Welcome to Fantasyland, population keebler61, where there is no federal ban on sports betting.

I don't understand why people keep pretending that there is any chance that NJ could one day unilaterally decide to have sports betting.

I find it reasonably likely that a judge will side with NJ on the issue if pressed in court. The fact that some states are afforded the ability to have sports betting while others are blocked is, quite simply and clearly, unjust. Yes, I'm optimistic, but I believe we're a coin flip on the decision. Even if we're worse than a coinflip, it's not by much.

And then that judge will be overturned on appeal. Already been tried twice and didn't work either time.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...s_testimo.html

What good legal arguments are there for legalization of sports betting in NJ? How do you get to your 50/50 number? I'd love to see some links to analysis that supports lifting the ban.

The legal argument I can think of is that the constitution does not give the federal government the right to give state X and advantage over state Y, or enact a law that is valid in only state X and excludes state Y. I don't really think I need to go further than that. Now, I'm no lawyer, so I'll admit I was putting forth conjecture and opinion, but I mean, to me the federal "ban" does not make sense.

I think the bigger hurdle is getting Chris Christie to go along with it. He's too busy jerking off to pictures of the white house to do anything to help us.

yea, keep dreaming. Never gonna happen.

I've found that conversations with the "AC needs to approve sports betting" crowd are about as productive as those you can have with the "you don't have to pay taxes on poker winnings unless the casino hands you a form" crowd.

F'in laws. If you can't understand them you don't have to follow them. That seems to be the current logic in America.

He's what I find interesting and hypocritical: Caesars Ent. properties in LV are committed to the "No Resort Fees" song and dance. In AC, however, you will get slapped with the fee onto your bill at majority of he casinos. Isn't it enough that you paying the fee, a deposit, and parking? I like staying in AC as much as anyone else but can we take it easy on our wallets?

when i was there first weekend in august wandering on a saturday afternoon it had 1 table running barely.

Someone - I think it was Lovesantiques - used to pull the monthly data on the poker take from the casino reports and post it at 2+2. It would be interesting to see which AC rooms have fared the worst over the last year. Unscientific sampling leads me to believe that the places generally regarded as having management and dealer issues (Bally's, Caesars and for some players, Taj) have seen the biggest dropoffs since the PA casinos opened. The better run places (Borgata, Harrah's and Showboat) have suffered declines, but not to the same degree. Players and employees agree that there needs to be some consolidation and players seem to be abandoning the rooms that appear to be in the most jeopardy.

Becuase I was slightly bored:

August 2010 Report: http://nj.gov/casinos/financia/mthre...008revenue.pdf
August 2011 Report: http://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/docs/Financ...108revenue.pdf

Y/Y Comparisons for August:

Name 2010 2011 Percentage Change
Hilton 20275 6548 -67.70%
Bally's 422417 282581 -33.10%
Borgata 1975140 1701257 -13.87%
Caesars 420109 290520 -30.85%
Harrah's 483039 290520 -39.86%
Showboat 298337 175212 -41.27%
Tropicana 484586 545609 12.59%
Trump Taj 1186488 677780 -42.88%

Total: 5290391 3970027 -24.96%

Note that there was a hurricane at the end of the month that closed the casinos for a couple days.

Trop doing so well due to BBJ? Interesting to see the boat and the Taj still down quite a bit. Rough life with the PA casinos, huh?

Sorry for the delay in updating this, I'll try to get around to it in the next week or so. Life has been very good - and busy - of late. :-)

Yes, Showboat and Taj are both WAAAAYYYYY down. How much of this is due to Pa. casinos, and how much to problems at both properties is unknown to me. I suspect though that it is a combination of both competition and property-specific problems.

Because of A.C. being shut down for a weekend due to the hurricane, I wouldn't take August over August numbers as having much meaning.

