This Week in Gambling

Less than a month ago, Cirque du Soleil announced the permanent closure of their Zumanity show at the New York New York Resort in Las Vegas. But any concerns that the company will close down and abandon Sin City don’t seem to be true. Just a year ago their aquatic show“O” began a first ever seven-night schedule. The show originally opened with Bellagio back in October of 1998. After passing the 10,000-show mark last September, the production hired new artists and increased the cast to 117 from 77 in preparation for what should have been its biggest year yet. Then…

In another primes example of good ol’ boy politics in the 21st Century, the PokerStars lawsuit filed by the Bluegrass buddies of Kentucky will apparently cost PokerStars over $1 billion. Originally, Kentucky filed the lawsuit as a result of the poker operator accepting bets from the state post-UIGEA. The ruling in the PokerStars lawsuit case originally awarded $870 million, but was overturned on appeal. Now, the Kentucky Supreme Court was happy to find a way to award the state the full amount plus interest which total $1.3 billion. The governor of the state said that no amount of money would…

As we head toward 2021, the push for California sports betting is picking up steam… even if it has no hope of regulating the activity until at least 2022. The Coalition to Authorize Regulated Sports Wagering says they have gathered over 1,400,000 signatures from registered voters in the state who support the legalization of betting on sports. Although, more that 997,000 of those signatures still have to be verified. The original signature deadline was July 20th of this year but a judge extended it through December 14th because of COVID-19 related restrictions. The Constitution of the state of California regulates…

Players in the Empire State have been able to place wagers on sporting events at land based casinos, but New York online sports betting has so far remained elusive despite repeated attempts to regulate it. However, Governor Andrew Cuomo recently indicated that he is open to legalizing mobile sports wagers in his state. He mentioned the topic while discussing the state’s financial $17 billion deficit, caused in part by the Coronavirus pandemic. New Jersey has emerged as the leader in sports betting with a handle of over $930 million just in November. If the activity were regulated in New York…

For a third month in a row, Iowa sports betting set a record for revenue. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission data shows that over $87 million was wagered on sporting events in the state, both online and in land based sports books last month. November was the second straight month where over $80 million was bet. The handle in September was over $72 million. More than $445 million of the total money wagered in Iowa has come through online bets. Starting on January 1, bettors won’t have to register new online accounts with in-person visits to casinos. Read more…

Our final show of 2020 wraps up the year with online gambling news involving Sheldon Adelson! There is also sports betting news involving ESPN, Caesars, and Disney! Plus, more Coronavirus closures in Las Vegas and a new game review! T’was a week before Christmas in all of its glory! And I’m Jay Todd with this week’s big story! Yeah, but don’t worry friends. I’m not going to spend the entire time trying to rhyme! On our last show of the year we lead off with a fat old man spreading holiday cheer and online gambling news! And no I’m not…