You can stop holding your breath now, as California sports betting will once again fail. There has been a small glimmer of hope for the legislation as it was scheduled for a vote with the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee this week, but it was removed at the last moment. Even if it had been included in the vote, it would have needed to advance through both legislative branches by this week’s deadline to earn its place on the November ballot. Its sudden removal now means that advocates could be looking at years instead of months before sports books can legally…

Despite earlier announcements to welcome guests back on July 6th, the Borgata delays reopening their property indefinitely. Their decision stems from the decision of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to postpone the resumption of indoor dining and banned drinking and smoking at Atlantic City’s casinos. The MGM Resorts International’s luxury resort and casino originally planned to reopen to the general public at 10 a.m. on Monday, 6 July and also planned to hosted an invitation-only event ahead of the public reopening. But on Monday afternoon, the property issued a statement saying that the Borgata delays reopening in response to the…

The cashless technology for slot machines has been around for decades, and now cashless casinos may be the new normal in a post Coronavirus world. The Nevada Gaming Commission will now consider changes to regulations covering the electronic transfers of money to games or gaming devices. Currently, regulations allow customers to transfer money from a debit card to a game or gaming device, but very few properties have the licensed systems in place. Gaming Control Board Chairwoman Sandra Douglass Morgan said the language changes codify what already exists. The cashless systems are also subject to additional requirements in the board’s…

Nearly one month after Las Vegas welcomed guests back, Atlantic City casinos are set to open their doors in time for Independence Day weekend. There is one big catch, however: The properties must operate at 25% occupancy. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said casino patrons must wear face masks and undergo some level of health screening. “If any visitor refuses to comply with these simple safeguards, you will be escorted out of the casino,” the governor said. “We are not going to tolerate any knuckleheads trying to ruin it for those who want to enjoy themselves responsibly and those who…

Fears that Coronavirus would run ramped after a Las Vegas reopen seem to have been warranted and the state of Nevada has now experienced their largest one day jump in new infections. There were 379 new cases of the virus in the state, and 342 of those cases were from Clark County where Vegas is located. The virus is known to have an incubation period of approximately two weeks, and this new surge in cases hit almost exactly two weeks since the June 4th reopening of Sin City. Nevada now joins a growing list of states setting single-day records for…

The New Jersey Senate has voted to provide interest-free loans to Atlantic City casinos that made their required payments in lieu of taxes during the Coronavirus pandemic. State casinos have been closed since March to slow the spread of COVID-19 in New Jersey. Governor Phil Murphy has said he hopes to allow them to reopen by July 4th. The legislation permanently expands the tax deductions casinos can take for promotional gaming credits and reduces the tax liability for one year on gross revenue if a casino suffered revenue losses on its brick-and-mortar operations during the pandemic. Casinos also would be…