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June could be a monumental month for Atlantic City as reports have surfaced that the Ocean Resort—formerly the Revel casino on the city’s north Boardwalk—is shooting to open simultaneously with the new Hard Rock Atlantic City.

Hard Rock has set a June 28 opening date and announced a full slate of entertainment for the property, which was once the Trump Taj Mahal. According to the Press of Atlantic City, several new hires at Ocean Resort have indicated they have signed employment agreements with the casino, which respectively set either June 11 or June 28 as start dates.

Officials for Ocean Resort did not confirm the report.

“The Ocean Resort casino team is committed to opening this summer and looks forward to announcing its highly anticipated opening date soon,” CEO Frank Leone said in an email to the paper.

The Ocean Resort was purchased by Colorado-based developer Bruce Deifek for $200 million in January and officials have said since the beginning that wanted to see the property re-open this summer.

The two new casinos, however, have gone about their refurbishments in very different ways. Hard Rock, for example, has been noticeably changing the look and structure of the former Taj Mahal, removing all vestiges of the Indian-theme of the former casino and replacing it with Hard Rock’s signature look, including the planned construction of a large guitar sign.

Most of the refurbishments to the former Revel, however, have been internal and less visible, though there have been some postings to social media showing new carpeting and slots.

Hard Rock has also been publicizing its nearly $500 million refurbishment of the casino, including opening a preview center at the city’s Tangier Outlets shopping district.

Ocean Resort, by contrast, has done very little promotion for its upcoming changes. However, the casino did announce one new attraction it is adding saying it will offer the world’s largest Topgolf Swing Suite, a virtual golf and interactive sport games facility.

“No detail was overlooked in the development of Ocean Resort Casino,” said Deifik in a press release. “We’re aligning with companies and brands that are the best at what they do to optimize the overall guest experience, and Topgolf is one of the best in terms of delivering cutting-edge entertainment and memorable social experiences that capture the spirit of competition and fun.”

The 26,000-square foot indoor facility will feature 11 player bays, each with a 16-foot-wide video screen and virtual reality experience simulating not only golf, but other sports as well. The lounge can be used for viewing parties for the Oscars, the Grammys or the Super Bowl, the release said.

Ocean Resort has also previously announced a partnership with Hyatt Hotels’ luxury travel experience brand, Unbound Collection, which includes the addition of the line’s Exhale spa brand.

Still, Ocean Resort needs to obtain a license from the state Casino Control Commission before opening. To date, no license hearings have been scheduled, and a report from the state Division of Gaming Enforcement has not been completed, the Press reported.

But in another positive sign, the Atlantic City Council has introduced an ordinance to change the name of the road serving the casino from Revel Boulevard to Ocean Beach Boulevard.

Wynn Resorts has established a new Culture and Community Department dedicated to supporting diversity, gender equality and fair treatment in the workplace.

The department is the second major employee-focused initiative since Matt Maddox took over as CEO two months ago amid a sexual harassment scandal that forced the resignation of Steve Wynn.

Wynn, who has denied any misconduct, resigned as chairman and chief executive in February and has since sold off his sizable financial interest in the company. But his shadow still hangs over the company, cast by allegations that he regularly pressured female employees to perform sex acts, that he’d been doing it for years, and that their complaints to higher-ups were ignored as an unspoken matter of policy. Now, regulators in Nevada and Massachusetts want to know what the board of directors and top executives may have known about all this. The company also is facing a slew of lawsuits from angry shareholder groups who believe their trust as investors has been violated.

Maddox, a charter member of the management team and one of the executives said to be closest to the disgraced tycoon, has moved energetically to repair a corporate image that’s been badly tarnished. Within days of becoming chief executive he announced a new family leave policy, a new employee scholarship program and a mechanism for providing paid time off for workers involved in outside charitable activities.

The new Culture and Community Department he unveiled this month has a broad remit to promote employee diversity, inclusion, education and professional development and foster stronger relations with the larger community.

