More Ohio supermarkets are showing an interest in offering sports betting.

The Ohio Lottery Commission (OLC) updated its list of prequalified retailers on Friday afternoon, and among the new entries were 62 stores operated by Giant Eagle. The Pennsylvania-based grocer’s stores join 42 Kroger and nine Acme Fresh Markets that had previously received the OLC’s recommendation.

A spokesperson for Giant Eagle told Casino.org Friday evening that the company would not comment at this time.

Giant Eagle’s entry comes after Ohio Grocers Association President and CEO Kristin Mullins told Casino.org that she expects more supermarket chains to get involved as the rules for kiosks became clearer.

If I was ‘a betting person’ I would say that’s probably what they’re waiting on,” Mullins said Tuesday. “The devil’s always in the details.”

Through Friday, lottery officials have prequalified 1,254 retailers across the state that are interested in hosting sports betting kiosks. To qualify, businesses must be for-profit, in good standing as a lottery retailer, and hold one of three by-the-drink liquor licenses. Most of those are bars and restaurants, although a few bowling alleys and golf courses have also applied.

Prequalified retailers still need to apply with the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) for a Type C host license. According to the state’s eLicense portal, 538 retail locations have submitted their applications to the OCCC. That includes all of Kroger’s prequalified sites.

Monday is the submission deadline for entities that want to be able to host kiosks starting on Jan. 1, the universal launch date in Ohio. Applications will still be taken after Monday, but those retailers may not get approved in time to start on New Year’s Day.

Betr Gets 10-Year Deal

Kiosks are just one way sports betting will be offered in Ohio. The law passed late last year also allows for up to 25 online sports betting operators statewide and 40 retail sportsbooks in the state’s most populous counties.

The deadline was July 15 to file for an online or retail license and be eligible to launch on Jan. 1, but this past week, we learned a little more about one aspiring online applicant.

A couple of days after startup Betr announced its plans to disrupt the US sports betting market by focusing its product on micro-betting, which is wagering on plays or possessions within a sporting event.

Records from the eLicense portal and Florida Funders, one of the venture firms involved in the Series A funding for the $50 million enterprise, showed that Betr initially started as Instabet. Under Instabet, the company founded by Joey Levy and Jake Paul filed for an Ohio license last month with the Hall of Fame Village in Canton as its partner.

On Thursday, Betr announced it secured a 10-year deal with the Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company, which operates the sports and entertainment development district. As part of the deal, the Hall of Fame company receives an undisclosed limited equity stake in the new company.

About Ohio Sports Betting

Once the calendar flips to 2023, Ohio will become the fourth-largest US state by population to offer sports betting, and many expect the state to be one of the most competitive markets in the country.

Ohio will tax operators at 10% on net revenue.

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On Thursday, August 4^th, 2022 Major League Baseball announced that the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals will play in London in June of 2023 MLB season. Major League Baseball intends on returning to London next year during the 2023 MLB season for the very 1^st – time since the 2019 MLB season.

Major League Baseball released a statement on Thursday, August 4^th, 2022 that the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs will be playing a 2 – game series on June 24^th, 2023 and June 25^th, 2023, at the historic and legendary London Stadium. The National League Central division rivals were originally scheduled to play in London way back in 2020, but those games had to be cancelled due to the fact that the world was dealing with bigger issues as in the devastating coronavirus pandemic.

“The Cardinals are excited and honored to be a part of the London Series next year,” the St. Louis Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. mentioned. “The Cardinals – Cubs rivalry is one of the best in sports, and it will be exciting to bring it to Europe for a new audience to experience.”

The last time Major League Baseball actually played a ball game in London was way back during the summer of the 2019 MLB season, when the New York Yankees swept their 2 – game series versus their American League East division rivals in the Boston Red Sox. Those games took place in June of 2019 also at London Stadium. Those were also Major League Baseball’s 1^st – regular – season games to ever be played overseas in Europe.

Both the Chicago Cubs as well as the St. Louis Cardinals have played international games before in the past as the Chicago Cubs opened their 2000 MLB season playing ball games in Tokyo, Japan versus the New York Mets, and they also played a 3 – game series versus the Montreal Expos in San Juan, Puerto Rico, way back during the 2003 season of Major League Baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals played a 2 – game series versus the Cincinnati Reds in Mexico back in 2019 too.

“The MLB London Series between the Cubs and Cardinals has been in the works for years now and we’re thrilled to finally be able to bring one of baseball’s biggest rivalries to fans abroad in 2023,” the Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts expressed.

The 2023 London Series is part of an international playing landscape scheme that was approved during last March’s labor agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association. This International slate also plans for more games in London in both 2024 as well as 2026, the 1^st MLB games to be played in France will take place in 2025, the annual Mexico City, Mexico MLB games should be scheduled accordingly from 2023 – 2026 as well, an Asian opener in 2024, and a Tokyo, Japan opener during the 2025 MLB season.

“These games will be a great opportunity to once again showcase the London Stadium as a multiuse venue and an asset to the capital,” the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, explained. “The St Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs are two of the best supported clubs in baseball and I know they will receive a fantastic reception next summer here in the sporting capital of the world.”

Sources:

The Associated Press News Services. “London Calling: Cubs – Cardinals set for London in June 2023”. The Associated Press. Thursday, August 4, 2022.

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Atlantic City casino smoking opponents say the suggestions being pitched by the local gaming industry to limit workers’ exposure to secondhand smoke are nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

A growing coalition of Atlantic City casino workers wants the properties to go fully smoke-free. New Jersey’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act provided an exemption for state casinos to designate up to 25% of their gaming floor space for indoor tobacco smoking.

Legislation to close the casino smoking loophole has majority support in both the New Jersey Senate and General Assembly. But the bills — Senate Bill 264 and Assembly Bill 2151 — have not yet even received a committee hearing despite each measure having enough cosponsors for them to pass.

It’s widely believed that the Casino Association of New Jersey (CANJ) has successfully lobbied the New Jersey Legislature’s leadership into delaying a smoking cessation bill as long as possible. The nine casinos claim they’re still reeling from the pandemic, and a smoking ban would cut into their gaming revenue and resort business, and subsequently lead to job losses.

‘Half-Baked’ Solutions

Bob McDevitt, the union boss of the Unite Here Local 54 labor group that represents 10,000 workers employed by the casinos, has sided with the industry — not the workers who are seeking clean indoor work environments. McDevitt shares the opinion that fully smoke-free casinos would lead to mass layoffs.

The union leader says possible solutions continue to be explored, including outdoor gaming areas where smokers will be able to light up while gambling. But Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE), the nonprofit leading the anti-casino smoking fight in Atlantic City, says outdoor gaming patios remain hazardous for employees.

Another proposal from the gaming interests and union is developing an opt-out policy that protects current Atlantic City casino workers’ jobs should they tell their employer that they no longer wish to work near or in a smoking area. CEASE co-founder Peter Naccarelli says that too is a non-starter. Naccarelli believes the opt-out plan might result in low-income job seekers taking jobs in the designated smoking areas.

The so-called opt-out idea only forces workers to risk their health for a paycheck. It is not a solution at all,” commented Naccarelli.

“A casino worker living paycheck to paycheck should not have to risk their health by working in a smoking area just to get by. But that’s exactly what would happen,” Naccarelli continued.

“The most vulnerable workers would suffer most. Legislators should recognize the problematic scenario this would create and reject this half-baked idea,” Naccarelli concluded.

Awaiting Action

According to the latest count, New Jersey Senate Bill 264 is sponsored by 20 of the 40 sitting state senators. Assembly Bill 2151 is sponsored by 44 assemblypersons of the 80-member lower chamber.

CEASE claims its organization has the support of thousands of casino dealers and other frontline gaming workers. The organization was formed after indoor casino smoking was permitted to return in Atlantic City after being temporarily put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Crown Sydney is officially a gaming resort. That’s after the Barangaroo property commenced table operations at the AU$2.2 billion (US$1.5 billion) destination on Monday, August 8.

Billionaire James Packer, Crown Resorts’ founder and former chairman, made it one of his lifelong goals to open a casino in Sydney, which was a career ambition of his late father Kerry Packer. But for decades not even the Packer family’s vast wealth and political connections could get the deal done.

