Spin Cycle: Revenue Records, Universal Wallets Highlight Week In Gambling

Welcome to “Spin Cycle,” Casino Reports’ weekly Friday roundup of all things impactful, intriguing, impressive, or idiotic in the gambling industry. Pull up a chair, grab a stack of chips and a glass of your beverage of choice, and take a spin with us through this week’s news cycle …

Delaware’s rush continues

The big three online casino states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — are expected to reveal their October revenue figures next week. But there’s a reason they call Delaware “The First State.” Delaware beat the big boys to the punch by sharing its October numbers already, and those numbers were huge (at least by little ol’ Delaware’s standards).

Total online casino revenue for October was a little over $6.7 million, nearly $1 million ahead of the previous state record of $5.8 million set in September.

Delaware has an iGaming monopoly situation of sorts, with three land-based casinos each having their own skins but only one online operator handling all three. Until last December, that operator was 888. But since Rush Street Interactive took over, the growth has been massive. The state revenue record tripled to more than $3 million in Rush Street’s first full month (January 2024), and now the total has exceeded $5 million five months in a row.

Of the three land-based casinos in the state, it’s Delaware Park that has the most popular iGaming site, generating $3.3 million in revenue of the state’s $6.7 million total in October.

Our single-wallet future awaits

One of the first rules of responsible gambling and bankroll management is to keep your gambling ‘roll separate from your life ‘roll.

Well, the Nevada Gaming Control Board apparently isn’t a big believer in that rule.

The NGCB is pushing a regulation change that would improve convenience, asking the Nevada Gaming Commission to decide in December whether to expand the use of consumers’ digital accounts, which currently can only be used for wagering, to cover other casino expenditures such as restaurants and shopping. In other words, a patron will be able to load up their account, which is accessible on their phone, and then spend that money anywhere in the casino, allowing them to leave their credit cards and cash at home.

As reported by CDC Gaming Reports, there are, however, some anti-money-laundering concerns with this universal wallet approach. So it remains to be seen what the commission will do with board’s recommendation.

Wind Creek in the Windy City

The ever-expanding Chicago casino scene grew in number again this week, when Wind Creek Chicago Southland opened its doors to the public on Monday. The casino is in East Hazel Crest, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago, and is the 16th casino in Illinois.

Fun fact: Though the casino is located in East Hazel Crest, it’s right on the town border — and the casino’s parking garages are technically located in a different municipality, Homewood, Illinois.

The new Wind Creek property offers 1,400 slot machines, 56 table games, a poker room, and a sports bar that will eventually turn into a sportsbook.

Monday’s opening attracted a massive crowd, with car lines stretching onto the highway exit ramps and lines of patrons wrapping around the building as they waited to enter. The casino is not quite a 24/7 operation yet; it’s open from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. (Which is perfect for me because I typically gamble 20 hours on, four hours off, anyway.)

Social climber

Google recently updated its “Personalized Ads policy,” and the update is good news for social casino companies looking to attract customers to their products.

Starting Dec. 4, advertisers “will gain the ability to personalize online social casino game App ads.” Gambling is part of the “sensitive interest category” for Google ads, but social casinos — those where users can play casino games (mostly slots) but not for real-money prizes — will now be excluded from that category.

So, starting in a few weeks, Google users will begin seeing customized ads for social casinos, targeting their individual interests and tendencies. Prepare now for the infiltration of your AI overlords.

House Rules: Insights from around our network

DROP THE PROPS: New Jersey Assembly moves ball on possibly banning prop bets on college athletes [by John Brennan]

PORK PRODUCT: BetHog crypto casino and sportsbook, from FanDuel co-founders, launches internationally [By Eric Raskin]

FINGER ON THE PULSZ: First California lawsuit targeting ‘sweepstakes’ casino industry filed [by Erik Gibbs]

FAREWELL TO A LEGAL LEGEND: Ted Olson, lawyer who successfully argued to overturn PASPA, dies at 84 [by Brett Smiley]

POCKET ROCKET: Jackpocket partners with Barstool Sports as company’s official digital lottery platform [by Erik Gibbs]

