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Is Las Vegas Still Sports Betting Mecca With No PASPA To Protect It?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The federal ban on sports betting died this week when the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). States now are free to legislate on the issue any way they choose.

In Nevada, of course, no legislation will be needed. The state legalized gambling in 1931 and adjusted to a series of changes to federal taxation through the years. PASPA created a de facto sports betting monopoly for Nevada in 1992, but those days are over.

So does ending the nation’s ban on sports betting signal forthcoming problems for Nevada casinos? Will Las Vegas still stand as the sports wagering capital of the country?

Let’s take a closer look …

This is a bad thing for Nevada, right?

Actually, most industry experts see the Supreme Court decision as a win for everyone involved in sports betting. Nevada is no different.

A legalized market across the country creates a larger pool of players, buoying the industry as a whole. The perception of legalization and more ready availability of betting options could shift players over from the illegal market everywhere.

Don’t forget that many of the major players in Nevada — notably MGM and Caesars — have a major presence in markets likely to bring sports gambling to market quickly like New Jersey and Mississippi.

But won’t people stop going to Nevada to bet on sports?

Those who think Nevada will lose money because people will not come to bet misunderstand how the Strip attracts visitors. In the past two decades, most Las Vegas visitors pared back how much they budget for gambling.

A 2017 survey by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority showed the average Las Vegas visitor spends about two hours gambling per visit. They bring $619 per person, up about $135 from 2012.

Las Vegas adjusted to this spending change, beefing up restaurant, entertainment, and nightclub offerings to make money other ways. In March — a heavy month for Nevada sportsbooks with the NCAA tournament — sports betting accounted for just $34 million of Nevada’s $381 million win.

March Madness and the Super Bowl continue to be destination events for Las Vegas tourism. The same holds true to a lesser degree for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL. More than 5,000 fans traveled to Las Vegas from Edmonton for a regular-season game in January.

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What will be different at Nevada’s sportsbooks?

Nothing in the short term. The Supreme Court decision simply allows each state to chart its own course on sports betting. Nevada law remains settled.

Will Nevada books have to price more aggressively to compete?

Nevada operators already price to compete as best they can against illegal offshore operations. New legal operators in other states almost certainly will pay higher taxes than Nevada’s 6.75 percent gross gaming win levy. In a business with a five percent margin, they likely cannot create much price competition while paying more taxes.

In some cases, out-of-state options might not even look different than those in Nevada. William Hill reportedly plans to offer the same menu as its Nevada offering when it opens at Monmouth Park in New Jersey in the near future.

Can I now bet on my phone from other states with Nevada casinos apps?

No. It is important to understand that sports betting did not become legal nationwide on Monday. The Supreme Court only removed the prohibition for individual states to legalize it.

The rules still require you to be within Nevada’s state borders to bet with your Nevada-based mobile app. Geolocation tracking will make sure you do.

Can I play daily fantasy sports in Nevada now?

No. DFS remains a no-go in the Silver State.

Photo by Lucky-photographer / Shutterstock.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Is Las Vegas Still Sports Betting Mecca With No PASPA To Protect It? appeared first on Play USA.

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Five Pennsylvania Poker Players to Watch For at the 2018 WSOP

The Pennsylvania all-time money list includes plenty of poker players that are familiar to fans of the game.

All-time earnings can’t be the only criteria used to create a list of who to watch at the 2018 World Series of Poker.

Other information must be considered, including:

  • Recent results
  • Performance at least year’s WSOP
  • Typical buy-in range

Without further ado, here is our list of five Pennsylvania poker players to watch at the 2018 WSOP.

1. Jake Schindler

The obvious first choice for this list is Jake Schindler. He is the all-time money leader for Pennsylvania with $18,224,852 in live earnings. Over $3 million of that came from last year’s runner-up finish in the Aria Super High Roller Bowl.

Schindler spends most of his time in no-limit high roller events. Knowing that, expect to see him in any of the bigger buy-ins at the WSOP. Otherwise, he is likely to be at Aria playing in their high-roller series that takes place in the summer. Either way, he is always fun to watch.

