With the NFL regular season kicking off in less than two days, Hard Rock International announced the launch of online sports betting applications in two new states on Tuesday.

The Florida-based gaming company owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida unveiled mobile apps for users in Indiana and Tennessee. Those states are the fifth and sixth, respectively, where a Hard Rock Sportsbook app is available, joining Arizona, Iowa, New Jersey, and Virginia.

According to a Hard Rock release, the company seeks to engage users with an approach that integrates online play and in-person experiences. In Indiana, the company owns Hard Rock Northern Indiana, a land-based casino in Gary.

In Tennessee, the company operates Hard Rock Cafes in Memphis, Nashville, and Pigeon Forge. Hard Rock also operates a casino in Bristol, VA, just across the Tennessee state line.

Hard Rock also has plans to expand into Illinois, where it is building a casino in Rockford, in the near future. It’s also applied for a license in Ohio, where it operates a casino in Cincinnati. The Ohio launch could come as soon as Jan. 1, pending regulatory approval.

New Users Get to Spin Mystery Wheel

Hard Rock Sportsbook also offers new users a chance to spin its “Mystery Wheel” to find out the value of a free bet they’ll receive for registering. The maximum value is $5,000.

The successful debut of the Mystery Wheel is the latest example of the unique interactive experiences that can only be found at Hard Rock Sportsbook as well as our commitment to building the most entertaining app in the market,” said Marlon Goldstein, Hard Rock Digital’s executive managing director and CEO.

The Tennessee and Indiana launches weren’t the only new developments for the Hard Rock Sportsbook. Mike Primeaux, the managing director of product for Hard Rock Digital, announced on Twitter Tuesday that the company’s development team would soon unveil a “streaming hub” that will allow users to see all the games and matches they can watch and wager through the app.

New Retail Sportsbook in North Carolina

Hard Rock wasn’t the only company that opened a sportsbook on Tuesday. Down in North Carolina, the Catawba Two Kings Casino opened a retail sportsbook at its temporary casino in Kings Mountain, roughly 35 miles west of Charlotte.

North Carolina allows Class III tribal gaming operators in the state to offer in-person sports betting. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have Caesars retail sportsbooks at its two Harrah’s casinos in the far western part of the state.

“We’re very excited to bring a sportsbook and betting kiosks to the Catawba Two Kings Casino so our loyal patrons can enjoy sports wagering,” said Trent Troxel, vice president of the Catawba Nation Gaming Authority. “We also anticipate that a new audience in the Charlotte region and beyond will discover the casino as they come to wager on their favorite teams.”

The temporary casino opened in July 2021 with 500 machines. Less than six months later, the venue expanded to 1,000 machines, including a mix of slots and electronic table games.

The tribal nation has added several modular structures to the temporary casino to accommodate the sportsbook.

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It’s totally understandable if you missed it on Saturday, given it was the first full week of college football, but Flightline’s performance in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar was one for the ages. And a strong statement ahead of the Breeders’ Cup.

The lightly raced 4-year-old colt amazed a crowd of more than 12,000 at the Southern California track with a 19-1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 stakes race. You owe it to yourself to see how Flightline and Flavien Prat blew the field away in the $1 million 1-1/4-mile race.

You see, it’s not that he won by nearly 20 lengths or even just missed breaking the 19-year-old track record at that distance. It’s what the John Sadler-trained horse encountered and overcame to dominate. Flightline got squeezed on both sides just after they broke from the starting gate, and as they made the first turn, the colt and Prat ran well wide of the rail. There are times in racing when just one of those occurrences can derail a horse’s chance of winning.

“This horse has a high cruising speed,” Sadler said after the romp. “Once he was flowing, I knew we were in good shape. We had a lot of confidence going in.”

‘An Exceptional Horse’

The Pacific Classic was just Flightline’s fifth race and also the first for him at 1-1/4 miles. Sadler admitted after the race that there were some questions about whether his colt could handle the distance.

But the trainer also thought his horse would be able to dominate like he did, too.

Did I think he could do that – win like that? Kinda yeah,” Sadler said. “You don’t want to say it in front of the race, but now that he’s done it….The thing about him is that he’s fast and he can carry it. Some horses are fast, but they can’t go on. This horse can. He’s an exceptional horse.”