“Now more than ever we are committed to ensuring equality, creating leaders, and giving back to the communities in which we operate,” Maddox said. “The launch of our Culture and Community Department speaks to this promise and will help us continue to be the industry employer of choice.”

Heading the department is Corrine Clement, who has held top positions in marketing, community relations and human resources for companies as diverse as MGM Resorts International, Coca-Cola and the Phoenix Suns. She has worked for Wynn Resorts since 2014, serving as executive director of human resources for Wynn Palace in Macau and most recently as executive director of innovation and creative development at Wynn Las Vegas.

The company describes her as an “avid fund-raiser” who has “helped raise millions of dollars from employee-giving campaigns for a wide variety of causes”.

One of the department’s signature campaigns is a Women’s Leadership Forum. Its goals are many: tackling gender gaps in management; providing career growth opportunities for female employees at all levels; promoting pay and title equity; and, not least, ensuring a safe workplace. The forum will be conducting focus groups, studies and surveys designed to pinpoint inequities and help shape new programs to address them and will be sponsoring mentorships and panel discussions and town hall meetings related to these aims.

The company said more initiatives like these are in the works and they will be shared publicly.

Delaware Governor John Carney has told lawmakers he will not further delay debate on a package of tax and fee breaks for casinos, according to a report in usaonlinecasino.com.

Carney had asked the state Senate Finance Committee in March to temporarily shelve Senate Bill 144 until after the state received revenue reports on franchise and personal income taxes. Last week, he gave lawmakers the green light to proceed.

The bill would change the state slot revenue tax from 43 percent to a sliding scale ranging from 32 percent to 43.5 percent, slash the revenue tax on table games from 30 percent to 15 percent, and eliminate the annual $3 million table-game licensing fee.

The three racinos have been begging the state for tax relief for years, as they have been struggling against new competition in Maryland and Pennsylvania. So far, the legislature has shot the request down every year since the formation of a blue-ribbon panel of state and industry officials first proposed the tax breaks four years ago.

State Senator Brian Bushweller, the bill’s primary sponsor, has argued that failing to grant the casinos tax relief puts 3,000 jobs at risk, as Dover Downs and others have threatened layoffs if the tax structure is not altered.

Pending sale omitted from license renewal hearing

Officials of the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania have been among those most closely following the pending sale of its local casino, Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, to Wind Creek Hospitality, a venture of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama.

Bethlehem officials said last week in comments to Lehigh Valley Business that they hope the tribe, which intends to change the Sands’ name to Wind Creek Bethlehem, will follow through on the development of the Sands site—formerly the home of Bethlehem Steel Corporation—that was initially promised by current owner Las Vegas Sands Corp.

That original master plan included an industrial museum and other attractions built around the former plant’s blast furnaces, No. 2 Machine Shop, steel company offices and other long-abandoned relics of the steel era. However, after building a hotel, retail center and meeting facility, LV Sands halted a $90 million expansion project as Pennsylvania considered online gaming, long opposed by LVS Chairman Sheldon Adelson. After security guards successfully voted in the first union in LVS history, Adelson began looking to unload the Bethlehem property.

Tony Hanna, executive director of the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority, told Lehigh Valley Business the sale could revive that original master plan. “There are almost infinite possibilities for development,” he said. “We are hoping that the potential sale of the casino will jump-start development of the site.”

“I think it’s an amazing opportunity,” added Becky Bradley, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. “It’s got some of the best potential of the Lehigh Valley.”

While the Poarch Creek Band has been noncommittal regarding plans for the property after the sale is finalized sometime next year, Hanna speculated that the first parcel up for redevelopment will likely be Machine Top No. 2, which is closest to the casino and the largest vacant structure on a site. It is owned by Sands subsidiary Sands Bethworks Retail, which had once planned for a Bass Pro Shops retail store there.

Hanna told the newspaper the side is in “very bad shape,” and will probably be redeveloped by the tribe. “The sooner something gets done with it, the better,” he said. ““The Machine Shop we thought was the next logical step for development of the site because it’s connected to the Sands complex and connects all the way to the SteelStacks site,” added Darlene Heller, planning director for the city. “So that’s the next logical phase.”

