This Week in Gaming Review

This week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a preliminary bill to expand gaming.
This expansion will include IGaming, Daily Fantasy Sports and slot machines at airports.

This is what online gaming enthusiast have been waiting for.Pennsylvania need the revenue and the public demand for gambling online is increasing every year. While the projected revenue varies, it will be at least 9 to 12 months before implementation. The next step is the bill moving to the Pennsylvania State Senate. While nothing is guaranteed, I like the chances of this passing.

New York made headlines with a reversal. They authorize Daily Fantasy Sports just months after issuing a ban on FanDuel and DraftKings. The following is an except from Sports Illustrated.
"Indeed, this was the reason for the cease-and-desist orders in 2015. Now, however, amended laws will seek to bring clarity to the matter. The full bill can be found here. Crucially, it alters the state’s gambling laws to include “regulated interactive fantasy sports contests with an entry fee.”

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East Coast Gaming Congress Recap Day 1

The East Coast Gaming Congress entered it's 20th year of providing information and updates from the top organizations in the gaming industry. This year opened with the I Gaming Institute.

After the welcoming address, the keynote presentation was given by Itai Pazner, Head of B2C,

888 Holdings. Mr. Pazner cited the growth in E Commerce along with the potential increase of DFS and social casinos as reasons for optimism. 888 is currently in 9 regulated markets.

The 1st roundtable was the I Gaming: The View from New Jersey. This panel consisted of several top operators and one regulator. It was moderated by Eugene Johnson, Senior Vice President from Spectrum Gaming. The key takeaways  from this discussion were the absence of cannibalization with the online gaming product compare to the brick & mortar. George Rover, Director of Gaming Enforcement for New Jersey indicated that in over 2 years there was not one case of underage gambling.

The sessions were divided for the next panels, so I went to the I Gaming Expansion- Who's Next?

Pennsylvania, California and New York were all mentioned as possible players with different levels of optimism. California and New York are leaning to Poker only in an online gaming environment.

Pennsylvania would mimic New Jersey and do casino games and Poker. None of these states appear ready to leap into action in 2016.

One of the final panels of the day was Attracting Millennials: How to connect with the Next Generation. Each participant on this panel felt that the creation of an integrated resort experience that has non gaming amenities along with gambling is the way to go forward. Operators must have multiple catch points and target the millennial customer differently than a Baby Boomer or Generation X patron.  Victor Rocha, Owner and Editor of Pechanga.net, cited skill based gaming as a way of building the casino floor of the future. Chris Davidson, moderator and VP of Global strategy for MMCY Global had an excellent slide presentation. Sarah Robertson, from Income Access  & Dana Takrudtong, Vice President of Sales for GAN, represented their companies admirably. This was the highlight of the first day at #ECGC20th.

A networking event closed the day. It was held at the Pool at Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City.
                                                                Here is a peek.

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                             My day two recap of the Conference will be on LinkedIn.

Fantasy Sports is not Sports Betting: The Myth that came True

Nevada regulators handed down a ruling that Fantasy Sport sites can not operate in the Silver State

without a license. NBC News reported this. FanDuel and DraftKings can no longer take action in the state where gambling on almost anything is legal. This comes one week after the employee of   DraftKings  hit on the FanDuel site for $350,000. They both have institute a ban that prohibits employees from playing. Does the ban prevent the employees from sharing information with friends? Hmm!

 

FanDuel vs. DraftKings

 

 

                                                                

 

 

 

                                                               

 

                                                                  The Myth

The Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the subterfuge that the Greeks used to enter the city of Troy and win the war. After a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse  and hid a select force of men inside. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, decisively ending the war. A "Trojan Horse" has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. This passage was provided courtesy of Wikipedia.

 

                                      So how did the myth come true?

 

Daily Sports Fantasy is the millennial Trojan Horse. The American operators pretend that it not gambling under the auspice of the 2006 Internet Gambling Enforcement  Act. 9 years later, the public is swayed by conventional wisdom  that this is the substitute for legal action on a game because it  is  technically not gambling. The selection of players from multiple teams does not constitute a "real" contest. The states are the protected place. We are allowing an unregulated form of wagering.

                                             

                                  Fantasy Sports = Sports Betting?  Hmmm!

 

The advertising dollars spent to entice players are outrageous. It does seem to be working. The incident that happen with the employee did not lower the interest in wagering on either site. It did alert the government to look at regulating Daily Fantasy Sports. I see partnerships that extend beyond licensing agreements and commercials. Casinos and Racetracks could connect with a site like Yahoo and DraftPot to offer Fantasy Sports. They have the facilities and are regulated. The sites have the software. The states could sell licenses for a fee. Everybody Wins. Hmmmm!

 

 

 

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