on the Buffalo Bills last night. The Floridian placed two bets worth $1 million each on the first half result. Both bets lost. First reported by @BFawkes22
Hard Rock has since verified these wagers with Gambling911.
Hard Rock Bet App Sees 2129 Percent Increase in Downloads
MIAMI BEACH, FL (Gambling911.com) - The relaunched Hard Rock Bet app is flying off the shelves of the App Store with a 2129.5% increase in number of downloads in recent days. The app has even surpassed FanDuel as most downloaded over the past week.
This comes following news that the Seminoles will once again be offering their mobile sports betting app throughout the state of Florida, granted under "limited conditions" at the moment.
Outstanding legal cases could force them to pull the plug for a second time.
Hard Rock Bet is already available in a handful of other states outside of Florida.
AppTweak had Hard Rock Bet seeing 49K downloads compared to FanDuel at 34.5K and DraftKings at 30K.
- Updated November 10, 1:58 pm with Aaron Goldstein reporting
Miami Hurricanes @ FSU Seminoles Betting Preview
MIAMI BEACH, FL - FSU is back to being a force in the Sunshine State. They will come into this game against Miami as a -14.5 home favorites and one of the few undefeated teams in college football at 9-0.
The Noles have been profitable for gamblers too with their 6-3 record Against The Spread.
Miami is 6-3 SU and 4-5 ATS.
Sagarin gives us a number of 15.75, so there is a bit of an underlay with the 14.5 line.
Miami coach Mario Cristobal hasn't ruled out benching quarterback Tyler Van Dyke in favor of true freshman Emory Williams.
- Updated November 10, 11:52 pm, Ean Lamb
Seminoles Relaunch Mobile Sports Betting Site
MIAMI BEACH, FL - The Seminole Tribe on Tuesday announced the relaunch of their mobile sports gambling site on a "limited test" basis.
“The Seminole Tribe is offering limited access to existing Florida customers to test its Hard Rock Bet platform,” said a spokesperson with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
The move comes after a federal judge set aside approval of a gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe.
Exclusive rights to retail and online sports betting in Florida were granted to the Seminole via a 2021 compact between the tribe and the state.
In-person betting is set for Dec. 7, the Seminoles previously announced, as part of a broader expansion including roulette and craps.
West Flagler Group has until December 7 to file a cert petition with the Supreme Court, though their efforts are viewed as a long shot. The grassroots group No Casinos is also challenging the compact on grounds that voters must approve any type of gambling expansion per a 2018 referendum.
The Seminole Tribe's Hard Rock Bet is now available in six other states including Florida: New Jersey, Arizona, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana.
Oklahoma State Cowboys @ UCF Knights Betting Preview
The UCF Knights open as a +2.5 home dog against an Oklahoma State team that upset its interstate opponent Saturday.
Ollie Gordon II ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and Oklahoma State defeated the 10th-ranked Sooners 27-24 in the last scheduled Bedlam rivalry game before the Sooners leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference next year.
“It’s a big game,” Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy said. “And it’s good for the Oklahoma State people to finish Bedlam with a win. Period.”
Central Florida finally won a game following five straight losses. They beat Cincinnati 28-26 and were -3.5 favorites despite the losing streak. In fact, the Knights (4-5 Straight Up) were listed as favorites in four of their last six games resulting in their current 3-5 record Against The Spread.
Sagarin gives us a number of 5.22 Oklahoma State, indicating a 2.5 underlay. Early action was -2.5 to -3. Underlays in the 2.5/3 range without going over the 3 have performed well for the favorites, according to our model, though with a limited sampling as of now. The number had yet to go above the 3 as of Tuesday morning.
(Gambling911)
F1 News
Las Vegas Grand Prix
'It was a shame' – Perez laments Red Bull's call to pit 'too early' after Q2 knockout in Las Vegas
Sergio Perez admitted Red Bull came in too early after the Mexican driver was forced to watch on from the garage as he was knocked out in Q2 in Las Vegas – although Max Verstappen feels his P3 qualifying return was the maximum he could do.
After getting through the first portion of qualifying in 13th, Perez came out earlier than some of his rivals in Q2 and set a lap that was good enough for sixth. However, with four minutes left he was seen being wheeled into the garage as others prepared for their final laps.
This decision to pit the car proved costly as Alex Albon knocked the Red Bull racer out of session, with Pierre Gasly's improvement pushing him to 12th – meaning that Perez has failed to make it into Q3 nine times this season.
Reflecting on his session, Perez – who will start 11th thanks to Carlos Sainz's 10-place grid penalty – said: “It was a very bad session for us. Already in Q1 we were compromised a bit with our run program but come Q2, I think we just finished a little bit too early.
“There was a bit more track evolution there and it was a shame that we just couldn’t make the most of it because we seem to need that little final tenth in it.
“A little bit of a shame but on the other hand there is nothing we can do now. So let’s focus on tomorrow and hopefully we are able to come through the field because we have a fast race car.”
Quizzed on if a Las Vegas podium was still possible, Perez said: “I think so. I think we looked a lot stronger in race pace than we did over a single timed lap... We are starting P12, so we’ve got to understand and learn from what happened yesterday with the tyres and see what we are able to improve for tomorrow.”
Verstappen made it into Q3, but only set one flying lap in the pole position shootout. He finished third, three-tenths behind pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari team mate Sainz – although he will line up second with the Spaniard’s penalty.
“Of course, it’s quite cold out there," said Verstappen when asked how difficult qualifying was in Las Vegas. "It’s quite slippery and of course being on a street circuit as well you try and get as close as you can to the walls but that’s not always straight forward.
“It was enjoyable out there. I do think we maximised today, and I think already the whole weekend so far, we have been lacking a bit of one lap performance and that was also quite clear in qualifying.
"I hope of course tomorrow in the race that we are good on the tyres again and we can work our way forward.”
When questioned on if he was confident about winning the Las Vegas GP, Verstappen replied: “It felt good yesterday. Of course, I would have liked to have a little bit more pace today but of course we know that the points are tomorrow, and it’s going to be a tough one.
“First one here, you know never know there might be Safety Cars and it is of course a very long straight, a lot of racing will happen there, and I hope we are good on the tyres.”
(Credit: F1)
Ainsworth Game Technology considers life outside the ASX - November 13, 2023
It has been an unpleasant year for all ASX-listed gaming stocks of almost all persuasions – outside of Aristocrat Leisure – given the increasingly eagle-eyed regulators and reluctance from investors.
One of those has been Aristocrat’s smaller poker machine rival, Ainsworth Game Technology, which trades at a far lower multiple than its larger peer. Now the company appears to be doing something about it, and is in discussions with advisors at Macquarie about setting up a data room to consider whether there’s a suitor that could take it private.
Of course, there is one obvious party. Novomatic. The Austrian company operates some 2000 gaming facilities, largely under the Admiral Casino brand, around the world. It also owns just over 50 per cent of Ainsworth.
Crucially, Ainsworth chief executive Harald Neumann was an executive at Novomatic before he took the top job at the ASX-listed group. In the United States on Sunday, Neumann declined to comment when contacted.
After Novomatic, Ainsworth’s largest shareholders include Spheria Asset Management, Allan Gray, REST and HESTA. Its founder, Len Ainsworth, hit the jackpot in 2016 after landing a near-$500 million deal when he sold his majority stake to Novomatic in 2016. Ainsworth was also the founder of Aristocrat, which has grown into a $26 billion poker machine giant.
Novomatic’s interest in Ainsworth started in 2013 after Austrian and German authorities began to impose new restrictions on poker machine and casino operators, forcing the company to look offshore for growth.
As The AFR reported at the time, Johann Graf, one of Austria’s richest men and the owner of Novomatic, dispatched his son Thomas Graf and gaming executive Jens Halle to Sydney to Ainsworth’s modest Silverwater headquarters to test the waters for a possible sale
Ainsworth reported revenues of $143.6 million in the six months to June 30, a 20 per cent increase on the prior corresponding period. Profit before tax rose 24 per cent to $23.3 million, the company reported, although write-offs of investments in Argentina affected the post-tax bottom line.
(AFR)