Next up for Flightline is likely the Breeders’ Cup Classic, another 1-1/4-mile race, at Keeneland in Lexington, KY, on Nov. 5.

4-5 Odds in Breeders’ Cup Futures Pool

On Monday, pari-mutuel wagering concluded for the second Breeders’ Cup Classic futures pool, and bettors flocked to Flightline. Of the $437,147 wagered over the holiday weekend, $203,420 went on him to make him the commanding favorite in the pool, which featured 23 horses and field entry for other potential entrants.

When the betting window closed at 6:30 pm ET, Flightline’s odds were 4-5. Next on the board was Epicenter, the Steve Asmussen-trained 3-year-old fresh off an impressive performance in the Aug. 27 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, at 7-1.

Right behind Epicenter were two more 4-year-olds. Life is Good, trained by Todd Pletcher and a winner in 8 of 10 starts, is at 8-1. So, too, was Olympiad. The Bill Mott-trained colt has six wins in seven starts this year, including a two-length victory over Americanrevolution in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday.

That win not only came a month after a disappointing fourth-place result in the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, but it also gave Olympiad a guaranteed spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“It’s gratifying to see him come back,” Mott said. “The [performance] the other day was almost too bad to be true considering the form he had been in the previous five races.”

Bettors took a keen interest in Olympiad in the final hours of futures wagering. At 2 pm, he was at 23-1.

Those four horses are the only ones with single-digit odds. Bob Baffert’s Taiba is next at 33-1, followed by another Baffert horse, Country Grammer, who ran second to Flightline Saturday. Country Grammer finished seven lengths ahead of third place finisher Royal Ship.

“I think he thinks he won the race,” Baffert said after the Pacific Classic.

The post Flightline, After Soaring in Del Mar, Now Huge Breeders’ Cup Classic Favorite (VIDEO) appeared first on Casino.org.

Nevada continues to hold onto its spot at the center of the land-based gambling universe with record-breaking revenue, reinvestment, and expansion. That’s not to say that Macau will never lead the world in casino revenue again.

However, with a host of government-induced style cramps already pulling strength from the previous revenue heavyweight, the former Portuguese enclave suffered from another Covid outbreak and government response recently giving the island its worst July in history revenue-wise at just $49.2m – a 95% drop.

Nevada on the other hand posted its 4th highest monthly revenue figure ever for July at $1.31 billion with the month producing the second highest month in history for Strip casinos. That strong July gave Nevada its 17th consecutive month of revenues in excess of a billion dollars.

Last July saw a one-month all-time record of $1.35 billion. While this year’s numbers are down a little over 3% from the record they are still nearly 30% higher than they wherein July 2019 before the world health emergency.

Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst at the Gaming Control Board told Forbes: “We were down this month, yet I don’t see any softness—it was down slightly against the all-time high.

“The bar was set really high last July. We didn’t hit it, but we still came in with the fourth highest total all-time statewide, second-highest total all time for The Strip.”

New 35k sq ft Meeting and Convention Space Downtown

Derek Stevens and his brother, Greg Stevens have almost singularly revitalized the gambling and other entertainment experiences in Downtown Las Vegas, starting with the purchase and renovation of Fitzgerald’s on Fremont Street beginning in 2011 after earlier taking a majority stake in the Golden Nugget just across a side street from what is now known as The D.

In October 2020 after almost half a decade of renovation and new construction, Derek Stevens opened Circa – the first newly constructed casino Downtown in four decades. This week, he announced the property’s new 35,000-square-foot meeting and events space has opened.

The new meetings and conventions, wedding receptions, and unique events space opened on Tuesday, August 30.

‘Since our opening, we have been working tirelessly to meet this next phase of growth and provide a remarkable experience for meeting planners and attendees,’ Stevens told Travel Weekly earlier this year. “At our core, we love to throw a great event, and we’ve thought through every detail to help you do that on any scale, with our resort as your backdrop,” said Stevens.

In a Tuesday press release, he carried the message further: “As the meetings and events industries continue to ramp up after the pandemic, we are thrilled to introduce our incredible facilities to downtown Las Vegas. It has always been our intention to add this to Circa’s repertoire, and we look forward to kicking off our first series of events in September.”