Other parcels on the Sands site include the former Bethlehem Steel office building, also owned by the Sands subsidiary, which could be considered for transformation into apartments or a hotel, Hanna said.

There have been proposals over the past few years that haven’t moved forward with the Sands,” Bethlehem Mayor Bob Donchez told LVH. “I’m certainly hoping that if the new ownership is approved by the regulatory agencies, that we would see some development at that site.”

Meanwhile, Sands officials appeared before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board last week to make the case for a five-year renewal of its casino license. Sands officials sited the $1 billion investment the company has made in the property, the 2,500 jobs it provides, and the $3.2 million in charitable giving from the casino since its 2009 opening.

The pending sale was not mentioned in the hearing, the first of two before the board before a decision on license renewal is made. The Sands has yet to file a change-of-ownership and control application with the board.

Donchez, who was unable to testify in person, sent a written statement to the board declaring the importance of the casino property to the city. “The benefits of the project for the entire Lehigh Valley cannot be overstated,” Donchez wrote. “The host fee alone is helping to stabilize the budgets for Allentown and Bethlehem, Northampton and Lehigh counties and the city of Easton.”

Donchez also took a dig at LVS in his statement, while praising the initial investment:

“The Sands’ initial investment and outreach helped to set the bar for corporate community involvement which, along with other developments at the site, have helped to create a major tourism draw to the city,” Donchez wrote. “Over time, the corporate parent of Sands Bethlehem shifted their priorities around their portfolio management activities, and while still a very successful property with an engaged local management team, additional and expected development has not taken place.”

Sands officials, in addition to highlighting their contributions to the local economy, had to defend their decision to withhold host payments to Bethlehem and the other municipalities after the original host-fee law was declared unconstitutional, while most other casinos continued payments while the legislature debated a new fee law, which was passed with the November gaming legislation. Under questioning by board member Dante Santoni Jr., Sands President and CEO Brian Carr noted that the fees were paid as promised after the law was enacted.

“We are a publicly traded company,” Carr said. “We have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders. There was not a tax on the books that required us to make the payments. I will say this: We never said that we weren’t going to pay it. We actually accrued it during the time that it was ruled unconstitutional. And the second that the legislature got it fixed and got the law back on the books, it was paid.”

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill allowing historical racing machines at Colonial Downs in New Kent and at 10 off-track betting facilities. In his signing statement, Northam said he supported the legislation because he hopes it will “reinvigorate the horse industry and allow Thoroughbred racing to return to Virginia.”

Northam also directed the Virginia Racing Commission to write regulations that require the “placement of reasonable limitations on the proliferation” of gambling in the state and “maximize opportunities for public engagement, comment and public review” during the drafting and approval of the regulations. The directive also called for “local community options in determining whether to allow” the devices.

Observers said Northam’s directive could limit Colonial’s owners from seeking to set up a network of gambling parlors throughout Virginia. Prior to the legislative session, Chicago-based Revolutionary Racing reached a deal to buy the shuttered track from current owner Jacobs Entertainment, contingent on the legislation passing. The last live horserace at Colonial was held in 2014.

Currently, the four OTBs operating in Virginia are run by the Virginia Equine Alliance, an umbrella group for horse interests in the state that was formed after Colonial shutdown and given the licenses to keep the simulcast facilities afloat. Under state racing law, passed in 1998, up to 10 OTBs are allowed in the state, as long as local communities hold referendums to approve them.

Virginia Equine Alliance Executive Director Jeb Hannum said “perhaps 10” communities have passed referendums allowing for OTBs, although not all of them have OTBs. Hannum said the votes were conducted before the legislation authorizing the gambling machines passed but the results of will remain in force under the new law. However, that could lead to problems if community leaders declare the votes were held in a different legal environment.

The new law requires the Virginia Racing Commission to write the regulations within 180 days from the date the law goes into effect, July 1. In a statement, the commission said, “As directed by Governor Northam, the commission looks forward to the process of drafting comprehensive regulations for historical horseracing to ensure the integrity of the wagering activity in a manner consistent with the intent of the General Assembly.”

In Kentucky, total handle on historical racing machines installed at three racetracks was $970 million in fiscal 2017, with track owners retaining $58.7 million of that total, according to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Last year, the commission approved an application by Churchill Downs to operate the machines at its Trackside training facility in Louisville.

The report last week in the Wall Street Journal that MGM Entertainment was talking with Wynn Resorts about buying the Wynn Boston Harbor in Everett has raised questions about what would happen to MGM’s Springfield property if this should happen. Bay State gaming law would prevent MGM from operating more than one casino in the state.

The $960 million MGM Springfield is scheduled to open in September. About 1,500 workers who don’t know their future are working to complete the tower and hotel.

Currently investigators for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission are probing how the Wynn company handled the reports of sexual impropriety by former CEO Steve Wynn and a $7.5 million settlement by him to a massage therapist who accused him of forcing her to have sex with him.

Gaming industry experts say it is perfectly reasonable for MGM to look at purchasing the Boston-metro property because it would be a step up by several levels over the Springfield property.

Although Wynn CEO Matt Maddox has declined to talk to reporters about a possible sale, he told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission last week that he would be forced to entertain an offer if it comes. “Our company stands for quality and five-star service and is uniquely situated to deliver one the best integrated resorts in the world for both customers and employees in Everett, Massachusetts,” he said. “We remain very excited about the Boston market.” He added, “However, our obligation to shareholders is always to maximize the value of our assets and to mitigate risk.”

Alluding to recent comments by commission Chairman Stephen Crosby that the casino’s project was going forward on an “at risk” basis, Maddox added, “These obligations are particularly relevant in light of recent commentary that was made despite our rapid and decisive efforts to sever all ties with our former Chairman, actively searching for new diverse board members, and fully cooperating with the regulators in Massachusetts and elsewhere.”

Last week Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker suggested that Wynn Enterprises is applying subtle pressure on the commission.

“More likely, Wynn officials are using the threat of sale to throw the process into (further) chaos and prod the Gaming Commission into deciding sooner rather than later whether Wynn Resorts gets to keep its casino,” wrote Walker.

He added, “The commission is in an unenviable position. If Wynn keeps its license and proceeds as scheduled, the panel will be accused of rank hypocrisy, or talking a good game on ethics but backing down when it counted. But if Wynn is stripped of its license, the company is left with half a casino, years of wasted time, and a ton of broken promises to Everett, which is counting on the casino as the key to its long-overdue revitalization.”

At the same time purchasing the $2.4 billion Boston area property at possibly bargain prices would almost certainly generate higher returns on investment for MGM, says industry analyst John DeCree of the Nevada-based Union Gaming.

In DeCree’s report last week, he wrote that the Springfield casino, “was a great fit for MGM when the license was awarded in 2014, but MGM is a vastly different company today.”

He wrote: “In 2014, MGM’s total leverage was six times and the company generated $1.5 billion of domestic cash flow” adding, “Today, MGM’s balance sheet is 4½ times leveraged and going below four times in a hurry. The company now generates over $2.5 billion of domestic cash flow and has significantly expanded its presence on the East Coast with MGM National Harbor and The Borgata. As a substantially larger enterprise, we believe MGM is a good fit for Boston.”

Because of the MGC’s ongoing investigation, Wynn might find it prudent to vacate the market. “The political climate has become unfavorable for Wynn in Boston and rather than waiting around, the company could exit. Further, the company is refocusing its strategy, which doesn’t appear to include regional U.S. gaming,” wrote the analyst.

Cree adds that possible purchasers such as Las Vegas Sands, Caesars Entertainment, and Genting, are unlikely to be interested in Boston, for various reasons. He suggests MGM’s best course would be to “trade up,” by finding a buyer for MGM Springfield.

