Nevada casino revenue topped the $1b mark for the third straight month in March, thanks in part to record basketball wagering.
Figures released Monday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show Nevada’s statewide casino gaming revenue hit $1.024b in March, nearly 3.4% higher than the same month last year while surpassing both February 2018’s $1.02b and January’s $1.15b.
Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip led the charge, with revenue rising 9.1% to just under $574m. The Strip’s gains offset sharp declines in Downtown and North Las Vegas, which were down 14.2% and 9.4%, respectively.
Slots revenue fell 1.85% year-on-year to $643.3m despite slots handle rising 2%, while total Games & Tables revenue improved 13.5% to $381m. Baccarat had a stellar month, more than doubling its total from March 2017 to $117.2m, as handle rose 44.7% and win rate rose four points to 14%.
Blackjack wasn’t so lucky, falling 15.5% to $95.2m, and neither was craps, which declined 2.5% to $34.2m, while roulette eked out a 1.6% rise to $29.1m. ‘Card games’ aka poker (and online poker) was up 5.7% to $10.1m.
The state’s sportsbooks had another stellar March, with revenue rising 8.7% to just under $34.2m. The NCAA March Madness tourney drove the basketball numbers as usual with $38m in revenue, although this was down 7.9% year-on-year. Regardless, basketball betting handle hit a record $436.5m, the seventh straight March of record roundball wagering.
The state’s books would have performed much better overall were it not for an insanely high number of football bettors cashing overdue winning tickets. The books doled out over $11m in football winnings in March, a nearly 910% increase over the same month last year.
Parlay card betting also enjoyed a b-ball bounce, rising over 617% to $3.85m. Baseball shot up 472% to $2.1m while ‘other’ sports were down 45.3% to $1.24m. The state’s race betting operators reported a relatively flat month with revenue of just under $4.1m.
Looking ahead to April’s sports numbers, ESPN reported that Nevada’s second year of taking wagers on the NFL draft was a money loser for the books, thanks in part to the New York Giants’ surprise pick of Penn State RB Saquon Barkley at #2 overall.
The Westgate reported draft wagering handle up 350% from year one, but the limited number of Nevada-approved wagering options also limited the books’ ability to hedge.
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Days after reports emerged that Ocean Resort Casino, formerly Revel, will open doors on June 28, the property’s owner, Bruce Deifik, revealed important details about their plans of how to prevent it from failure. 
According to reports from local news outlets, the property might open on June 28, along with Hard Rock’s redesigned and rebranded Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, or the former Trump Taj Mahal. In his conversation with The Associated Press, Mr. Deifik did not confirm those reports. However, it became clear that the property is still targeting a summer 2018 opening, just as previously announced. 
The project will offer three different casinos and three hotels with a total of 264 rooms. There will also be 219 apartments, two convention centers, a business center, a spa and wellness center and additional recreational facilities. It will have access to the beach, as well as a marina and a heliport.
Canadian poker pro Sam Greenwood was the first player to register into the 2018 EPT Monte Carlo €100,000 Super High Roller event and, in the early hours of Sunday, he became the last man standing after besting a field of 30 of the world’s best high rollers. 
An action-packed four-handed play which involved all four players taking the lead at some point was followed by an even more exciting heads-up duel. The match began with Greenwood holding 7.61 million in chips to Vogelsang’s 3.89 million. 
Casino operator 
The EPT Monte Carlo is among the most exciting festivals on the poker calendar. This year the excitement is doubled as the festival is making its comeback under the EPT brand after a two-year hiatus. 
Vogelsang has recorded more than $15 million in live tournament earnings since October 2013, when he cashed for the first time in a live tournament event. Last year, the young German took down the highly competitive field of the $300,000 Aria Super High Roller Bowl for a first-place prize of $6 million. It is also important to note that back in 2014, he finished third in the $1,000,000 Big One for ONE DROP, leaving it to Dan Colman and Daniel Negreanu to square off for the title. Vogelsang collected $4,480,001 for his deep run in that event. 
Construction work on a $400-million hotel and casino resort in Costa Rica is expected to begin in early 2019, after the project has received the necessary approval from the host municipality and tourism regulators, local news outlet The Costa Rica Star reports. 
Casino City Caribe will feature three hotels with a total of 264 rooms, 219 apartments, three casinos, two convention centers – one with capacity for 60 people, and the other for 150 people – a spa and wellness center, an entertainment center, a business center, and different other recreational facilities as well as large green areas. 
The senators believe that SB 144, now known as Senate Substitute 1 after the latest vote, will give the casino industry a new lease in life to run a healthy business and, at the same time, continue to provide jobs for residents of Delaware. The state’s three casinos have been struggling to earn a profit due to stiffer competition from other states and back-breaking tax rates.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Bloomberry announced that it won the auction for the 16-hectare lot after bidding PHP37.33 billion (US$714 million) for the twin properties within PAGCOR Entertainment City.
The fine was considered to be the heftiest punishment imposed on the Australian operator, which insisted during the span of the investigation that it had done nothing wrong. VCGLR, however, ruled that the Melbourne-based company needed to secure permission from them before it could alter gambling machines.
Located in one of the most spectacular parts of the Adriatic coast, the recently renovated Maestral Resort & Casino near Budva, Montenegro is just weeks away from swinging its doors open to one of this year’s hottest poker events – the Triton Super High Roller Series 2018. 
As in its previous edition last summer, the Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event will take place over three days starting May 15. The buy-in for the tournament amounts to HK$1 million, which provides for the creation of a massive prize pool and an attractive first-place prize for the winner, in addition to great excitement for both tournament entries and viewers who will be following the action from the host casino’s rails or from home. 
if the hand is composed of three cards, the payout is 20 to 1 and 12 to 1 if it’s composed of two cards. Lucky Six has now been approved by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), and was announced through 
Nevada casinos have to ensure that gamblers who partake of the state’s legal marijuana products don’t go reefer mad at the gaming tables. 
At least three video games featuring loot boxes have been breaching Belgian gambling laws, an investigation by the Belgian Gaming Commission has shown. The news about the regulator’s position on the widely publicized issue comes shortly after its Dutch counterpart 
The Commission expressed concerns that loot boxes in video games and their gambling nature are putting vulnerable players at great risk. Video games are often played by players under the allowed age for gambling but being exposed by products that resemble gambling risks normalizing the activity. 
Land-based casino operators in the Indian state of Goa are demanding a reduction in recent license fee hikes while simultaneously seeking an expansion of their list of gaming options. 
The UK Government is set to reduce the maximum stake on the highly controversial fixed-odds betting terminals to £2, The Times reports citing people familiar with the ongoing discussions. An announcement is expected to be made within the next few weeks. 
It is understood that levies will increase on other gambling services to offset losses incurred by the FOBTs crackdown. It is yet to be announced how exactly other forms of gambling will be taxed. 
According to a Hartford Courant report, the interior department’s watchdog had been sniffing for clues since mid-February to determine whether it colluded with MGM Resorts to delay Connecticut’s satellite casino project.
Hagenbuch is a director of Wynn Resorts who is up for re-election on May 16. He is also the executive chairman and co-founder of Westland Capital Partners. In a letter addressed to all Wynn shareholders, Elaine Wynn made another request—this time for them to withhold their votes for Hagenbuch in the upcoming election in May.
The Philippine Star reported that GEG’s local partner, Philippine-listed gambling operator Leisure & Resorts World Corp., bought more properties on the island—a sign that the casino operator was staying, according to a local government official.
As many as 29,319 Belgians self-excluded themselves from gambling (both online and at land-based venues) in 2017, according to a 
While Belgian lawmakers and gambling regulators consider the country’s gambling exclusion system a powerful protection tool, a new set of rules aimed at serving the same purpose and enhancing existing tools were introduced last fall. 
As many as 182 players reached Day 2 of the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee $1,675 Main Event after entering the tournament on Days 1A and B. They are set to return at the host casino at noon North Carolina time and to continue their battle for the first-place prize and the gold ring that goes along with it. 
Sandling is vying for his third gold ring from the WSOP Circuit series and his second WSOP Circuit Main Event title. The player won his first Main Event at the same host venue four years ago. He topped a field of 665 entries at Harrah’s Cherokee to scoop a first-place prize of $204,487 and his first-ever gold piece from the popular poker series. 
