Spin Cycle: MGM $8.5M Settlement, DraftKings $10M Settlement 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 …

MGM’s grand gesture

If love means never having to say you’re sorry, well, it seems the relationship between MGM Resorts and the Nevada Gaming Commission is not one of pure love.

Having allowed illegal bookmakers Wayne Nix and Mathew Bowyer to spend money (is “launder” the more appropriate verb?) on the floors of the MGM Grand and the Cosmopolitan, MGM Resorts had to admit wrongdoing, express contrition, promise to reform its anti-money laundering protocols, and pay an $8.5 million fine.

The commission signed off on all of this on Thursday, allowing MGM — like Resorts World before it, which paid a $10.5 million fine for similar offenses — to begin moving on from these transgressions.

In case you missed it, here’s Richard Schuetz’s lengthy piece published three weeks ago at Casino Reports about the NGC’s disciplinary meeting with Resorts World. More ranting to come from Richard? Perhaps. We recommend checking your popcorn supply levels just in case.

DraftKings, the eternal defendant

DraftKings’ lawyers sure do keep busy.

There was a lot for them to deal with this week, with the headline news arguably being DraftKings agreeing to pay a $10 million class-action settlement over claims that its non-fungible tokens (NFTs) launched in 2021 were unregistered securities.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, five DK customers banded together to file another class-action suit claiming DraftKings’ online casino playthrough requirements were “confusing” and therefore the site’s bonus offers were misleading. One example of some daunting math from the lawsuit: “a user betting $50 every hand would have to spend more than 66 hours in a 7-day period playing blackjack to satisfy the playthrough requirement.”

The suit also includes an allegation that a self-excluded gambler was allowed to continue to play on the site after he’d claimed to have opted out.

On the bright side for DK, at least this lawsuit isn’t real:

Live dealers and high rollers

Some gamblers like their online casino experiences cold and digital, some like them human and social … and some apparently like them human but private.

As The Press of Atlantic City reported, Playtech has petitioned the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement for private, reserved live-dealer blackjack tables — which naturally would be available to VIP types and high rollers who present the spend necessary to make a private table worth Playtech’s while.

Such private tables exist in brick-and-mortar casino settings, but are not yet approved online in Jersey. (For those unfamiliar with how a live-dealer studio works, Casino Reports took a trip to one — operated, in fact, by Playtech — last year.)

According to Playtech’s petition, the tables would not be visible in the iCasino lobby. Instead, a player would request a table, then receive a private link directly to the table.

House Rules: Insights from around our network

SANDS DOWN: Las Vegas Sands pulls out of downstate New York casino bid [by Chris Altruda]

JUST A HUSK: Nebraska sports betting bill dead until at least next year [by Jill Dorson]

ROUND-LY REJECTED: CFTC roundtable on prediction markets shelved [by Jeff Edelstein]

WHOLE LOTTO FRUSTRATION: Lotto.com sues Texas Lottery Commission, Acting Executive Director Rey [by Chris Altruda]

POOL PARTY: Pennsylvania officially joins multi-state online poker agreement [by Jeff Edelstein]

GREY(HOUND) MARKET GAMING: Oregon is trying to ban simulcast dog race betting — which states still allow it? [by Matthew Bain]

TAKING CONTROL: Dreitzer named incoming chair of Nevada Gaming Control Board [by Chris Altruda]

HEADWINDS AND HURDLES: Politics, prediction markets looming factors in legalization efforts [by Steve Ruddock]

SUBTRACTING ADS: Betting industry’s advertising humblebrag: ‘At least we’re not Big Pharma!’ [by Jeff Edelstein]

UNDER THE WIRE: Why the federal Wire Act may be no threat to prediction markets at all [by Brett Smiley]

Small stakes and hot takes

This week on the Casino Reports podcast Low Rollers, my co-host Jeff Edelstein and I welcomed new Hard Rock Digital VP of Casino Rich Criado to share his insights on online/retail cannibalization, video games vs. slots, and that eternal question, “Von Erichs or Freebirds?” Here’s a taste:

We also covered the legal-brief battle between New Jersey and Kalshi, the dumbest ideas in a sports betting clamp-down bill in New York, how the AGA is like a teenage boy, a historic Mega Millions win, March’s iCasino revenue records, and more. Full episode:

The Shuffle: Other news and views

ROBERTS TO RESORTS: Strip casino hires new executive in wake of regulatory settlement [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

PUT A GRAND FORK IN IT: Grand Forks casino proposal dies in House vote [Grand Forks Herald]

SHOTS & SLOTS: Epsom lawmaker proposes slot machines in restaurants and bars to boost state revenue [Athol Daily News]

CONTRACT DISPUTE: Classifying sports betting under CFTC is a regulatory gamble [GGB News]

INTO THE BREACH: Chain and perception: A player data-breach can impact every part of a business [iGaming Business]

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL: Las Vegas reports lower air travel in March [CDC Gaming Reports]

RAPIDS RESET: Legal filings pour in ahead of May hearing in case against proposed Cedar Rapids casino [The Gazette]

The Bonus Round

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

• A couple of little pieces of poker news to pass along this week. First, the Planet Hollywood casino in Las Vegas has announced it will be opening its new 23-table poker room in the next week or two — some four years after closing its old poker room. And 2006 World Series of Poker champ Jamie Gold has signed on as a strategic advisor and brand ambassador to Rithmm, a Boston-based gaming tech company founded in 2022.

• It’s like Euphoria meets Harry Potter meets Rounders … in a live-action adaptation of an anime series. No clue if this going to be any good, but … trust in Netflix? Roll into your weekend with the trailer for Bet, which drops May 15: