Spin Cycle: Mirage Farewell, Kamala Odds Surge 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 …

It’s been real, Mirage

The volcano in front of the Mirage Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip erupted one final time Wednesday morning. Hours later, the bulldozers rolled in.

Sin City waved goodbye to an institution, as the Mirage handed out the last of its jackpot money and officially closed its doors after nearly 35 years, making way for the new Hard Rock Las Vegas, estimated to open in 2027.

According to Hard Rock International CEO and 2024 Gaming Hall of Fame inductee Jim Allen, it will be a $4-$5 billion project. The Mirage cost a then-record $630 million to build when it opened in 1989.

Elaine Wynn, the ex-wife of original Mirage owner Steve Wynn, was on hand for the send-off, and offered the perfect quote.

“Listen. This is what we do in Las Vegas. We reinvest. We refresh. We keep Las Vegas as one of the most exciting cities in the entire world,” she said, according to CDC Gaming Reports. “We don’t let our buildings get too old. We just let the bosses get too old.”

Wild week in politics leads to one big odds change

Even by 2024 standards, this was a crazy political week. From an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump that left two men dead and Trump with a bloody ear, to the reveal of the Republican VP pick, to President Joe Biden contracting COVID-19, to leading Democrats stepping up their push for the president to step aside, to Trump’s [insert adjective of your choice here] speech that concluded the GOP convention on Thursday night … The. News. Just. Didn’t. Stop.

And yet, at the end of all that, the presidential betting odds at PredictIt.org look almost exactly the same as they did a week ago — except in one key regard.

Before Saturday’s gun shots in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump was priced at 65 cents (the equivalent to a -186 favorite) to win November’s election, and though he rose as high as 69 cents, he was at 63 cents Friday morning, virtually unchanged from before the nutty news week began.

As for which party will win the presidency, Republican led Democrat 60 cents to 44 cents last Friday, jolted to a 66-37 lead on Saturday, and are back at 62-42 Friday, almost exactly where things stood a week earlier.

But the one market that’s been in massive flux is the question of who will be the Democratic nominee. Heading into last weekend, Biden was 50 cents, and Vice President Kamala Harris was 40 cents. After the shooting, Biden went as high as 71, Harris as low as 20. Then, late in the week, it flipped. On Friday morning, Harris was a big favorite at 57 cents, Biden sat at 21 cents, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spiked from as low as 3 cents a couple of days earlier to a 10-cent live ‘dog.

Only 3½ more months of this madness until the election …

Connecticut joins the revenue-release-week fun

The three major iCasino states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — all checked in this week with their June financials, and so did one of the relatively minor iCasino states: Connecticut.

The southernmost New England state reported $39.6 million in gross online casino revenue in June, down a fair bit from the $46.3 million won in May, but up more than 25% over the $31.6 million in June 2023.

There are only two active iCasino sites in the state, DraftKings and FanDuel, and it remains a close head-to-head matchup. DraftKings Casino scored $20.5 million in gross revenue to lead the way, but FanDuel was a close second at about $19.1 million.

And then there were three in D.C.

Monday’s delay to the expansion of mobile sports betting options in Washington, D.C. proved only temporary, as on Wednesday, FanDuel resumed business after a day or so off, and Caesars and BetMGM launched their mobile books in the nation’s capital.

The launches were expected to come Monday or possibly Tuesday, but Mayor Muriel Bowser hadn’t signed the FY 2025 budget into law yet, so everyone pressed pause — including FanDuel, which had been operating in D.C. since April. But now there are three options for bettors, and all three operators are taxed at 20% of revenue — down from the 40% FanDuel was paying when it had its monopoly.

DraftKings Sportsbook and Fanatics Sportsbook appear to be next in line, though neither has laid out a launch timeline yet.

The Shuffle: Other news and views

TERMINAL CONDITION: VGTs remain the major roadblock for Illinois online casino legalization

SHRINKING STAFF: Penn lays off about 100 employees as it focuses on ESPN Bet growth

NCLGS TEASE: Model iGaming legislation presentation in Pittsburgh draws discussion but delivers few details

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Petersburg judge approves casino referendum for November ballot

LOTTO PROBLEMS: California Lottery discovers software glitch in Daily Derby ticket machines

BUTTING IN: Rally outside legislators conference to support smokefree casinos

TALK IS CHEAP: Schuetz: A tiresome bout of problem gambling fatigue

SNEAK PEAK: Bally’s Chicago secures casino financing, unveils new hotel design

THE CHAMP IS HERE: Jonathan Tamayo defies convention to win $10 million at World Series of Poker

NOT LION DOWN: Nittany Mall Casino can move forward, PA Supreme Court rules. What happens next?

CONDITION CRITICAL: Is there a problem with operator terms & conditions? A lesson from across the pond

WINNERS NOT WANTED: Sports betting companies weed out winners. Gamblers want to know why

SOLICITING ADVICE: NCPG establishes Tribal Advisory Council to address gambling issues in Native American communities

CHANGE IS GONNA COME: Evoke misses H1 EBITDA target, cites leadership change as H2 growth driver

IF YOU CAN’T BEAT EM … : Accel positions itself for future Illinois iGaming license with Fairmount deal

RUNNING RIVERS: Susan Foster named GM at Rivers Casino Philadelphia

OPPOSITE OUTCOMES: Boutte beats the odds, Porter remains grounded

MGCB CRACKS BACK: Michigan Gaming Control Board refutes legitimacy of skill games

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: bet365 soft launches in Pennsylvania, marking delayed entry in key market

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Gambling interests gave $1M to California lawmakers. Did it influence their votes?

OUT OF THIS WORLD: Evolution strengthens US presence with Galaxy Gaming acquisition

LIGHTS FLICKER ON: Las Vegas’ Neon Museum announces plans to expand, relocate

LEGAL MINDS: The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will take up question of what constitutes ‘skill’ gaming

The Bonus Round

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

• The HBO documentary series Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose premieres next Wednesday, and as Deadline reported, Rose said at a Q&A, “Gambling cost me a hundred million [dollars]. That’s what I’d have made in baseball if I hadn’t got suspended.” Interesting statement. Interesting number. But what really has my attention here is that Deadline’s headline calls him “Baseball’s Pete Rose.” Is there another Pete Rose I don’t know about? Am I really so old that I’ve lived to see a time when a significant portion of Deadline’s readers are too young and uninformed to know who the hell Pete Rose is?

• Wanna hear about some big winners? Of course you don’t — you’ll just feel jealous and angry. But … you’re going to hear about some big winners anyway, because no casinos are sending us press releases about the whales who come in and blow $2 million in a night. There was a huge one at Wynn Las Vegas on Sunday, described in a release as an “unidentified international visitor” who turned a $60 spin on a Buffalo Power Pay slot into $1.936 million. And on the iCasino side of things, a Borgata Online player in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania recently won $417k on an $18 wager on a Bison Fury slot — and this same player had won $1 million on a $10 spin on the same game last August! (See, told you this would cause jealousy and anger.)

• Let’s keep this some-guys-have-all-the-luck theme going, as we finish up with UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer, who supposedly has a net worth of $14 million, enjoying an excess of run-good at the blackjack table: