Digital Wager Wire highlights the most significant events affecting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industries each week throughout the year.
Super Bowl Returns to Vegas
It was only two years ago when Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, hosted its first Super Bowl when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in what was a 25-22 overtime thriller. The reviews of the location were overwhelmingly positive, and the area saw an influx of 330,000 tourists who injected over $1 billion into the local economy.
The NFL recently announced that it chose Las Vegas again for the site of Super Bowl LXIII in 2029. It was welcome news for an area that saw a 7.4% drop in tourism last year and is hoping to rebound for the millions who work in the gaming and hospitality industries.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “We’re excited to bring the Super Bowl back to Las Vegas and provide our fans another incredible experience in one of America’s greatest sports and entertainment destinations.
“Super Bowl LVIII demonstrated the scale, energy, and hospitality the city brings to global events, and we look forward to working alongside the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the Raiders, and the community to deliver an even greater experience this time around.”
Industry executives, including Mike Palm, director of operations at Circa, The D, and Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas, welcomed the news.
“Hosting the Super Bowl in Las Vegas transforms an event which has sadly become a two-day peak weekend – Saturday and Sunday – into an incredible eight days with activations Monday through Monday,” said Palm. “It also allows properties to showcase their incredible event spaces, restaurants/lounges, and entertainment venues. This creates new bookings year-round.”
Prospects Gloomy for Maryland’s iGaming Bill
Maryland Democrat Senator Ron Watson has gone to the mat for online casino gambling for the third consecutive year. Still, as hard as he might try, he simply cannot build enough support among his legislative colleagues in the upper chamber to pass the legislation.
Sensing a lack of support for Senate Bill 761, which would have allowed the voters to decide whether iGaming was worthy of passage at the ballot box in November, Watson withdrew that bill. However, his other bill, Senate Bill 885, which would create a regulatory framework for online casino gambling, has now stalled and will likely spell a third setback to Maryland’s iGaming aspirations.
Watson’s primary motivation for backing online casino gambling is the revenue source it would create and assist with bridging the state’s $1.5 billion deficit.
“We can’t raise taxes all the time, right? We have to do better. We can’t increase fees all the time; we have to do better,” said Watson. “And we can do better if we think outside the box and stop burying our heads in the sand and do what other states around us are doing.”
However, critics are quick to point out that it could increase problem gambling in the state and cannibalize business from the brick-and-mortar casinos located in the Old Line State.
After learning that his second bill would be defeated, Watson said, “With the challenges faced by our budget, it’s disappointing that we have failed again to move forward in modernizing gaming in the state of Maryland.”
