Author: Casino Connection Staff

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees gambling in the state, recently issued a summer jai alai permit to West Flagler Associates for a proposed facility to be built on a 7-acre area on Biscayne Boulevard in north Miami. The company is owned by the Havenick family, who operate Magic City Casino in Miami and Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Racing & Poker in Bonita Springs.

A summer jai alai permit allows a facility to open a card room and offer simulcast betting, at a minimum. Under the state statue cited in the decision, the summer jai alai permit allows gambling on jai alai games on the site between May 1 and November 30 of each year, noting gambling “shall never be permitted to be operated during the jai alai winter season.”

Family spokesman and West Flagler Vice President of Political Affairs Izzy Havenick said the new property would create 300-350 jobs and include jai alai, poker, dining and entertainment. “We’re very happy, and looking forward to employing people and creating someplace new in downtown Miami,” Havenick said.

The new casino doesn’t have a name or a site plan yet. Havenick stated, “We stopped planning because we didn’t know what would happen” after West Flagler appealed the denial of its permit application, nearly one year ago. The 1st District Court of Appeal reversed that decision and ordered it to be reinstated.

Also in Miami, Malaysian-based Genting Group’s subsidiary Resorts World Miami will build a mixed-use development including the reconstruction of the Omni bus terminal, upgrades to the Adrienne Arsht Center Metromover station, a 300-room hotel, residential apartments and 5,000 square feet of retail space, said Miami-Dade County Transportation spokesperson Karla Damian. Construction of the $22 million in upgrades to the existing transportation infrastructure will begin later this year and take six months to be complete. The project was unanimously approved by Miami-Dade County commissioners in April 2017.

In a memo, Miami-Dade County Deputy Mayor Alina Hudak wrote the project will promote maximum patronage of the transit system, provide functional and aesthetic integration of the Adrienne Arsht Metromover station and Omni bus terminal into the overall project and improve or redesign the Metromover station by replacing stairs, elevators, escalators, surveillance systems and flooring, and enhancing site illumination and pedestrian accessibility.

Hudak said the project will create 1,871 construction jobs, with 171 direct and 100 indirect jobs upon completion, and generate an estimated $54.85 million over the initial 90-year lease term. Genting Group will pay the county transportation department $100,000 in minimum annual rent during construction, a $10 million one-time payment when the project is finished and the higher of either 50 percent of gross retail revenue or $300,000 per year.

Genting Group also owns the Omni across the street from the project, plus the former Miami Herald site where it had wanted to build a gambling resort.

Table-game tax cut in half; license fee eliminated

After nearly a decade of trying, Delaware’s three casinos finally won tax relief. A compromise relief bill passed by the state Senate on the final day of the session June 30 and signed into law by Governor John Carney three hours later gives an estimated $16.8 million in much-needed tax and fee breaks to the state’s three racinos.

The three racetrack casinos—Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway—have sought a break in what was one of the nation’s highest revenue tax setups since the combination of the Great Recession and increased competition from adjacent states Maryland and Pennsylvania sent revenues on a downward spiral beginning 10 years ago. For the past five years, a blue-ribbon panel of state officials and casino executives have recommended around $20 million in tax and fee breaks every year, and every year, the package has been voted down in the legislature.

While the casinos did not get the entire $20 million in relief, they got a significantly better break than the $10 million package that passed the state House two weeks ago after amendments to a Senate bill cleared in April.

That original legislation, sponsored by Senator Brian Bushweller, slashed the slot revenue tax from 43 percent to a sliding scale ranging from 32 percent to 43.5 percent, cut the table-game revenue tax in half from 29.4 percent to 15 percent, and eliminated the annual $3 million table-game licensing fee. The House amended the bill to leave the slot tax untouched, with the table tax adjusted to 15.5 percent.

The compromise bill passed by both chambers at the end of the session—the Senate easily clearing the final legislation in a 17-3 vote—slashes 1 percent off the slot tax, leaving it at a flat 42 percent, while eliminating the table game licensing fee and slashing the table revenue tax to 15 percent. It also gives casinos the option to slash the slot tax by another 2 percent by investing in capital improvements in their facilities.

