Twice weekly, we’ll comb through as many articles, tweets and podcasts as we can find related to the world of sports betting and daily fantasy sports, and publish the good stuff here.
Stumble upon something you think we should include? Email [email protected].
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Reno’s Atlantis Casino released season win totals for all 30 MLB teams.
For the 11th straight year, the Atlantis Casino in Reno, Nevada, is the first sportsbook with MLB season win totals, and it set the Cubs’ number at 95.5 for betting that began Friday morning.
After opening the Cubs at 89 wins last year — second in the National League behind the San Francisco Giants — head oddsmaker and Atlantis sportsbook director Steve Mikkelson is now a believer.
“I was short on them last year,” Mikkelson told Chalk. “My concern was that the team was so young. But after watching them in 2016, they are solid top to bottom. They have tremendous depth and won 103 games last year. If any team can take an injury or two and come back, it’s this team. I like the Wade Davis acquisition, and Kyle Schwarber is coming back as well.”
Recently filed legal documents show what sports betting tout Adam Meyer bought with the $45 million he scammed out of a millionaire.
In recently filed documents U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad wrote that Meyer used the money he stole “to pay gambling debts, as well as to gamble more and to fund his extravagant lifestyle, buying expensive real estate, cars and jewelry.”
Haanstad wrote that Meyer bought a $3 million home in Florida and bought nine luxury cars between 2009 and 2013. Cars purchased by Meyer included Mercedes Benzes, a Porsche and a Bentley.
Statistics released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board showed that downtown Las Vegas casinos generated more revenue from sports betting than craps.
One of the oddities that Schwartz uncovered this year is that the race and sports books in downtown Las Vegas generated more revenue than craps games there.
It stands to reason that casinos in that market, to grow business, might dedicate more resources to sports betting than the venerable dice game, which is a favorite to many gamblers because the edge the house holds is less when compared with other games.
Sports wagering statewide, in fact, did quite well in 2016 compared with 2015, worthy of note to proponents of the plan to legalize sports betting nationwide.
A report suggests that legalized sports betting would increase the NFL’s ratings and advertising revenue.
Here’s the top-level analysis from the report’s section on sports betting:
One potential change in the direction of viewership and ad dollars would be an evolution in the NFL’s view of legalized national sports gambling. …
Up to this point, the NFL has been reluctant to embrace [NBA Commissioner Adam] Silver’s point of view. Perhaps that would change if broader business decisions — and the health of the NFL’s TV partners — were taken more into account.
“This report from the leading media analyst on Wall Street shows TV partners why legalizing sports betting would boost viewership and grow advertising revenue,” said Sara Slane, the American Gaming Association’s senior vice president of public affairs, in a release highlighting the sports betting component of the report. “We invite broadcasters and advertisers to join our growing coalition to advocate for Congress to lift the failing federal ban on sports betting.”