The other reason Schindler is on this must-watch list is he is on a massive heater.

Here are his results for April alone:

  • First place in the partypoker MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona for $2.15 million
  • Three first-place finishes in Aria high rollers for $600,00
  • A second-, seventh-, and an eighth-place finish in other $10,000 or more buy-in events

Before you start watching for him at the WSOP, you will find him at the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl. If last year’s performance and his recent results are any indication, expect him to have a big summer.

2. Matt Berkey

Matt Berkey recently collected an American Poker Award. His documentary “Dead Money: A Super High Roller Bowl Story” won for Best Poker Media Content. It chronicled Berkey’s preparation for the Super High Roller Bowl in detail.

It is how Berkey thinks and prepares for poker tournaments that put him on this list. He also has nearly $4 million in live tournament cashes and is part of the coaching team at Solve for Why Academy.

While Berkey lives in Las Vegas, he still considers Pittsburgh home. He said as much to PlayPennsylvania earlier this year:

“God, yes. I still call Pittsburgh home, and I’ve been here [Las Vegas] for eight years. I literally just built a house here, and I still talk about how I’ll move back any year now.”

At the 2017 WSOP, Berkey had seven cashes and made two final tables. In total, he has 32 cashes and nearly $1.5 million in earnings.

Last August, Berkey won the $25,000 Poker After Dark – Voices Carry Event #1. Before that, his last win was in 2015. He’s been knocking on the door awhile now. It would not be surprising to see it open this summer.

3. Matt Glantz

Matt Glantz is a familiar face in the East Coast poker scene and part of the Poker Night in America team.

He enters every summer as one to watch and is considered by many to be one of the best poker players without a WSOP bracelet or WPT title.

Glantz plays all the games well, which makes him a threat in any tournament. His most notable scores came in the WSOP $50,000 HORSE (2008) and Player’s Championship (2011) where he finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Glantz has over $6 million in live tournament earnings, nearly $3 million of that was earned at the WSOP. He has 56 cashes under his belt which illustrates he is well-versed in navigating tournament fields.

Glantz is a vocal advocate for the average poker grinder. He understands the need for a business to make money but not at the expense of the integrity of the game.

In a game that rewards individual achievement, it is often surprising to see players rooting for other players. It would not be a shock to see many players rooting for Glantz to claim gold this summer.

He might not be worrying about the fact that he doesn’t have a bracelet, but you can be sure he will be fighting for one.

4. Joe McKeehen

Whether you love Joe McKeehen or hate him, The 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion is always one to watch when a big tournament is in town.

McKeehen is no one-hit wonder. His Main Event win accounts for only about half of his $14.5 million in live tournament earnings. Additionally, he won his second bracelet in 2017 in Event #38: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship.

McKeehen is playing some good poker lately. He has had four final tables, 10 cashes, and one win since the beginning of the year.

In late 2017, McKeehen joined the coaching team at Chip Leader Coaching. While some players questioned whether he had the personality to coach, he must be doing something right. He counts Chris Moneymaker as one of his clients.

In a recent interview for U.S. Poker Moneymaker had this to say about the coaching relationship.

“Joe McKeehen deals with a lot of the same stuff that I deal with. Being the Main Event champion, people play us a little bit differently. He can relate to how people play against me, so I found that to be really good. He’s a really, really strong player so that was sort of a deciding factor in me hiring him.”

His results alone are enough to put him on this list. His controversial comments always make him interesting to watch.

5. Jennifer Shahade

Jennifer Shahade is the dark horse on this list. As a relatively new mom to Fabian, born in January 2017, Shahade seems to have the work-life-baby balance thing down.

She has been traveling quite a bit and still heads to New Jersey regularly to play online. Keeping her skills sharp is a requirement with Pennsylvania poised to enter the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement later this year.

Shahade has some impressive credentials. She is a Chess Grandmaster, had a deep run in the 2016 WSOP Main Event, and won the first TonyBet Open Face Chinese Poker Live World Championship High Roller.