“The casino industry is the No. 1 private employer in Kent County, and the bill helps ensure that remains the case, that all those thousands of employees, subcontractors and their families will breathe a little easier,” said Bushweller, according to the Delaware State News. Bushweller represents the state capital of Dover in Kent County.

The fourth time was a charm for Bushweller, who sponsored tax relief bills in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Operators of the casinos have said that layoffs would be likely without the tax relief. Dover Downs, the only public company among the three, reported losses of nearly $1.1 million last year.

Combined, the three racinos employ around 6,700, including 2,200 horse-racing jobs.

“It’s been a long time coming, but we’re relieved it’s finally here,” Dover Downs President and CEO Ed Sutor told the newspaper. “We’re going to live up to our end of it; we’re going to make capital investments, we’re going to make additional marketing expenses, we’re going to try to drive additional business to the state of Delaware.”

The contrast between the openings of the two new Atlantic City casinos, which both debuted on Thursday, June 28, could not have been more stark. Do they openings reflect the expectations from both casinos?

The Hard Rock casino held a press conference attended by several hundred members of the media. It was followed by a “guitar-smashing” ceremony—a Hard Rock tradition—that included nearly two dozen participants and Bruce Springsteen’s drummer, Max Weinberg inside the Etess Arena, the hotels main entertainment venue. And it was just part of an entertainment extravaganza that included choreographed dancers, fire-eaters, acrobats, giant aliens, beautiful showgirls and much more, ending in a balloon and confetti drop. Speakers included half-a-dozen officials of the Seminole tribe, the Atlantic City mayor, several Hard Rock executives, and others.

“We are amazingly excited about the opening of the Hard Rock here in Atlantic City, and not just this building, but truly a bridge to the revitalization of Atlantic City,” said Jim Allen, chairman and CEO of Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment, at the press conference. “Atlantic City is still the second-largest gaming market in the United States, with almost 30 million people within a three-hour drive. We believe this project will create a new renaissance, with the excitement of Atlantic City going back to being one of the great entertainment cities in the United States.

“We have spent over $500 million in renovating this building, and you may recall when we first purchased this building, we promised we would not just paint it and put a guitar on the wall. How do you think we did?”

“So many exciting things have happened here on the Atlantic City beach and Boardwalk. When you look at the Jersey shore and how successful it has been the last 10 years, Atlantic City is going to take the next step, and our project, we believe, is going to be the catalyst for that.”

Allen also noted that the Hard Rock launches with zero debt, having been funded internally by the Seminole tribe, and added that its operating company, Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment, has achieved an investment-grade rating from all the major Wall Street investment firms. “In the history of gaming, there is no other organization that has achieved an investment-grade rating simultaneously from Moody’s, Standard & Poors and Fitch,” he said. “That’s what we represent… This is a financially sound project.”

Allen stressed that Seminole Hard Rock, with 75 branded properties around the world, is an entertainment company, not a gaming company, and that will be reflected in the Atlantic City property. “Last year, Hard Rock did over 35,000 live music events, whether it be Jay-Z and Beyoncé and U2 in Hard Rock Stadium, or just someone with a guitar in a Hard Rock Cafe in one of the smaller markets.”

At the kickoff ceremony culminating in the “guitar smash” tradition, Allen reiterated his faith in the revival of the Atlantic City market. “We believe in Atlantic City, we believe in the state of New Jersey, and we truly believe that Atlantic City’s best days are in front of it,” he said. “People thought it was a little bit crazy when we said we were going to come to Atlantic City six or seven years ago. We looked at opportunities, and formed our partnership with (local investors) Jack Morris and the Jingoli family, and we were able to purchase this legendary building… Our contractors and design teams have been working around the clock.”

He also praised the project owners, the Seminole Tribe, which opened its first gaming property in 1979, crediting the tribe with leading the way in Native American gaming to the point where tribal casinos earned more revenue last year than commercial properties.

Finally, Allen gave a nod to the Ocean Resort, opening the same day two doors away. “I love when there are 1,400 beautiful rooms next door,” he said. “We thank the other casinos in town for being so warm and welcoming. This is a business opportunity; it’s not just a party. This is about Atlantic City, which lost four casinos, with unemployment approaching 20 percent. We’ve hired almost 4,000 permanent jobs, we created 2,000 construction jobs. The ripple effect to all the members of the community is amazing.”

That included the unions, he said, in reference to the infamous labor battles that culminated in Carl Icahn closing down the Taj Mahal rather than dealing with demands for a union contract. “We didn’t see one negative story about Hard Rock and our relationships with the unions,” he said. “We embrace them, we said we want to work together, and that’s been part of our success.” And the local residents as well—Allen was the first CEO to hold community meetings ahead of a project launch; he held three.

The chairman of the Seminole Tribe, Marcellus Osceola Jr., echoed Allen’s sentiments. “We’re doing this because it’s a business opportunity and a chance for us to expand, but what it means to the city, what it means to New Jersey… Our logo says ‘We love all, we serve all,’ and we mean that. I want to say thank you to the employees. We appreciate your service to us.”

The guitar smash ceremony—executives and officials on stage simultaneously smashing guitars, Pete Townshend-style, to launch a new property—was conducted with flair by top officials of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and of Hard Rock Entertainment. As per tradition, Hard Rock Employee No. 1, 72-year-old Rita Gilliam, who helped open the original Hard Rock Cafe in London in 1971, served as emcee of the guitar-smashing ritual.

The Ocean Resort Casino, on the other hand, seemed to be a last-minute decision, with owner Bruce Deifik surrounded by friends and executives in the new stairway leading to the resort (which replaced a former wall that discouraged Boardwalk visitation). The one saving grace for Ocean was the appearance of Mark Wahlberg, who is opening his family’s hamburger stand inside the resort in a month or so. Deifik showed some raw emotion when introducing friends and family, along with Division of Gaming Enforcement Director Dave Rebuck, who called Deifik a “real man, not a corporation.”

“I’m not sure the Boardwalk has ever been this busy on this side of town, but that’s about to change in a big way,” Deifik said at the ribbon-cutting.” Among the dignitaries helping with the ribbon-cutting was state Senator Chris Brown, who presented Deifik with a commendation on behalf of Governor Phil Murphy. “We have over 3,500 families here in Atlantic County who are back to work, thanks to you and your beautiful family,” he said.

Rebuck, Whom Deifik called “an extremely confident, ethical moral individual,” also expressed appreciation on behalf of New Jersey, and contrasted the past failures of the property with the Deifik family. “We were committed to getting this property open for the summer, and why I know it’s going to be successful in the future is because of the Deifik family… This man has heart. He’s not a corporate person; he has heart, he has emotion. His entire family is committed to seeing this property successful.”

A quick ribbon cutting and the property was open.

Both casinos had been cleared to begin operations by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement the day before their scheduled openings after conducting “soft-play” tests earlier in the week and both moved quickly to open their doors.

Rebuck said Hard Rock was cleared for full operations as of 3 p.m. and Ocean Resort as of 5:45 p.m. June 27. Both properties then quickly opened their doors to gamblers.

“I am holding the certificate in my hand, and I couldn’t be happier,” Deifik told the Associated Press.

“We are open for business and everyone is welcome right now,” added Frank Leone, the casino’s CEO.

The Hard Rock also debuted ahead of schedule.

“People are already coming through the doors,” Todd Moyer, Hard Rock’s senior vice president of marketing, a day before the opening. “Our official grand opening is tomorrow and we are still working toward it, but the heavy lifting has been done. I liken it to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on cable, where the things they get done in the last few hours are amazing.”

The two casinos have invigorated Atlantic City’s job market returning almost 7,000 of the 11,000 jobs that were lost when five casinos in the resort shut down starting in 2014. Both of the new casinos, however, are refurbishments and renovations of casinos that closed during those shutdowns.

The Hard Rock casino is the former Trump Taj Mahal casino, opened by now-President Donald Trump in 1990. The casino faced several bankruptcies in its history, but in a 2014 bankruptcy the property teetered on closing until it was bought by billionaire Carl Icahn.

Icahn, however, despite pumping cash into the property, could not keep it open and became involved in a bitter labor dispute with the city’s main casino union. He closed the Taj in 2016—saying he had lost $100 million trying to run the property—and then sold it to Hard Rock for $50 million in 2017.

Hard Rock has since spent about $500 million to refurbish the property and totally remove any signs of the casino’s former Indian theme.

The Ocean Resort is the former Revel casino, one of the most spectacular casino flops in Atlantic City’s history. The more than $2 billion Revel opened in 2012 after a long battle to secure financing.

From the start, the casinos was seen as making strategic marketing mistakes for the resort by focusing almost exclusively on high rollers and presenting itself as a high-end destination resort, but still not rewarding players at the same level that other properties did. Revel was also criticized for having a confusing layout and not being player friendly. The facility never turned a profit and was also burdened by massive debt.

The casinos filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and was eventually closed in 2014. The property was bought out of bankruptcy by Florida developer Glenn Straub for $82 million. Straub then embarked on an eccentric and often convoluted effort to re-open the property which included a fight over ownership of the facility’s heating and water plant as well as several lawsuits against the New Jersey Casino Control Commission over casino licensing for the property.

Despite announcing several opening dates for the property, Straub was never able to re-open it and sold it in January to a Colorado-based development group led by Deifik. Deifik has said the group has spent about $200 million on the property and addressed many of the complaints against the former Revel. However some of the major flaws, such as the inability to reach the casino floor via the hotel elevator, remained issues.

Many analysts fear that the re-opening of two major casinos could dilute the city’s casino market again and lead to more casino closures. Though casino revenue is down in the city through the first five months of 2018, the city’s market has been able to thrive with just seven casinos and most have turned a profit.

The key to whether the openings will revitalize the city will probably revolve around both properties ability to draw in new customers with other amenities besides casino gaming.

Towards that end, The Hard Rock is banking heavily on entertainment and has announced an ambitious schedule to offer live music for 365 consecutive days. The casino held a concert by Carrie Underwood for its grand opening at its 7,000-seat Etess Arena, but the schedule also includes smaller concerts at five different venues within the property. Rapper Pitbull also performed at the casino’s opening weekend.

Hard Rock is also opening a nightclub and comedy club—the first hosted by comedian Howie Mandel—and about 20 restaurants, including reviving the Taj’s Robert’s Steakhouse, a long-time favorite in the resort (and named after Donald Trump’s brother).

The casino also plans to offer online gambling in the state. Hard Rock, however, has not opened with a sports book, but casino officials have said they are seriously studying the issue. The Hard Rock features 2,000 hotel rooms, 2,100 slots and 120 table games.

Ocean Resort has also made a major commitment to entertainment and dining, also returning several restaurants which managed to thrive at the Revel despite the casino’s problems. The property is also launching new offerings such as a Walburgers and the unique Cereal Town that will offer cereal 24/7.

Also returning is Royal Jelly, a rock and roll burlesque club and the successful HQ Nightclub. Deifik has told regulators that he has renegotiated contracts with most of the property’s returning entertainment venues to better benefit the overall property.

The property has also opened with a sports book through a partnership with William Hill, though the casino has opened with a temporary sports book in place as it works to complete its main sports betting lounge. The casino also plans to open a live poker room.

The casino has also partnered with GAN, which runs Belfair online casino gaming for Golden Nugget Atlantic City, and expects to offer online gaming July 1. The hotel features 1,399 rooms, a 138,000-square-foot-casino, six swimming pools and a luxury golf franchise.

The two openings also came on a big weekend in the resort due to both the July 4th holiday and a scheduled public beach concert by country artist Sam Hunt. City police estimated that between 700,000 to 1 million people could visit the resort over the weekend, according to local media.

Also, the Showboat, the former casino between Ocean Resort and Hard Rock that has been operating as a non-gambling hotel since July 2016, announced it will open all 1,331 of its hotel rooms starting June 28. It had been operating with just 852 available rooms.

While the hotel does not offer casino gaming, officials said they are embracing the re-openings and adding several attractions of their own including new restaurants, a fitness center, an indoor arcade and an expansion of its indoor laser miniature golf course.

Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam was a prominent speaker at both product launches. “This is truly a monumental moment for Atlantic City,” he said at the Ocean ribbon cutting. “Not only are we opening one, but we are opening two casinos in one day, ushering in a new era for Atlantic City. We have partners committed to the community.”

The Meadowlands Racetrack may have finally won a battle to expand gaming at the complex by announcing it will open a sports book at the facility July 15.

Jeff Gural, who manages the northern New Jersey track, told the Associated Press that plans are in place to open the sports book with partner Betfair US much earlier than previously expected.

Gural said he was reacting to the New York State Legislature’s failure to approve sports betting in that state before closing its most recent legislative session. The Meadowlands complex neighbors Manhattan and is where the NFL’s Jets and Giants play. With no sports betting presently in New York, Gural said he expects the Meadowlands to become the busiest sports book in New Jersey.

“New York did me such a favor by not passing sports betting,” Gural said. “That leaves me the entirety of New York City, Long Island, Westchester County. There are 15 million people that live within 20 miles of the Meadowlands. They gave me a tremendous gift.”

However, New York’s lack of movement does hurt Gural’s other track—Tioga Downs racetrack in upstate New York—where he also hopes to open a sports book.

New Jersey regulators confirmed that the Meadowlands is on pace to open its sports book as planned. When it opens, it will likely be the fourth facility to begin sports betting in the state following New Jersey’s U.S. Supreme Court victory which struck down a federal sports betting ban. The state now allows and regulates sports betting at racetracks and casinos.

Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport New Jersey was the first facility in the state to go live with sports betting followed almost immediately by the Borgata casino in Atlantic City. The Ocean Resort casino opened on Atlantic City’s Boardwalk last week with a sports book up and running. Atlantic City’s seven other casinos and Freehold Raceway harness racing track are also eligible to host sports betting, but none have announced plans to open before the Meadowlands targeted date.

In particular, the Hard Rock casino in Atlantic City—which also opened last week—did not include a sports book in its operations, but casino officials said they are making plans.

“We’re not opening with sports betting, but it’s something we’re taking a very hard look at for the future,” Matt Harkness, property president, told the Press of Atlantic City.

Hard Rock International, parent company of the casino hotel, has a stadium naming rights deal with the NFL and the Miami Dolphins. Hard Rock’s Chairman Jim Allen told the state’s Casino Control Commission while the property was pursuing casino licensing that the confidential agreement had “certain restrictions” concerning sports betting, but did not elaborate, according to the Press.

Meanwhile, Ocean Resort did not complete its planned 7,500-square foot sports book in time for its opening, but officials said a temporary book will allow guests to place sports wagers on opening day. Ocean Resort and Monmouth Park are both partnered with William Hill to offer sports betting.

For the Meadowlands, sports betting is a welcome addition after the track saw its plans to construct a casino on the site overwhelmingly defeated by the state’s voters in 2016. Voters were asked to approve a change to the state constitution to allow casino gambling outside of Atlantic City, but the measure was defeated by a nearly 3 to 1 vote.

Gural and Hard Rock International proposed a casino at the track complex in East Rutherford. Though reports occasionally surface that supporters of bringing a casino to northern New Jersey are still planning casino proposals, most state politicians see any move to expand casino gambling in the state as dead for the moment. Gural himself has said it may take up to five years before the public is ready to consider another casino expansion proposal.

Still, several measures have been introduced in the state legislature’s 2018-2019 session to expand casino gambling in the state, including a move to amend the state’s constitution. State law does allow for a referendum on casino expansion to go before voters again after two years. The bills, however, have been referred to committee and seen little movement.

For sports betting, the Meadowlands has partnered with Betfair US, a subsidiary of Paddy Power Betfair, one of the largest publicly traded sports betting companies in the world. The company recently acquired U.S. daily fantasy sports giant FanDuel, which it has said will lead its sports betting branding.

Gural said sports betting will certainly help the track’s profits, but said it will not, by itself, save the horse racing industry in New Jersey. Gural said the state still needs to reinstate subsidies to tracks to stabilize the industry, the AP said.

Jersey’s tracks used to receive $30 million a year from the state’s casinos, but former Gov. Chris Christie ended those payments in 2011.

Meanwhile, reports continue that sports betting is off to a great start in the Garden State.

“Business has been unbelievably brisk,” Jay Rood, an MGM Resorts vice president of race and sports told the gambling website Covers.com about the opening of the Borgata’s sports book.

“Ticket count Day 1 was 50 percent more than what our Las Vegas sportsbooks did collectively that day. Then Saturday and Sunday, it was like a mini Super Bowl. The novelty of it, everybody wanted to be involved in it,” he said. “It’s a little early to tell on handle. The World Cup and baseball don’t have the brand appeal that the fall sports menu does. But the activity level was high, and the handle will mature into what people think it’s going to be.”

In a related story, daily fantasy sports company DraftKings, recently sent out a promotion for its planned sports book in New Jersey saying it would be taking bets on hot dog eating contests, according to web reports.

DraftKings has partnered with Resorts casino in Atlantic City to run its sports book, which it hopes to launch before the start of the NFL season. However, New Jersey’s current sports betting regulations don’t seem to allow for bets on competitive eating contests. It’s not clear if DraftKings has found some kind of hot dog loophole.

Overshadowing the launch of sports betting in New Jersey and the opening of two new casinos in Atlantic City, is the threat of a state-wide shutdown due to a budget battle in Trenton.

The state’s legislature and Governor Phil Murphy are battling it out over the budget and proposals to secure steady streams of revenue. However, if they can’t reach a deal by June 30, the state would see a shutdown that would include state parks and recreation areas as the July 4^th holiday approaches.

Atlantic City’s casinos and the state’s racetracks would be allowed to stay open for the first seven days of a shutdown—meaning state regulators would still be on the job—but would have to close if the impasse drags on. Last year, a similar fight caused a three-day shutdown, but it did not affect casinos and tracks. The casinos and tracks are allowed to stay open under a 2006 law.

Assemblyman Chris Brown, who represents Atlantic City, has called on the governor to sign an executive order to allow the casinos and tracks to stay open past the seven-day mark.

“It’s unbelievable to me that as our gaming industry is turning the corner and improving our local economy by putting families back to work, Trenton would force the casinos to shut their doors during the busiest time of the year,” Brown said in a press release.

Brown is a Republican while Murphy is a Democrat and Democrats control the statehouse.

Also, the state legislature has passed a bill to declare Atlantic City International Airport, the William J. Hughes Technical Center and the surrounding mile a Garden State Growth Zone.

Under the bill, qualified businesses relocating to the area around the airport will be eligible for the tax breaks that are currently offered to businesses in other growth zones such as Atlantic City, Camden, Passaic, Paterson and Trenton. The bill now goes to Murphy for his signature.

New research from GamblingCompliance says New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey will overtake Nevada as the largest sports betting markets in the United States in the next five years.

A report from the firm titled “U.S. Sports Betting: Sizing the Post-PASPA Opportunity” predicts New York will generate more than $700 million a year in betting revenue in what is expected to be a $1.1 billion to $5.2 billion national market. New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be next with $300 million each, thus relegating Nevada, which for decades enjoyed a monopoly on single-game wagering in the U.S., to fourth place.

Currently, New Jersey and Delaware are the only states outside Nevada authorizing single-game betting, but a wave of intra-state legalizations are expected in the wake of a May ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court voiding a federal prohibition that had been in force for 25 years.

The New York Legislature adjourned for the year on June 20 without acting on bills in the Senate and Assembly establishing a regulatory framework, but pro-betting lawmakers have vowed to make it a front-burner issue for 2019.

The report predicts, in the meantime, that Mississippi, West Virginia and Rhode Island will move quickly along with Pennsylvania to enact regulations.

What forms those rules will take remain, however, a matter for speculation, according to the report’s authors, James Kilsby, the firm’s managing director for the Americas, and Daniel Stone, the head of data content.

“Policymakers will inevitably be challenged to strike a balance between their desire to maximize state tax revenues from lawful wagering and ensuring that licensed operators are able to offer odds that are competitive enough to challenge bettors away from offshore sportsbooks or underground bookies,” they write.

“We assume that Pennsylvania will prove to be an outlier with its eye-watering 36 percent tax rate on gross wagering revenue. Nevertheless, it may be difficult for states to stay in the ‘sweet spots’ of the roughly 15-20 percent tax rate that has characterized the most successful European online sports betting markets.”

Nevada’s bookmakers operate under the state’s 6.75 percent tax rate on gross gaming revenue.

The report says also that federal regulation of sports wagering is highly unlikely, noting that the National Conference of State Legislatures and gaming regulators in Nevada, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Louisiana have voiced their opposition.

GamblingCompliance provides independent legal, regulatory and market intelligence on gaming worldwide from offices in London and Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s lifting of the federal ban on sports wagering is giving many stakeholders a boost, but right in the mix is the national sports press.

The Chicago Sun-Times notes the story of local CBS radio station 670 The Score, where Program Director Mitch Rosen jumped the gun on the sports betting decision, announcing 11 days before the court’s ruling that opened the sports-betting floodgates that the station would begin airing one-minute segments on local sports gambling with data from the Vegas Stats & Information Network (VSiN).

“There was a lot of speculation that it was going to come close in the Supreme Court,” Rosen told the newspaper. “We wanted to be ahead of the wave. This, to me, is not about back-room gambling or bookmakers. This is almost the saber metrics of wagering, of fantasy sports, and, especially partnering with VSiN, it legitimizes what that whole category is.

“Was I clairvoyant? No. Did I trust the people at VSiN and their credibility and have a gut feeling that the Supreme Court was going to open up the floodgates? Yeah.”

Rosen said sports betting “will be a new venue for clients and partners to help sell their brand and grow their brand through our avenues, through our digital and on-air platforms.”

Other sports media outlets have initiated similar new coverage for the sports betting market. ESPN 1000 has a daily segment with guest handicappers. ESPN’s new streaming service, ESPN+, is showing I’ll Take That Bet, featuring sports data and analytics.

According to the Sun-Times report, NBC Sports Chicago said it’s still evaluating, but regional sports networks might soon speed up the entire process.

“The gambling media is coming,” wrote Jeff Agrest of the Sun-Times, “and you’ll meet a new cast of characters. The big questions are what it will look like, how successful it will be and, of course, how much money you’ll make from it.”

The 22^nd annual East Coast Gaming Congress was held last week at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City. Organized by Cooper Levenson, Spectrum Gaming Group, Friedmutter Design Group and Sysco Foods, the conference attracted 600 people to hear a variety of keynote speakers, expert panels, and networking opportunities.

The event coincided with the beginning of sports betting in New Jersey. Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill on Monday and made the first bets at the Monmouth Park facility on Thursday. Later that day, he addressed the ECGC and touched on sports betting and its impact on the state.

“Legal sports betting means that our casinos in Atlantic City can attract new business and new fans, boosting their own long-term financial prospects,” said Murphy. “This law means that sports betting will no longer be the domain for illegal sports books and organized crime, it will now be done in the wide open where it will be carefully regulated and properly overseen.”

Murphy also emphasized his support for Atlantic City and its redevelopment. He cited the upcoming opening of two new casinos, the construction of an Atlantic City campus for Stockton University, new offices for South Jersey Gas and 600 employees, the completion of a large apartment complex and various other business developments now being created.

“Atlantic City is coming back and we’re going to help in any way we can,” he said.

Other highlights included an in depth look at sports betting by SBTech CEO Richard Carter, followed by a panel that included sports betting experts like William Hill’s Joe Asher, Sportradar US Neale Dealey, Worldpay’s Joe Pappano, and Geocomply’s Anna Sainsbury.

A session on game design and the future of the casino floor was moderated by GGB Publisher Roger Gros and included Seth Young from Foxwoods, Miles Arnone from Gamblit, Blaine Graboyes from GameCo, and Seth Schorr from Fifth Street Gaming .

The conference wrapped up with a CEO panel that included the leaders of several operators, including David Cordish from the Cordish Companies, Greg Carlin of Rush Street Gaming, Felix Rappaport from Foxwoods and Holly Gagnon from Seneca Gaming.