Continuing with the exercise, Cree suggests Penn National Gaming, which already operates the state’s only slots parlor, but which might also want to trade up. He adds to that mix Boyd Gaming and the Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods and Florida’s Seminole tribe.

Travis Hoium, writing in the investment website Motley Fool suggests a way for MGM to carry out the trade up.

He wrote: “I think the formula for funding Wynn Boston Harbor would be similar to how MGM Resorts financed MGM National Harbor near Washington D.C. The property cost $1.4 billion to build, and once it was completed the real estate was sold to MGM Growth Properties for $1.2 billion. In effect, MGM Resorts got a brand-new resort for $200 million.” Hoium added, “The same formula could be replicated in Massachusetts. Wynn Boston Harbor’s real estate could be sold to MGM Growth Properties; if terms were similar to MGM National Harbor, the real estate could fetch around $2.1 billion. For around $300 million, MGM Resorts could get a coveted casino on the East Coast.”

Needless to say, although we will say it anyway, any such deal would require the consent and probably enthusiasm of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. And that’s not a given by any means. It would also probably require the city of Springfield’s blessing, since it has a host agreement with MGM.

Awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on U.S. vs. Murphy (formerly U.S. vs. Christie), states are drafting sports betting legislation in different ways. Some proposals include the 1 percent integrity fee sought by Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, or a lower percentage, and some don’t include it at all. Some state’s bills prohibit wagering on college games, others don’t.

In Kansas, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee took up a sports betting bill and heard testimony from Jeremy Kudon, an attorney representing MLB and the NBA. The measure carves out an integrity fee of one-quarter percent. Kudon said major league sports invest billions of dollars in their products and would use the revenue for public relations and for detecting illegal activity. Leagues also would make money as the exclusive provider of the data used for second-tier bets, such as who gets the first foul of a game.

Sports betting is estimated to bring in $75 million in annual revenue for Kansas through a 6.75 percent tax. Kudon said the NBA would receive less than $1 million. “The bets would be made on our products and the risks are all our risks,” he said.

In response, state Senator Richard Hilderbrand said he would have “heartburn” over payments made to an entity without a presence in Kansas.

Topeka attorney Kevin Fowler, representing casino managers, noted the measure does not prohibit gambling on high school sports or younger athletes. “That is shocking. It’s because the bill is not well thought through. It authorizes things in Kansas I’m pretty confident everybody will recognize are unacceptable,” Fowler said.

He added pro sports already have to protect their integrity from a massive illegal gambling market, and the games will continue to be played. “What do we get in return? What are they required to do for Kansas in exchange for that fee? The answer is nothing.”

Committee Chairman State Senator Bud Estes said the measure is likely to be bundled with other gambling bills, and he won’t bring them up for final action. “It’s too early, too premature. We’ll have hearings on these bills, and they will sit, even if they have to go to next session, which most likely they will at this time. There’s no way to work this stuff out and hear it on the floor.”

In Louisiana, sports betting bills have advanced in both houses, with legislators stating the measures would raise revenue without raising taxes. State Senator Danny Martiny, sponsor of one of the bills, said, “This isn’t my life’s passion. I’m just telling you we’re broke.” Louisiana faces a budget deficit of around $648 million that affects universities and hospitals.

Martiny’s legislation, Senate Bill 266, would allow legal sports betting at Harrah’s New Orleans casino, the 15 floating casinos, the four racetrack casinos, the 200 video poker truck stop casinos and the more than 1,000 bars and restaurants with video poker machines. The bill states, “License holders shall remain subject to the licensing and regulatory authority of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board and the Louisiana Gaming Control Law.”

Every casino, racetrack, truck stop, restaurant and bar with a video poker machine, as long as voters in those parishes approve. Originally, Martiny proposed to allow sports betting only at Harrah’s New Orleans, racetracks and riverboat casinos. However, an amendment was added to include all locations where video poker machines are offered. Without those additions, the powerful video poker industry said it would oppose the bill.

