What will this mean to Las Vegas

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/blogs/prop-zero/Place-Your-Bet--Help-the-Debt-99780389.html

California wants to legalize sports gambling. Aside from the hypocrisy of the NFL on the subject, what are everyone's thoughts? What would this do to NV?

Myself I think there should be no reason the Feds allow just one state to have a monopoly on the practice is wrong and perhaps unconstitutional. If CA is successful it will mean any state can allow sports gambling. If that happens it becomes one more reason not to have to visit Las Vegas.

Despite the hit LV will take, I am for it. It is nonsense to say betting on games ruins the sport. With online places like Bodog you don't even need to find a bookie. Why not make it legitimate? Just keep the tax low enough to keep the business viable.

Actually, I've no idea if California really wants to legalize sports betting or not. As with most issues there are probably lobbyists and speech-writing hacks involved. What California probably wants is a way out of its budget deficits and any source of tax revenue (real or illusory) is being touted as appealing when all it really is that its more appealing than reigning in the politicians that brought about the deficit. San Diego has unfunded pensions. Taxes on sports betting will fund those pensions. San Diego will probably favor that.

Will it actually bring more taxes? Beats me.
Will it also bring other problems? Sure, but so what.
Will it be a boon to Vegas because it will entice more bettors that will ultimately trek to Vegas than otherwise would have? Beats me.
Will it bleed off visitors to Vegas in the manner that Indian Casinos have bled off motorists who would otherwise trek to Reno? Beats me.

The NFL has a public relations position the same way universities print speeches about academics come first but really know that alumni giving depends largely on athletics, not academics. Professors who want raises and pensions talk academics but know that athletics pays the bills. So speeches will take the high road, voting will take the low road. That's the way it always has been and always will be.

Would require an act of Congress.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is this federal law that prohibits other states from legalizing sports betting? I'm not aware of one. I thought Delaware was considering it.

If I lived in California I would fully support it. However, it don't envision it happening. The Indian casinos, professional sports, and religious right will lobby against it.

As for Nevada, I don't think the sports books make a great deal of money. That is why the limits are so low. The cost, I think, will be in losing customers that come for sports betting, but spend money outside of the sports books. Still, it won't be good for Nevada, but this is supposed to be free enterprise, get over it.

Quote:

What will this mean to Las Vegas

Well, if California gets sports betting, and assuming some day Cal recovers, it will still have sports betting and the attractions it always had, whereas, Vegas will always be in the desert and needs to stay unique as possible.

So... at any rate, we'll just have to offer more, or new, or something different, like always, or we could one day become the small unknown town we would have been otherwise.

And, of course, we have to compete with the Internet already.

Quote: Wizard

Forgive my ignorance, but what is this federal law that prohibits other states from legalizing sports betting? I'm not aware of one. I thought Delaware was considering it.

If I lived in California I would fully support it. However, it don't envision it happening. The Indian casinos, professional sports, and religious right will lobby against it.

As for Nevada, I don't think the sports books make a great deal of money. That is why the limits are so low. The cost, I think, will be in losing customers that come for sports betting, but spend money outside of the sports books. Still, it won't be good for Nevada, but this is supposed to be free enterprise, get over it.

I'm not sure of the name of the law, but NV, DE, and two other states I forget which are allowed sports gambling. NV is the only state where state law allows it, but that is why youy heard so much about DE considering legalizing it. Again, I don't see how this is allowed under the Constitution. States are supposed to be treated equal. Since only NV allows it there should not be a grandfather clause.

I agree with your last statement completely. Sports Books seem to be a small part of casino profit, though they drive other business to NV casinos. It is indeed free enterprise. Perhaps this would get casino execs to really innovate again?

Quote: AZDuffman

It is indeed free enterprise. Perhaps this would get casino execs to really innovate again?

I agree! The Vegas sports books have become too complacent and lazy. When two companies only control most of the casinos, I think that is bound to happen. If there were more competition I don't think there would be problems with:

1. Short expiration periods of as little as 30 days. While many books allow more, usually 60 or 120, I think anything less than a solid year is just not cool.
2. Refusal of expired tickets. I'm hearing about this happening more and more. A respectable book honors its bets. Period. Have a heart if a customer is a little late.
3. Low limits. The limit at the Paris, for example, for Super Bowl props was $100, unless you have a diamond card. Even the Four Queens was taking $2,000 to unknown customers off the street.

Its hard to quantify some things.

Do men go to barber shops that don't have magazines in them? Do women go to beauty parlors that don't place the driers in an area for gabfests?

Do bingo games bring much money into a casino? The answer is considered YES, they just don't bring much money into the bingo room, only the slot machines during the lulls between the bingo games.

Are sports books particularly profitable? NO!! If they were, the comps policies would be more generous. But you just try tracking bettors and you will see sports bettors are gamblers who go elsewhere. Trek to Vegas to get a bet down... and you might as well hit up the dice tables while you are there.

Its the same way with Poker Rooms... the rake pays for the drinks and jackpots and the salaries. Its getting the gamblers in the door that the casinos bank on. Sure poker players win and lose money to each other, not the casino, but they are gamblers: they bring money and they have to walk near the casino to get to the poker room. That right there is half the battle for the casino. If a guy owns a car dealership and plays poker, the casino wants him as close to that casino as possible. If they have to offer him a poker game, some half-naked tray lizards strutting around and some booze... then that's what the casino will do. Can you accurately measure the profit of a poker room under those conditions? Probably not.

Its hard to say whether a sports book is profitable. It attracts gamblers with money. Casinos tend to like that, but its hard to measure. Its like advertising. Its hard to measure the impact, but often easy to measure the lack of advertising.

The problem is always with the risks the casino is willing to take. Small drink glasses and cheap booze? Or large glasses and top-shelf stuff? A decent Book or a penny-pinching book that really does not want to assume any risk? There will always be someone who wants to Skim The Cream. Offer a sports book, but only take the easy bets from the suckers, not the hard bets from the sharpies!

Ticket expiration? Heck, I don't mind the ticket reading 30 or 60 days. I think the only problem is when the casinos try to enforce it. If you go to a dry cleaners with a receipt that is past thirty days you expect to get your clothes! The "No Tickee, No Shirtee" is a slogan best never followed. Thirty day expiration periods keep the lawyers and accountants happy but should be like those soft red ropes at Opening Night: they are guides, not really barriers. If you tell people 30 days, you get most of your tickets turned in promptly. The few people who find an uncashed ticket will feel pretty special when the Book cashes them because "you've been such a nice guy, so will do it for you". The Cream Skimmers will enforce those 30 day policies, a decent casino wouldn't dream of enforcing it!

Quote: Wizard

Forgive my ignorance, but what is this federal law that prohibits other states from legalizing sports betting? I'm not aware of one. I thought Delaware was considering it..

My guess would be that it is something to do with the Federal Wire Wager Act that was enacted sometime in the 60's, I think. If I remember correctly, the law was really enacted to cut into organized crime, but it has the side effect of technically making it illegal to run sports betting, since you have to transmit the results of the sporting events, and transmitting that information over the phone lines, internet lines, cellular lines, whatever, would be considered illegal according to this law.

Quote: konceptum

My guess would be that it is something to do with the Federal Wire Wager Act ...

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm still unconvinced. I thought the Wire Act basically made it illegal to make a bet over state lines using a "wire." Can you, or anyone, quote me chapter and verse of the Wire Act, or anything, that gives Nevada a monopoly on sports betting?