Lee

http://nj.gov/casinos/financia/mthre...007revenue.pdf
http://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/docs/Financ...107revenue.pdf

July 2010/2011 Comparison: (No hurricane, but July 2011 had an extra Sunday and one less Thursday over 2010)

Name 2010 2011 Percentage Change
Hilton 19861 13680 -31.12%
Bally's 489450 350155 -28.46%
Borgata 1997090 1934615 -3.13%
Caesars 401822 402219 0.10%
Harrah's 547803 472322 -13.78%
Showboat 295553 211230 -28.53%
Tropicana 547001 488204 -10.75%
Trump Taj 1330365 554027 -58.36%

Total: 5628945 4426452 -21.36%

It seems likely that the Tropicana BBJ partially contributed to its increase in August. I'm not sure why Caesars comparatively well. Perhaps they took a hit in 2010 because of their AC problems (due to cracked water pipe)?

Related Threads:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...urting-837201/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...venues-854756/

The number that jumps out at me the most is the huge, and sudden, drop in Taj traffic.

Lee

Where is the best place in AC to watch football on Sundays and get some beers and wings with family and without?....Does not need to be in a casino.

A Dam Good Sports Bar in the Tropicana has decent bar food and $5 40-oz beers, as well as the NFL Sunday Ticket.

Can anyone lead me to the best Friday night tournament in AC. I know about Borgota, looking more in the $100 range, and about 65 people at least. Thanks in advance.

Tom

The sad thing is that the handful of times I played there, I thought Caesars had the cleanest room in AC, chips were squeaky clean, etc., although I suppose that's a self-fulfilling prophesy because nobody plays there.

Heading to AC tomorrow (Tues-Thurs) any suggestions on best place to play midweek? Looks like Trop and Harrahs have best rates, about $50/night. Have only been to AC twice, both times on weekend trips and stayed/played at Bally's & Trop.

Thanks for any info!

If you are into the BBJ thing then it's around $540K at the Trop. I may play there this weekend for some 1/2 action when I get there. Bally's obviously has $1/$3 NLHE and is the only place in AC that spreads it (although Trop claims to too, but I never see it run), it doesn't always necessarily get going during the weekdays. Borgata has a nice tournament on Wednesday's for their 7PM with plenty of runners and if you want to play a tourney then I suggest you hit this one. I think it's about $125 total. For an overall good experience playing poker you can't go wrong with Borgata and I would go there honestly. That's probably your best bet. I'm coming down later on in the weekend. So good luck and I hope you have a good time.

If you do go to the Trop and you want a really good happy hour, go to Red Square in The Quarter between (I think) 3p and 7p: $5 appetizers and $5 house infused vodkas, all of which are very good.

^^^^ Good tip. I'm going to check this place out next time I am there.

Good suggestion! I was there two trips back, the bartender knew his stuff and the drinks were incredible.

Both bartenders I've had there during the approximately five or six times I've been (had one guy 1x and the other the rest of the times) were polite, fun, and knowledgable. I love the spicy vegetable infused vodka.

Even when they're not running specials, their regularly-priced, fairly expensive (I think $12-$15) martinis are worth it.

September revenue figures are out.

Name 2010 2011 Percentage Change
Hilton 15788 9049 -42.68%
Bally's 323260 298760 -7.58%
Borgata 2613811 2915672 11.55%
Caesars 402399 276928 -31.18%
Harrah's 516594 402324 -22.12%
Showboat 221169 179378 -18.90%
Tropicana 389171 632084 62.42%
Trump Taj 1038100 699706 -32.60%

Total: 5520292 5413901 -1.93%

http://www.state.nj.us/casinos/finan...009revenue.pdf
http://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/docs/Financ...109revenue.pdf

Tropicana continues to have a big increase in revenue, likely due to the large BBJ and increased traffic in the casino (Tropicana's revenue is up 19.9% over last year). The Borgata WPT Poker Open ran in September both years, and seems to have been more successful this year, though increased casino traffic might also have been a factor (up 11.0%).

Caesars seems to be a small outlier, with its poker revenue dropping by almost a third, even though its total win increased by 5.0%.

Taj's overall win dropped by 21.6% over last year, but its poker revenue dropped by more than 10% more.

Overall poker revenue is about even, which is consistent with all casino revenues (down 0.6%).

http://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/docs/Financ...essrelease.pdf

Press article about casino revenues.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/c...cc4c002e0.html