Martiny said Louisiana needs to approve sports betting before the Supreme Court rules on the issue. He pointed out Mississippi already legalized sports betting at its casinos, adding, “I’m telling you the state budget cliff gets a little steeper if they have it and we don’t.”

The legislation does not include any information on how sports betting would be taxed or regulated if it becomes legal. Also, there’s no estimate on how much revenue legalized sports betting could raise.

Another measure, HB 245, would “authorize additional games and sports betting at eligible live horseracing facilities.”

In Illinois, lawmakers at a Senate hearing on legalizing sports betting examined what platforms might be used, what state regulations would be put in place and a potential taxation rate of 10 percent on sports wagering revenue. Gaming analysts Eilers and Krejcik Gaming LLC estimated $680 million potentially could be wagered annually in Illinois through land and mobile sites.

Illinois Casino Gaming Association Executive Director Tom Swoik said his organization supports allowing sports betting to make up for business lost to video gambling in bars and restaurants. However, he said the proposed tax rates are too high.

“If the taxes and these fees that are paid to operate sports books are so high, then the payouts can’t be as high as sometimes what’s being paid out in illegal betting,” he says. “People are still going to continue to do the illegal betting because they can get a higher payout.”

The Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems, which formally opposes sports betting, stated, “Nearly 10 percent of high school students are gambling online, and more than 40 percent are gambling in any form.”

In Minnesota, no sports betting legislation has been introduced, but state Rep. Pat Garofalo, chairman of the House Jobs and Energy Committee, said Minnesota must establish the legal precedent immediately to regulate and tax sports betting.

“If the Supreme Court removes the ban, and if we do nothing, the offshore sports books will flood social media and scoop up bettors who will decide who gets to take billions in sports wagers and make tens of millions of dollars,” Garofalo said.

He added, “I won’t submit a sports gambling bill the tribal casinos are opposed to. Nonnegotiable.”

In Missouri, the House Budget Committee heard from state Reps. Dean Plocher, Bart Korman and Justin Alferman, the respective sponsors of three different sports betting bills. Also testifying were casino operators and MLB Senior Vice President of Investigations and Deputy General Counsel Bryan Seeley.

Plocher’s bill, HB 2535, the “Comprehensive Missouri Sports Betting and Sports Protection Act,“ includes the 1 percent integrity fee on all wagers, which amounts to approximately 20-25 percent of sports book revenue. The bill also would give the leagues control over data that sports books could use to grade wagers, as well as the right to restrict the types of wagers sports books may offer to patrons. In addition, it calls for a 12 percent tax on sports wagering revenue.

State Rep. Korman’s HB 2320 would give the Missouri Gaming Commission the authority to establish rules and regulations on sports wagering and allow “flexibility in the regulations to come.” The measure does not include a tax rate.

 HB 2406, introduced by state Rep. Alferman, would alter the definition of a “gambling game” so “sports wagering is considered a game of skill.” The bill also would allow currently licensed casinos to apply for sports betting certificates, outlines application fees and calls for a 6.25 percent tax on sports wagering revenue.

He added, “We have an example in our country of Nevada, which has been doing sports gaming for over 50 years. What I have done with 2406 is take most of the regulations that the state of Nevada has and try to parse them up and apply them to Missouri statutes. Setting a framework of how it shall be operated, setting a comparable tax rate and also making sure we give the authority to regulate to Missouri Gaming Commission, which has been operating pretty flawlessly since 1992 when we first installed gaming. This bill is a framework for discussion. No bill that any of us have is set in stone.”

Alferman noted, “If we want to be competitive we need to have competitive rates. If federal law allows Illinois and Kansas are going to have sports betting. If we set a rate higher than them, our two main population centers will go across the border.”

In Arizona, where four U.S. professional leagues have franchises based in the Phoenix area, and the state is host to more than 20 Indian casinos, two racetracks, a lottery and a network of off-track betting sites—making it a ripe market for legal sports betting.