GAME CHANGER: Hands of Victory’s long road to launch merges with moment of innovation in online poker [by Eric Raskin]

STRIP DIP: Nevada’s gaming tourism economy facing projected declines amid national uncertainty [by Erik Gibbs]

AVENUE H: Reel Lives: Investor-advisor Benjie Cherniak [by Brett Smiley]

THE RATE STUFF: Louisiana and Ohio sports betting tax rate measures highlight divisive fiscal sentiment [by Erik Gibbs]

SCRATCH THAT NICHE: Handicappers: Narrowed focus is a key to sports betting success [by Aaron Moore]

’DUEL INTENTIONS: Flutter reports strong Q3 results with revenue growth and updated guidance [by Erik Gibbs]

OUI OUI: France’s online casino challenges should look very familiar [by Steve Ruddock]

KICKAPOO KICKS BACK: Texas tribe warns of casino push if state allows online lottery expansion [by Erik Gibbs]

IFS, ANDS, OR BITES: Tyson vs. Paul is a sanctioned sporting event — but that doesn’t mean states should sanction betting on it [by Eric Raskin]

The Shuffle: Other news and views

OPENING CHORDS: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol celebrates grand opening [wjhl.com]

OFF THE TRACKS: Light & Wonder earnings lightly impacted by Dragon Train loss [CDC Gaming Reports]

ONGOING IN ARKANSAS: Federal judge denies request to block measure revoking Arkansas casino license [Associated Press]

PINK STRIP: Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino lays off some top-level employees [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

A LIFE WELL LIVED: Galaxy Entertainment Group founder Dr. Lui Che Woo dies at age 95 [CDC Gaming Reports]

STONE AND STEEL: Turning Stone casino starts new phase of massive $370 million expansion [Syracuse.com]

HIGHEST POSSIBLE STAKES: The 2024 election was the culmination of America’s love affair with rolling the dice [Time]

SPHERE GOES NOTHING: Vegas Sphere reports revenue decline despite hosting UFC 306, Eagles residency [USA Today]

XPOINT SCORES POINTS: Court dismisses GeoComply’s patent-infringement suit against Xpoint [CDC Gaming Reports]

CAUTION FLAG: Will the Grand Prix help the bottom line for all of Las Vegas, not just a few resorts? [The Nevada Independent]

LIQUID, SOLID: DraftKings adds $500M credit line that incentivizes borrowing [Sportico]

WHO NEEDS HUMANS? These Las Vegas robots may deliver your food, clean your floor [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

The Bonus Round

Completing the Spin Cycle with some odds and ends and our favorite social media posts of the week:

• We have not just one, but two news stories this week at the intersection of gambling and pro wrestling. During a CNBC interview this week, Mark Shapiro, the COO of TKO (WWE’s parent company), revealed that WWE’s official stance (for now, anyway) is that it does not want regulated sportsbooks offering pro wrestling markets. Also, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, there’s a new bar in downtown Vegas called DDT — named after a wrestling move, and doused in a wrestling theme. On the cocktail menu: a Gorgeous George, an Atomic Drop, a tequila-based drink called The Chair, and my favorite as a man of puns, the Lychee & Steal. (Say it out loud, but be sure to mispronounce “lychee,” and you’ll hear it in Jesse “The Body” Ventura’s voice.)

• Do some dealers not realize there are surveillance cameras in casinos? One of the dumbest criminals of all-time, 33-year-old Jamie L. Smith, a blackjack dealer at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, got busted after cams caught her on four separate days overpaying customers, not collecting money from lost bets, and removing chips from the rack without replacing them. Smith faces charges of theft by unlawful taking, conspiracy, and knowingly manipulating a game of chance. (Meanwhile, why do I never seem to find myself at a table with a dealer like that?)

• Let’s end this week’s Spin Cycle with some happy jackpot news. At the Venetian in Las Vegas, on Monday, a player turned a $50 spin on a Dragon Link slot into $1,218,840. And a few days earlier, a lucky player at MGM National Harbor in Maryland made a royal flush in Ultimate Texas Hold’em and scored a progressive worth $961,428.50: