Digital Wager Wire highlights the most significant events affecting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industries each week throughout the year.
Maryland Legislator Proposes iGaming… Again
Whether you like Maryland State Senator Ron Watson (D) from Prince George’s County or not, one thing you cannot say is that he is a quitter. Watson’s efforts to bring online casino gambling to the Old Line State have crashed and burned over the last two years, but here he is again, testing out the age-old axiom that three time’s a charm.
Watson has filed companion bills, SB 761 and SB 885, with the former creating a referendum for a constitutional amendment to allow online casino gambling. If voters approve SB 885 in November, it would provide the regulatory framework needed to launch the new industry.
Despite a poll showing 71% of Maryland voters opposing iGaming, the state faces a $1.5 billion budget deficit that must be addressed, and Watson insists he is merely thinking outside the box rather than raising taxes on his constituents.
However, the opposition is already mounting, with those decrying online casino gambling as a societal evil that will bring financial ruin to those who are vulnerable to problem gambling. The other anti-iGaming contingent is the casino operators who insist that a 24-hour casino available on every mobile device and PC will decrease foot traffic in their glitzy brick-and-mortar locations, which will ultimately cost jobs due to cannibalization.
Bobbi Jones, general manager of Ocean Downs Casino in Worcester County, stated, “Maryland’s gaming industry was built to support jobs, tourism, and local communities. iGaming shifts gambling to phones and living rooms while putting those jobs and community investments at risk. That’s not the direction Maryland should take.”
Billionaires Courting Caesars
The iconic Las Vegas gaming brand, Caesars Entertainment, is reportedly being shopped around, and it has drawn interest from two powerful business tycoons—Tilman Fertitta, the CEO of the Golden Nugget and owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, versus the nonagenarian corporate raider, Carl Icahn.
Icahn had a significant stake in Caesars and was a vocal force behind the company’s sale to Eldorado Resorts in July 2020 for over $17 billion, including cash, stock, and assumption of debt. And due to his relationship with the company and its CEO, Tom Reeg, who was part of the Eldorado leadership team, Icahn remains a significant player after reportedly offering to buy the company for $33 per share.
“[Icahn] wants to be involved in the conversation, and I welcome him to join us,” Caesars CEO Tom Reeg stated at the East Coast Gaming Congress last year. “We have a great relationship.”
However, Tillman has one-upped Icahn and has reportedly offered $34 per share. His gaming experience and economies of scale would seem to be an ideal fit for the man who owns the Golden Nugget, Landry’s, and has a majority stake in Wynn Resorts with 10.9 million shares.
“He’s got a whole plethora of different market segments from the middle- to high-end in all of those chains, and being able to do that, I think that bodes well for what he sees as opportunity as it relates to the gaming industry,” said Las Vegas-based consultant Brendan Bussmann of B Global Advisors.