Arizona state Senator Sonny Borelli told AZFamily that the fact the state borders Nevada is part of the reason he plans to support legislation. “We’re sending all of our money to other states right now on sports betting,” he said. Borelli said he would allocate revenues to Arizona teachers.

Arizona lawmakers would need to negotiate with the gaming tribes to enact sports legislation, and with the current session due to end next week, movement on sports betting is not likely until the fall.

Elsewhere, Maryland lawmakers were unable to pass a bill to place sports betting on the ballot this November. Since lawmakers ended their session without sending a sports-betting bill to the governor, no bill can be considered until January 2019, and a constitutional amendment could not be voted on until 2020.

Meanwhile, the major professional sports leagues are continuing their lobbying efforts in state legislatures designed to capture a piece of any legal sports betting action—although the leagues have been offering talking points that are contradictory.

At a legislative hearing in Connecticut on April 4, Morgan Sword, senior vice president of league economics and operation for Major League Baseball, warned lawmakers to avoid allowing in-play bets—such as the next touchdown, the number of runs to be scored in an inning, etc.—because “the possibilities for real or perceived manipulation are innumerable, and would undermine the public trust in both sports betting and the sports themselves.”

Last week, National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver embraced in-play betting as it is conducted in legal sports-betting markets—but made a pitch for the leagues to control the action.

“In Europe, for example, where sports betting is legal, people can watch streams of games and then bet as they’re watching them,” he said. “That could conceivably be another form of a micro-transaction, and much of the sports betting has moved to in-play, which is one of the reasons why people want to watch the live feeds… Those are all potential additional forms of engagement for viewers.”

Silver proposes that the leagues should be the exclusive provider of in-game data to sports books in the U.S.

In the state where the lawsuit began, New Jersey’s legal bills in its fight to overturn a federal ban on sports betting have risen to more than $8.6 million according to information obtained through a public records request by the state’s Observer newspaper.

The state has been battling to allow sports betting since 2012 and has challenged the constitutionality of the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which ban sports betting in all but four states. The battle has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to make a ruling on the challenge in the coming weeks.

According to the Observer, two private law firms with connections to former Governor Chris Christie combined to bill $8.66 million since 2012. The paper cited invoices and information obtained through the state Division of Law.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has billed more than $7 million to represent Christie from October 2012 to November 2017. Christie, as governor, was the applicant in the case. The firm is now representing Governor Phil Murphy as applicant.

Those charges don’t include the oral argument that took place before the high court in December.

The Division of Gaming Enforcement and the state Racing Commission pay Gibson Dunn’s legal bills with fees paid by the casino and horse racing industries, according to the Division of Law.

Gibson Dunn’s involvement is noteworthy as it is the law firm that billed New Jersey taxpayers millions of dollars to investigate the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal. The law firm produced a widely criticized report that uncovered no wrongdoing and declared Christie innocent of involvement in the scandal.

Another law firm, Gibbons P.C., has also billed $1.5 million to represent the state legislature from December 2012 to February 2018, according to invoices from the Senate Majority Office.

The current case before the Supreme Court is actually New Jersey’s second attempt to get around PASPA. The state’s initial attempt started in 2012, but the court did not elect to hear the appeal of that case. The state then revamped its sports betting law after the first ruling and that case is now before the high court.

In other sports betting developments, brokerage Telsey Advisory Group LLC predicted that supplier Scientific Games will be one of the big beneficiaries of legal sports betting in the U.S., because of its recent acquisition of NYX Gaming, owner of the industry’s top sports-betting platform, OpenBet.

“The company would potentially benefit from sports betting due to its acquisition of (NYX Gaming Group Ltd). Basically, this would provide the systems for operators for sports betting,” said analyst Brian McGill in a note on Scientific Games issued last week.

“We think the general rule of thumb is that the company would get roughly 10 percent of any potential win for its services… It is too early to assign a value for the U.S. legalization to Scientific Games, but it does remain a long- term catalyst for growth.” The Telsey note also predicted that a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on the matter “will come before the end of June of this year.”