Circa’s meeting spaces offer groups top-tier, turnkey audio and visual capabilities and customizable rooms for up to 1,000 guests. Featuring a ballroom, breakout and banquet rooms, adjacent pre-function space, and a 1,600-square-foot outdoor terrace, the spaces are outfitted to complement Circa’s mid-century, art deco, and modern design motifs.

Look for unique environmental touches such as LED lighting and intelligent controlled, adaptive HVAC systems. Additional tech includes 16K LU laser projectors, audio tie lines, LED screens, patchable ethernet lines, quad outlets, retractable screens, and strands of patchable single-mode fiber in pairs on LC connectors.

Automobiles or other large equipment will have no problem making it to the third floor to be displayed in the cutting-edge environment thanks to a large freight elevator and the convention area has its own dedicated kitchen.

Reno Gets a New Casino

It’s been more than twenty years since a newly built casino opened in Northern Nevada’s Reno-Sparks community. Perhaps you’ve seen the Reno sign, Biggest Little City in the World. For years the area’s been in decline numbers-wise rather than progressing, having not really recovered from the 2008 era economic downturn. Banish those thoughts because Reno is back!

Legends Bay Casino at The Outlets at Legends, in Sparks, held a grand opening on Tuesday. Some of the highest elected officials in the state attended along with gaming executives, politicians, and guests from across the state.

Olympia Gaming CEO Gary Goett told the Reno Gazette Journal on Tuesday: “This has been somewhat long in coming, but we’re very excited to be here and share this project with the community.”

Source: Las Vegas: Circa Resorts & Casino opens its new 35,000-square foot meeting and convention space, YogoNet, September 1, 2022

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In Australia last week we learned that a significantly disabled player who needed help staking the game and spinning the reels would receive almost $320,000 in delayed payment, including interest, from a jackpot won in 2019 with the help of a self-excluded player.

In the U.S. some players in Pennsylvania who were previously self-excluded from online gambling are finding access to land casinos in the state cut off as well.

Many safe online sites offer a host of user-activated responsible gambling tools from time-outs and cooling-off periods, to deposit limits and loss limits, to outright self-exclusion.

The decision to gamble or to use the most robust responsible gambling tools should never be taken lightly.

In the first case, a player has to be ready, willing, and able to lose their stake without counting on a financial return – it’s risky business and most often results in a loss.

In the second case, the most drastic self-help tools like self-exclusion can result in unknown consequences including losses even if the player wins.

With over 10,000 online casino brands and perhaps thousands of operators, it’s not always readily apparent if an internet gaming venue has sister sites – it can be even less evident that a gambling exclusion at one site will activate a ban across all of the operator’s properties.

To determine that, a player has to be willing to roll up their sleeves and dig into the casino’s Terms & Conditions or find the site’s Responsible Gambling Policy.

Since there is no central global database of this information, the only other option is to read reviews written by trusted gambling experts.

This becomes even more important considering the fact that most online operators don’t do their due diligence on players until it comes time to pay out.

A self-excluded player could deposit multiple times without review. Still, when it comes time to verify their identity in order to get paid, their personal data could trigger an investigation or even immediate account closure.

A Bet Laid is Still a Bet Paid in Australia

In 2019, at Star Casino in Sydney, a significantly disabled patron won a jackpot of $285,000 on a slot machine. A friend helped him place his bets but the player’s card, decisions, and risk were all his. The casino decided not to pay the jackpot because his friend had self-excluded at the casino in 2016 and wasn’t supposed to be on the property, let alone running a machine.

A judge has found in favor of the player, awarding him the win plus about $35,000 in interest on the money as well as the player’s legal costs.

The winner had no reason to think his friend was banned and the friend didn’t mention it because he had been enjoying unfettered access for at least 6 months.

In his ruling, the judge said, “The whole of the economic stake wagered during the operation of gaming machines by [the friend], whilst [the winner’s]

money.”

He concluded, “Accordingly, [the casino’s]

failure to pay the winnings … was misconceived and breached the contract of wager between the plaintiff and the defendant.”

A bet laid is a bet paid in Australia.

Pennsylvania Denies Gamblers Requests to be Removed from Exclusion List

In the U.S., the state of Pennsylvania has been regulating casinos since 2006. The state’s excluded gambler list has over 10,000 names on it. Online gambling was liberalized there in 2017 and launched in 2019. New self-exclusion lists were developed for casinos and eventually, sports betting. Pennsylvania’s iGaming exclusion list has almost 2,000 names, according to a post in PennBets.

Online gameplay can be much faster than land-based gaming so the risks and rewards can be extrapolated as well. On the downside, players can lose money faster and they can lose more of it if they are impulsive and don’t have constraints in place.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) doesn’t automatically ban players from land casinos who have self-excluded online. However, many of the state’s 16 land casinos do not make differentiation and ban players across the board.

So far this year, seven players have petitioned the PGCB requesting to have their online exclusions lifted so they could play at brick-and-mortar casinos where the pace is slower and they have not requested exclusion.

Five were denied earlier this year and two more in August. While these seven players took the process to its ultimate conclusion, many others have simply given up without going through all the steps. Each of the players banned themselves from online gaming for one year, five years, or for life.

Oddly enough, as long as you look old enough to be gambling, casino managers do not request to see ID from players coming onto the casino floor to gamble – just like online casinos don’t check your ID when you deposit. Unfortunately, any significant win could require the players to show ID and their wins would be denied – just like online casinos might do if you self-excluded from a sister site.

After a bad session, many online players close their casino accounts and sign up for another one. In the process, they might say something that gets them on an exclusion list when that was never their intention. To avoid that, players can simply zero out the account balance and then ignore the site in the future.

If you ever experience difficulties or think you might, players should avail themselves of all the responsible gambling tools at their disposal but the ultimate act of self-exclusion should be considered as carefully as the decision to gamble in the first place – based on knowledge, not emotion.

Source: Sydney’s Star casino ordered to pay $285,000 jackpot to disabled man after withholding 2019 win, The Guardian, August 22, 2022

The post Star Sydney Player Wins Jackpot 2nd Time, US Online Players Banned in Land Casinos appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Bentley the Lion, one of the former cats part of the lion display at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, has passed away at the age of 15 years old.

MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with more than 6,800 guestrooms. The iconic Strip property was previously also known for its popular lion habitat attraction inside the casino area that allowed visitors to get up close with the muscular, broad-chested animals.

MGM Grand housed its Lion Habitat for 12 years. The glass-encased, indoor attraction wowed guests from 1999 until its closure in early 2012. MGM opted to do away with the lions feature amid a $160 million renovation of the resort’s main casino floor.

Bentley was a fixture at MGM Grand for the final six years of the Lion Habitat. Bentley was reportedly a descendant of Leo, who was the most recent lion used by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios for its movie “bumper,” which is the technical term for a movie studio’s branding/logo that runs during a film’s opening credits.

The lions never lived at MGM Grand but were instead shuttled in and out by their handler Keith Evans on a daily basis. After the lion exhibit at MGM Grand shuttered, Evans moved the attraction to his ranch in nearby Henderson.

Today, Evans’ Lion Habit Ranch allows visitors to continue seeing the lions.

Bentley Illness

In an Instagram post, Evans explained that Bentley the Lion recently became ill. After an initial test showed the lion was anemic, Bentley underwent additional testing but did not survive the procedures. Evans said the later tests revealed that Bentley had aplastic anemia, cancer, and leukemia.

“Bentley was almost 16 years old, which for a lion is geriatric,” Evans explained to Bentley’s followers and fans.

We empathize with the many of you who had wonderful memories and moments with Bentley. Bentley will continue to hold a special place in all of our heats,” Evans concluded.

Evans said in 2011 that MGM Resorts didn’t give him any warning regarding the closing of the MGM Grand Lion Habitat.

“We were caught off guard,” Evans told the Las Vegas Sun at the time. “The lion is the hotel’s logo. I never understand corporate thinking.”

Though the lions were free to see at MGM Grand, Evans charges $25 per person for out-of-state guests to walk through his Lion Habit Ranch. Tickets for Nevadans are $20. Further discounts are available for seniors, active military and veterans, first responders, and college students. Children aged 14 and under are free with a paying adult.

Strip Animal Attractions

For families visiting Southern Nevada or anyone else looking to check out an animal exhibit, Las Vegas has it covered.

Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef Aquarium offers guests to get personal — albeit safely — with a variety of sharks. Along with dozens of sharks, the attraction includes more than 2,000 animals, including giant stingrays, endangered green sea turtles, piranha, and even a Komodo dragon.

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