It is unknown if she will be spending time in Las Vegas this summer. She plays regularly, is a strategical thinker, and is primed for a big score. Fabi might just be the motivation Shahade needs.

Yes, she has the lowest lifetime live earnings ($337,803) on this list. That shouldn’t automatically count her out. She is creative in her play, used to playing on big stages and has extra motivation.

If she makes the summer trek to the Las Vegas desert, look for Shahade to make some noise.

Poker players that didn’t make the list

There are some big names on the Pennsylvania all-time money list that didn’t make it into the top five. Just a few that failed to make the list:

  • Dan Shak
  • John “Johnny World” Hennigan
  • Dan Ott
  • Russell Thomas
  • John Andress

That is not to say they are not worthy of being on the list and not worth watching. Pennsylvania is home to some of the world’s best poker talent. Narrowing it down to just five was a challenge.

The real story here is no matter what tournaments you are following this summer there is likely to be a Pennsylvania poker player somewhere on the leaderboard.

The post Five Pennsylvania Poker Players to Watch For at the 2018 WSOP appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.

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Rivers Schenectady’s New OTB Parlor Could Easily Become A Sports Book

The New York gambling and horse racing industries have linked up for the first time.

Rivers Casino & Resort announced a partnership with Capital Off-Track Betting to offer pari-mutuel wagering on the property. It is now the state’s only casino offering horse betting to guests. Capital, which operates dozens of branches in the region, is based out of a Schenectady office about a mile away from the Rivers’ front door.

The three OTB terminals inside Rivers’ Van Slyck ’s entertainment lounge went online May 4, just in time for the Kentucky Derby. In a press release, Rivers Vice President Justin Moore thanked the NYS Gaming Commission for approving the new casino amenity.

“We are always looking for new ways to bring excitement to our guests, and the addition of OTB is a win-win for both parties,” Moore said. “The Capital Region has a tradition of playing the ponies locally and across the country, so we couldn’t be happier to bring the thrill of off-track betting to our guests.”

The property might soon have even more new ways to tempt guests. Lawmakers are inching toward regulated NY sports betting, and Rivers is apparently eager to enter the market.

Rivers the first NY casino for horse betting

Guests at Rivers should have an easy time finding the new OTB kiosks.

Van Slyck’s is attached directly to the casino floor. It’s where most folks end up when they’re looking for live music or a craft cocktail, and it hosts trivia and karaoke and such, too. The spot also doubles as a sports bar, replete with television screens and pitchers of cheap beer.

Now there’s horse betting, too. The bar contains two terminals, and an adjacent live-teller window offers a third. The teller is there to assist bettors with the process. Racing broadcasts occupy four of the lounge’s TV screens, each covering a different track.

The Derby is by far the biggest event in horse betting, so the Rivers roll-out came at a good time. Capital OTB President John Signor thanked the Commission for what he called “timely approval.”

Just as importantly, the launch also catches the start of the live racing season in the region.

More casino/betting partnerships to come?

Depending on how this turns out for Rivers, competing NY casinos might consider following suit.

The only real case against installing OTB terminals is that they take up a measurable amount of space. Nothing inside a casino makes money like a slot machine does, including horse betting terminals. In terms of direct revenue, it’s silly to swap any slot for a kiosk.

The terminals do fit well with the current setup at Rivers, though. Rather than allocating a separate space, the property has incorporated OTBs into an existing venue. The sports-friendly bar already has video poker machines, and the general activity in the area might tempt the occasional lurker to dabble with a horse bet or two.

Van Slyck’s and Rivers should expect to see small increases in foot traffic, as well. While OTBs won’t be a huge source of revenue on their own, they will attract some horse bettors who are willing to patronize other casino offerings in between races.

Before last week, there was no single location where they could do both.

Sports betting partnerships in the works, too

This arrangement may also foreshadow similar NY sports betting partnerships down the road. Sports betting is similar to OTB from a casino standpoint, viewed as a guest amenity rather than a revenue source. If they were thinking about revenue, though, betting on human sports outpaces betting on horses.