That changed in June 2016, when New South Wales (NSW) finally agreed to issue a second commercial gaming license to Packer the younger and his Crown Resorts empire. A condition of the concession was that gaming rival Star Entertainment, which owns and operates The Star Sydney in Pyrmont, would maintain a monopoly on slot machines through 2041.

But scandal plagued Crown Resorts ahead of Crown Sydney’s December 2020 opening, which led to the VIP casino’s opening being mothballed.

Inquiry Exposes Regulatory Shortcomings

New South Wales probed the suitability of Crown Resorts to hold a casino license in the Australian state after allegations surfaced that the company’s track record of preventing its Melbourne and Perth casinos from being used to launder money was not exactly glowing.

Known as the Bergin Inquiry, the investigation overseen by former NSW Supreme Court Judge Patricia Bergin concluded that Crown often looked the other way when it came to alleged criminal networks frequenting its casinos for illicit purposes. The inquiry also found that Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth engaged with VIP junket groups that had known links to organized crime throughout Asia.

Crown Resorts was clearly facilitating money laundering, exposing staff to the risk of detention in a foreign jurisdiction, and pursuing commercial relationships with individuals connected to organized crime,” Bergin wrote in her summary. “It is obvious that such attributes would render an applicant quite unsuitable to hold a casino license in New South Wales.”

Bergin ruled that Crown needed to greatly overhaul its corporate governance before NSW should allow the company to possess gaming privileges. The company agreed to the numerous conditions imposed by the inquiry.

Some 16 months later, Crown Sydney in June was issued a provisional gaming concession for its VIP gaming space. The casino opened yesterday with about 160 table games and 70 electronic versions of baccarat, blackjack, roulette, and other popular casino table formats.

Conditional License

The Crown Sydney casino license held by Crown Resorts is a provisional concession, as the Aussie state plans to keep close tabs on its gaming operations for the foreseeable future. If regulators determine the VIP gaming space to be running smoothly without any regulatory shortcomings, the casino is expected to receive an unconditional casino license at some point next year or in 2024.

“Under the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority’s (ILGA) supervision, Crown has rebuilt its gaming model from the ground up, which has meant deep structural change around governance, anti-money laundering measures, and corporate culture,” said Philip Crawford, ILGA chair.

Given the need to observe the changes in operation as well as ensure changes are embedded in the business, the authority will consider approval of Crown’s suitability until the end of the conditional gaming period, which could run between 18 months and two years,” Crawford explained.

The VIP casino at Crown Sydney is open only to property residents, overnight hotel guests, and casino members. Each approved patron is limited to gambling for up to 12 hours in a single day and 48 hours per week.

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On Thursday, July 28^th, 2022 the Everton football club announced that they have decided to sign the English winger, Dwight McNeil, from the relegated football club of Burnley for a reported 20 million pounds or $24 million, with the winger becoming the 3^rd football player to move to Goodison Park in order to play for Everton’s football club during the 2022 European football offseason.

McNeil’s former teammate with the Burnley football club, center – back James Tarkowski, also joined Everton, and the left – back, Ruben Vinagre, signed with Everton on loan from the Portuguese football club of Sporting on Wednesday, July 27^th, 2022.

McNeil, who has now officially signed a 5 – year deal, is a former England under – 21 international who made 140 – appearances for the BurnleyF. C. following him joining ultimately from the Manchester United football academy.

Everton themselves barely escaped relegation from the English Premier League (EPL) under their head football coach in Frank Lampard during the previous 2021 – 2022 European football season.

“I have been a big admirer of Dwight for some time,” the head coach of Everton, Frank Lampard, explained regarding the game of the England – native in Dwight McNeil.

Lampard goes on to say, “He has huge talent and is exactly the type of player we want to bring into the squad to help us improve.”

Sources

The Associated Press News Services. “Everton signs Dwight McNeil from relegated Burnley”. The Associated Press. Thursday, July 28, 2022.

Football Reference News Services. “Dwight McNeil”. Football Reference. Thursday, July 28, 2022.

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