Course Correction

In a rare case of gambling policy that makes sense, the NFL has revised its gambling rules by reducing the punishment on some violations and increasing it others.

Oct 03, 2023

NEWS: The NFL has made a logical and long-overdue adjustment to its gambling policies, but why did it take multiple violations to force its hand?
NEWS: After struggling for a decade, the Ocean Casino is thriving in AC.
VIEWS: Las Vegas journalist discusses the Caesars-UNLV research casino on the Joe Rogan Experience.
NEWS: Maine readies for its November sports betting launch.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: The Poker vs. Chess debate continues, and I’m here for it, and the 2023 version of a HU4ROLLZ match.
STRAY THOUGHTS:

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NFL Unveils Gambling Policies That Make Sense

Following a string of players suspended for violating the league’s gambling rules, the NFL updated its gambling rules to lessen the punishment for betting on non-NFL games (in a team facility) from six games to two for a first offense and increase the penalty for betting on NFL games.

Players wagering on NFL games will now be suspended for at least a year, and any player betting on their team will be suspended for at least two years.

Per the AP, the changes were made to counteract the evolving landscape, with an assurance that the rules are “clear, properly communicated, and focused on protecting the integrity of the game and the reputations of everyone connected with the NFL.”

The AP also listed several other changes:

Actual or attempted game fixing: permanent ban from the NFL.
Inside information and tipping: indefinite suspension, minimum of one year.
Third-party or proxy betting: indefinite suspension, minimum of one year.

In a statement, Rep. Dina Titus praised the changes. You may recall Titus queried the NFL and other leagues over their gambling policies.

“I'm glad that the NFL created a distinction between behavior that threatens the integrity of the game and legal wagering on other sports. Penalties for game fixing and betting on one’s own league should be more serious than betting on other sports. Every sports league should remain focused on protecting the product on the field. Leagues should periodically review their policies, in consultation with players, to ensure that rules are understood and updated when necessary.”

Rep. Titus had, as she put it, “called the NFL out for a lack of clarity in their policies earlier this year, as players did not understand what conduct was permissible under league rules.”

Remarkable Turnaround: Revel to Ten to Ocean

This story has been bumped for a couple of weeks, but it’s one that I found extremely interesting and demonstrates how quickly things can change in this industry.

The Revel Casino was a boogeyman of sorts in the gambling industry. A term that signified what not to do. It was the Mendoza Line of the gambling industry - a point of comparison you didn’t want.

And now it’s thriving, as Play NJ’s David Danzis recently explained.

Danzis does a great job covering the property’s journey, but I covered the trials of ~~Job~~ Revel-Ten-Ocean for many, many years and wanted to add some interesting elements to the story.

Revel started as the moniest pit of money pits, planned just before the financial recession. The multi-billion dollar property was supposed to be a transformative presence on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, a multi-billion-dollar destination casino in AC. It ended up with a check-in lobby on the 11th floor, a power bill it could never pay, and being many years ahead of the curve on going smoke-free.

Add it all up, and you get a couple of bankruptcies and an eventual closure in 2014, just two years after it opened.

Then the tragedy turned into a comedy, with the eccentric Glenn Straub purchasing the property for peanuts and exploring it Indiana Jones style, crawling around the structure with a flashlight in hand. The Straub stories I heard during his brief ownership were unrivaled.

To his credit, Straub did solve the power plant issue, but his Tower of Geniuses and ten million other ideas never came to be before he offloaded it to AC Ocean Walk, which rebranded the property as Ocean Resort Casino. Under AC Ocean Walk, the casino was surviving but was far from thriving. Then, it was sold to the current owners, who have completely turned the property around.

As Danzis notes, “Through the first half of 2023, Ocean is the second-most profitable operator in the city and the third-highest revenue-generating casino in town.”

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Las Vegas “Secret” Casino Revealed on JRE

On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, the conversation turned to gambling (as it seems to be doing quite frequently). Guest Michael Easter, a health and fitness writer who lives in Las Vegas, discussed a not-open-to-the-public casino in Las Vegas in a segment titled, How Casinos Are Able to Predict Human Behavior.

The conversation revolved around Easter’s attempts to better understand the fascination with slot machines. As he began to research it, Easter’s first interactions were a dead end, as he described the first group he contacted as “anti-gambling researchers” who fed him a number of easily debunked myths about gambling.

“The problem I’m encountering is I called people who want us to stop gambling,” Easter said. “I need to talk to people who want us to start gambling.”

He then stumbled upon the UNLV-Caesars research casino, Black Fire Innovation. Easter was interested in how they were studying the ability to influence behaviors.

Easter’s assessment of slot machines was something he called the “scarcity loop,” which has three parts:

Opportunity
Unpredictable rewards
Quick repeatability

According to Easter, the research casino is funded by 73 companies, from gambling to tech, as the “scarcity loop” isn’t limited to gambling. It can be replicated in other things (cough, social media, cough, cough).

That said, the “casino” is not some Bond-villain lair bent on turning us into mindless automatons, but it is interesting listening to Easter describe it, compared to how UNLV describes Black Fire Innovation or how it was framed by the Las Vegas Sun back in 2019.

Maine Sports Betting On Track for Nov. Launch

With everyone’s attention focused elsewhere, Maine, which legalized sports betting back in May 2022, is quietly approaching its launch date.

Milton Champion, the executive director of the Maine Gambling Control Unit, told local press that the state is on track to launch sports betting sometime between November 5-15.

"Once they've approved it, then I will forward it to the Secretary of State's office," Champion told Maine Public. "They typically take three to five business days, and then once [the Secretary of State's office] posts the adopted rules on their website, then we go live."

Maine will be an interesting state to watch. What was billed as a four-operator market has turned into a monopoly (possibly a duopoly) as three of the state’s four tribes, the Mi'kmak Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and the Penobscot Nation, have partnered with Caesars.

The fourth tribe, the Passamaquoddy, hasn’t announced a sports betting partnership.