This Week in Gambling

It may not be traditional March Madness betting, but Bally’s Interactive has announced the launch of their Bally Bracket – which is a free-to-play game awarding a jackpot prize of $100 million to the lucky players who correctly pick all 63 games of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament! The Bally Bracket will also award $100,000 in additional cash prizes, given out at random and in the following increments: (i) one $50,000 winner; (ii) one $25,000 winner; (iii) two $10,000 winners; and (iv) one $5,000 winner. “The NCAA tournament is always an enjoyable time of year as people gather…

Atlanta Falcons star wide receiver Calvin Ridley has been suspended for betting on NFL games. The League announced the suspension earlier this week, and while they are calling it “indefinite” they do confirm that it will be at least the entirety of the 2022 season. The NFL stated that Ridley was betting on NFL games in late November of last year while he was separated from the team for a “non-football illness” and not participating in games. He had left the Falcons team after just five games for his “mental well being”. Even though Ridley was away from the team…

This week’s gambling news focuses on the expected growth of US online casino betting, and in particular the expansion of regulated internet casino games. Why are online betting and casinos about to explode now? And what lead us to this point? We also look at a new interview we just released that relates to this topic, and a major casino game manufacturer that’s rebranding ahead of the expected explosion. What a great time for our industry here in America, as online casino betting, web based poker, and even crypto slots seems ready to explode across the entire country! And you…

This Week in Gambling is talking about online gambling expansion with Casey Clark, the Senior VP of Strategic Communications at the American Gaming Association. Discussion includes how the Coronavirus pandemic helped the the growth of mobile sports betting, and our industry’s growing use of digital currency. The rise in mobile sports betting and online gambling expansion in the U.S. enabled the commercial gaming industry to reach a record $13.6 billion in revenue in the second quarter of 2021, crushing the old mark of $11.1 billion set in the third quarter of 2019. The American Gaming Association is committed to working…

Scientific Games has announced that the company is splitting their lottery operations from their slots and igaming divisions. The lottery group will operate as a stand-alone company and retain the Scientific Games name. Meanwhile, the Gaming and iGaming divisions have split-off and rebranded as Light & Wonder. The Light & Wonder company will establish a cross-platform approach to deliver online slot and game franchises to casino players in land-based, online and mobile casinos, and for both real money and free play social games. Light & Wonder’s rebranding does not impact the company’s lottery business or 130 customers in 50 countries…

The threat from the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus did little to slow down the Vegas revenue record streak. Nevada casinos once again took in over $1 billion in the month of January, marking the 11th consecutive month they’ve done so. A report from the Nevada Gaming Control Board shows that the state won close to $1.1 billion, which was up over 40% from the same time last year. Board members stated that these numbers were a “pleasant surprise” given the spike in Covid cases that took place. Casinos in Las Vegas were responsible for $928 million of that record…