Spin Cycle: Texas Ditching Lottery Couriers, L&W Ditching Live-Dealer Games 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 …

Kill the courier

It’s been a truly wild last 10 days in the world of Texas Lottery. On the heels of notoriously anti-gaming Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick launching an informal one-man camera-phone investigation last Tuesday into the previous evening’s $83.5 million Texas Lotto jackpot win, one domino after another fell in quick succession.

As covered on our sister site, Lottery Geeks, Texas Lottery Commissioner Clark Smith resigned last Friday, followed Monday by the commission moving to ban all lottery couriers in the state (the winning ticket was purchased online by a Jackpocket courier customer and in turn printed at a Jackpocket-owned store). After that, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers (the law enforcement agency, not the baseball team) to conduct an investigation of both the recent win and a much-scrutinized $95 million jackpot from 2023.

Were any rules violated in either of the wins? Are there actually scandals here or is it just public posturing by officials seizing on bad optics? Whatever the answers to those questions, it’s definitely being treated like a scandal by legislators, as on Thursday, the Texas Senate voted unanimously, 31-0, to ban third-party couriers. That bill now heads to the House, with the recently formed Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers opposing it and instead hoping to advance a bill to require all couriers in the state to be licensed.

In a statement issued Thursday, Lt. Gov. Patrick hinted at the threat of a ban far more extreme than merely outlawing the couriers that enable customers to buy lottery tickets remotely: “The decision on whether the lottery will continue will be made in the coming days and weeks of the legislative session,” Patrick said at the end of his statement.

When the live-dealin’s done

Tuesday’s fourth-quarter earnings call for game supplier Light & Wonder featured its share of notable numbers — including a company-record $3.2 billion in full-year consolidated revenue for 2024 — but it was the announcement of one major out-of-the-blue strategy shift that turned heads.

CEO Matt Wilson and CFO Oliver Chow said on the call that L&W is discontinuing its production of live-dealer games, which were apparently not delivering the bang for Light & Wonder’s buck that its other game types have been.

“While we’re still in the relatively early days of investing in the business, we strive to stay nimble as an organization,” Wilson said on the call, “and are thus focusing on the risk-reward profile of our other businesses, which have better visibility to superior returns relative to live casino.”

This leaves Playtech and Evolution as the only two companies operating live-dealer studios in the U.S.

Caesars sectioning off?

Caesars Entertainment also raised some eyebrows during its Q4 earnings call this week, as executives separated digital revenue (on the rise) from brick-and-mortar revenue (relatively flat) … and the company is now considering really separating the two.

“If the market dynamics remain the same, and the [digital] business continues to grow as it has, you should expect that we would look at any and all avenues in terms of how we can drive the most value,” CEO Tom Reeg said on the call. One of those “any and all avenues” being considered? Splitting Caesars Online into a separate, publicly traded company, as Sportico reported.

In 2023, digital produced 8% of Caesars’ net revenue, and that share improved to 10% in 2024. EBITDA for Caesars’ online arm was $38 million in ’23 and more than tripled to $137 million in ’24.

Meanwhile, in separate Q4 earnings call news, Rush Street Interative (the company behind the BetRivers online brand) reported “another quarter of record performance,” in the words of CEO Richard Schwartz. Fourth quarter revenue totaled $254.2 million, up 31.1% year-over-year.

House Rules: Insights from around our network

MARKET MADNESS: 7 burning questions on the ‘sports event contracts’ threatening to upend legal sports betting in the US [by Brett Smiley]

JERSEY BUMP: Substantial tax increase for New Jersey mobile operators appears likely but not ‘done deal’ [by John Brennan]

JERSEY BLOWBACK: Opposition to New Jersey gambling tax hike proposal already mobilizing [by John Brennan]

TACKED-ON TAXES: As sales drop, Tennessee Lottery retailers could face a new 5% tax [by Matthew Bain]

HEY, JOE, WHERE YOU GOING … : Joe Brennan Jr. stepping away from Prime Sports [by Jeff Edelstein]

LAY OF THE LAND: Legislative round-up: delays in Missouri and a mobile repeal in Maryland? [by Chris Altruda]

THE OLD COLLEGE TRY: The dorm room poker boom [by Aaron Moore]

MICHIGAN CASINOS CRUSH: New record: Michigan internet casino revenue reaches $248 million in January [by Chris Altruda]

MICHIGAN CUSTOMER CRUSHES BACK: Michigan online casino player takes down record-setting jackpot at DraftKings [by Jeff Edelstein]

SWEEPING STATEMENT: Florida lawmakers file bills to expand gambling prohibitions, potentially making way for iGaming [by Chris Altruda]

SLOW YOUR ROLL: Too fast, too furious, when it comes to online casinos? Experts don’t think so [by Jeff Edelstein]

Small stakes and hot takes

This week on the Casino Reports podcast Low Rollers, my co-host Jeff Edelstein and I welcomed Houston Chronicle investigative reporter Eric Dexheimer — the journalist who blew the 2023 Texas Lottery scheme wide open — for a close look at the latest lottery lunacy in the Lone Star State. Here’s a taste:

We also covered the proposed tax hike in New Jersey and its odds of going through, when to hedge your seven-leg parlay, when to hedge your six-leg parlay, why betting the Oscars stinks this year, and more. Full episode:

The Shuffle: Other news and views

SURF’S DOWN: Hawaii Senate committee defers digital betting bill as legalization hopes fade [iGaming Business]

ELEVATED CORTEZ: Downtown Las Vegas casino unveils ‘magical’ $20M expansion [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

MAKE IT REIGN: DraftKings agrees to $10M NFT class action settlement [SBC Americas]

GROWING PAINS: ‘An insatiable acquisitions appetite’: Sports betting industry facing major challenges despite growth [ESPN.com]

NEIGH-SAYERS: Dead athletes. Empty stands. Why are we paying billions to keep this sport alive? [New York Times]

BULLDOG BLUES: Historically bad Fresno State basketball team loses 3 players to gambling probe [SF Gate]

CHILDISH FOLLY: Balatro receives PEGI age rating reduction from 18 to 12 [iGaming Expert]

EXPANDED REACH: New Resorts World Las Vegas CEO: Greater focus on South Asia visitors, pop culture [CDC Gaming Reports]

GAMING AND GAMBLING: Lawmakers push to expand NJ esports gambling [NJ Spotlight News]

DEAL POINTS: PointsBet board approves MIXI acquisition bid amid rival offer from BlueBet [iGaming Business]

The Bonus Round

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

• You can always count on the monthly levying of fines and bans by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to make you laugh, cry, or at least quizzically scratch your head. The latest batch, announced on Thursday, included three instances of kids left in cars while their parents went into the casino (a bizarre and sad Pennsylvania tradition) and a $50,000 fine assessed to Presque Isle Downs & Casino for having too few active slot machines on the gaming floor. Gotta say, that’s one we’ve never seen before.

• There’s going on tilt at a poker tournament. And then there’s going on tilt at a poker tournament. My, how the tables have turned (over):

• How ‘bout a little happy news to conclude your work-week? On Thursday, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City divvied up $10 million as bonuses for casino employees, a thank-you for a record-breaking year for the property. According to the internet (which is never factually inaccurate), the casino employs just under 3,500 people, meaning the bonuses were worth $2,900, on average.

• And here’s a short-film recommendation, as we head into Oscars weekend. Excellent stuff here from David Hill and More Perfect Union whenever you have 26 minutes to spare (and the video includes outstanding insights from Casino Reports columnist Richard Schuetz):