New York is one of a few states with a law allowing casinos to offer sports betting. Lawmakers have dragged their feet on finalizing the industry’s structure, partially waiting for resolution at the federal level.

Until this week, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) prohibited states from offering sports betting. Even though NY had a law on the books, it could not activate that law unless something changed at the federal level.

That change came on Monday. The US Supreme Court struck PASPA down, clearing the way for state-based regulation.

NY casinos may not be keen on carving out a corner of their floor for a sportsbook, but they all have some sort of sports bar in place. It’s not hard to imagine an operator setting up a sports betting window inside a spot like Van Slyck’s, even as a temporary solution.

According to the Daily Gazette, Rivers’ parent company Rush Street Gaming says it would add “sports betting across all [its] gaming platforms as soon as possible.” The group’s other platforms include the online gaming clients being developed through its Interactive division. It might not even need a partner to offer online sports betting.

The three other NY casinos would almost certainly follow suit, though they’ll need to source software if they want online wagering. That’s all speculation, as we haven’t heard from the competition directly. At this point, though, the struggling properties should welcome just about any amenity that might help get customers in the door.

Photo by Dennis W Donohue / Shutterstock.com

The post Rivers Schenectady’s New OTB Parlor Could Easily Become A Sports Book appeared first on Play NY.

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Poker Players React To U.S. Sports Betting Ban Lift

The #PokerTwitter world has its fingers on the pulse of the gambling world. Members made their reaction known after Monday’s news of the lift on Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that banned sports betting at the federal level.

Players and members of the media spoke out in their celebration for the lift which now paves the way toward individual states regulating sports betting. The first state on the list is New Jersey. The Garden State was on the forefront of online poker regulation in the United States.

New Jersey hopes to pass state-wide regulated sports betting by the end of May.

Of course, the poker community is always looking for a potential angle toward more states passing an online poker bill.

The most popular voice among the group to share their mind was Phil Hellmuth. The 14-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner tweeted his excitement and championed a return for online poker to follow-up the sports betting news.

Hellmuth received a large amount of feedback to his tweet. The reaction split between agreeing with Hellmuth over his want for online poker to become an American past time once again, and snark regarding his prior relationship with Ultimate Bet.

Hellmuth’s comments about sports betting were also off the mark. Yes, the NBA and Major League Baseball have now officially supported sports betting efforts in the U.S., but the motivations swiftly changed once a legalized sports betting market became more of a reality. Both leagues have strongly put forth efforts to profit from it, lobbying to attain a one percent slice of all bets made as well as rights to all official data used by sportsbooks.

Other poker players had a nuanced approach to the topic. The practical DJ MacKinnon suggested states who try to pass sports betting bills include online poker when going through legislation.

MacKinnon’s response soaked up positivity. Kevin ‘Kevmath’ Mathers offered an emoji prayer to whoever might be listening.

Also on the sunny side is PokerStars ambassador Jason Somerville. The dreamer and streamer is taking the “wait and see” approach to how online poker could be impacted by the news and is optimistic about the prospects.

Up to 20 states are expected to have a sports betting bill on the table over the next year. States include New York, California, and Pennsylvania, with the Midwest and South represented as well.

Not on the list is Texas. The state recently found a way around the anti-poker laws in place with the growth of legal Texas poker clubs. Could this mean Texas may join the sports betting bandwagon? Not so fast, says former San Antonio resident Jeff Platt.

The Las Vegas broadcaster thinks the federal level for online poker and sports betting is a possibility, but his home state is not going to be among those who regulate within the state.

The grassroots movement of reaching out to state representatives in the hopes of uniting the voices of constituents is alive. 2018 WSOP Circuit Main Event winner Kevin Iacofano preached that sentiment and encouraged those who reach out to combine their want for sports betting with online poker.

News regarding sports betting regulation is in a cycle for the long-term future. #PokerTwitter has a vested interest in the decision of states to include online poker within prospective sports betting bills. The link between the two is not yet on the formal legislative level, but should states start to combine them in the same form of regulation, expect to see rejoicing among the community.

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