Casino Connection Atlantic City

In recent weeks I’ve had occasion to speak with several racino developers who say that, while casinos are supposed to save live racing, they may ultimately replace it, at least in some cases.

One observer, who did not want to be identified, said racing is too humdrum an activity for the iPod generation; another remarked, “The current generation of track owners will try to maintain racing as an integral part of a facility, but unfortunately as the newer generation comes in and sees the financials, the gaming end may slowly start to take over.”

That seems to be the intention of the owner of Twin Rivers Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island, considered by some to be the nation’s first racino. If Twin River was indeed the first to go racino, the current owners–BLB Investors–now want it to be the first to absorb its host operation altogether, and go to gaming only.

The horse-track-turned-dog-track-turned racino filed for bankruptcy this week. BLB says the greyhound track is a money loser that has to go or the whole place will go belly-up. BLB is also asking for 24/7 operations to help it stay above water.

Opponents of the facility, who are already irked by the increased traffic and noise that came with the casino, say the racino was just a strategy by owners who planned all along to eventually drop racing.

“It has been a ploy all along by these people to keep on getting another thing, another thing,” said resident Hal Perry to the New York Times. “First they got to be open 24 hours a day on weekends, then they’ll get it all week, then they’ll go for gaming tables, too. It’s a ploy to keep going until they finally get their full-blown casino.” Lincoln Downs became a racino in 1997 and in 2007, after a $225 million expansion that included 4,700 slot machines, it became Twin River.

While the fate of the property is uncertain–the original terms of the gaming deal required a working track in exchange for slots–the proposed transition from racino to casino could forecast what will happen to other racinos down the road.

It won’t happen right away; the racing industry has proven it can put up a fight to survive. But, as the first of our unidentified observers noted, there is “no generational replacement” for the racing fan. If that’s true, the rush to add gaming to race tracks could end with this generation, to be supplanted by a rush to subtract the track. And if Hal Perry is right, that may have been the plan all along.

–Marjorie Preston

I had a meeting with Dan Nita this week. Dan is the chief of the four Harrah’s properties in Atlantic City, and he mentioned that it was 30 years this week since Caesars opened. I was surprised but I guess I shouldn’t have been. After all, last year we did a complete story about the 30th anniversary of gaming in Atlantic City and Caesars (as the Boardwalk Regency) opened one year after that. And I was there….

I was an original dealer at Caesars. I went through the training and the orientation (no mustaches or long hair, please).  I was all ready to go, but something funny happened. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission didn’t issue me a license in time. Of course, it was a 2-inch thick document that asked about the genesis of your great-grandparents. For me, that meant figuring out what part of Ireland they came from. But I’m sure it was the year I spent in Argentina from 1972-73 that threw them. So when the doors opened to the Boardwalk Regency on June 26, I was not on the floor waiting for the first players. Two months later, the license finally came through and I began my casino career.

The early days of Atlantic City and Caesars were very exciting. People don’t realize that we worked 9 or 10 hours a day. The casino was open either 18 or 20 hours (on the weekend) so there were only 2 shifts, day and swing (no graveyard). I worked swing right away. Day shift was very desirable since it was close to a “normal” life. And since dealers split tokes equally no matter what the shift (not the case in Vegas), it didn’t matter which shift made more money. Dealers worked an hour on and 20 off, when you were expected to eat, visit the facilities and whatever you need to accomplish. Sometimes, the casino was so busy (mostly on holidays or special events) that it took so long to walk to the dealers lounge, that most dealers simply just sat in the pit for 20 minutes until it was time to go back to work.

There was a regulation in New Jersey at the time that required that a casino offer a specific percentage of $2 and $5 minimum games in order to allow all people to play. Since I started working after everyone else, I was one of these “lucky” ones who were stuck on these games night after night.

One night, I was dealing to a typically full 7-spot game. There were stories of people relieving themselves at the table to avoid missing any action, but that never happend at my table. But this night, one of the players was obviously not feeling well. I had to prompt him to play his hand several times. Suddenly he stood up and keeled over. Flat on his back. Someone jumped into his seat and he was passed out on the floor. I was concerned, so I stopped dealing and I called my supervisor over. He  just said “deal the cards, he’s probably OK.”  In a few minutes, security showed up and carted the guy away.  I never knew whether he was OK or not, but the game went on.

Every night after work, we’d head to some local bars. The father of one of the dealers had opened a bar a block away. Called “Timmy’s Last Shoe,” it was a hole in the wall, but all of Timmy’s friends showed up night after night. A block further was “Brajole,” something that would be considered an “ultralounge” in today’s parlance, but attracted most of the supervisors. I remember perfecting “Pacman” during those nightly visits there. But DeFeo’s, just across the street from Caesars became our home. It was across the street from the former site of the 500 Club, where Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and other great stars performed. But for us, DeFeo’s was a cold beer after a hard shift.

During that time, I lived in a neighborhood called Bungalow Park in Atlantic City. Unless it was 10 degrees or pouring, I rode my bike because employees had to park outside the city to be bussed to work. To get to work, I had to ride through the Inlet, which in the late 1970s was like the South Bronx. It was dangerous to drive in that neighborhood, much less ride your bike through it.

Work was a grind. In addition to the 9 or 10 hours, we also worked six days a week for the most part because it was so difficult to find people who could deal and who could get licensed. No quarter was given. We were not allowed to wear black sneakers to keep comfortable or to grow any kind of facial hair. Casino manager Jezz Lenz told us during one meeting that when he grew a mustache, we could too. The problem was the Lenz didn’t look like he could even grow a substantial mustache or any kind of facial hair.

I was ready to quit. But then I was approved for a baccarat class and everything changed. Dealing baccarat to the high rollers instead of blackjack to the fleas was like night and day. I still worked the same hours, but it suddenly became bearable. I was able to see the meaning of the gaming industry. I was able to understand the motivations of the players. And it all started to make sense. And I became interested in the business. And the rest is history. All because of a job I got 30 years ago at the Boardwalk Regency…..

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, the head of Sands Las Vegas Corp., wants to add table games to the company’s new slot parlor in Pennsylvania. At the grand opening of the Bethlehem Sands Casino Resort June 6, Adeldon pledged that the city will become a major resort if the games are legalized in the state.

Asked if table games are in the cards, Pennsylvania’s Governor Ed Rendell (above) reportedly grinned  and said, “Maybe.” While that’s no confirmation, it’s not a denial, and not even close to a discouraging word from the gaming-friendly guv.

While he waits, Adelson will complete an unfinished 300-room hotel, a 200,000-square-foot mall and a 46,000-square-foot convention center at the site. Construction was stalled last November when the economy faltered; Adelson predicts work will resume on the projects by year’s end.

“We didn’t want to stop it in the first place—the availability of money was difficult,” he said at a press conference after the ribbon-cutting. “As soon as the market loosens up, and I think it’s loosening up now, I think we’ll be able to start again.”

In Adelson’s view, the addition of table games could conceivably support a hotel with up to 1,000 rooms in the onetime brownfield region. The Sands corporation has already invested more than $700 million in Bethlehem near the site of the old Bethlehem Steel.

An additional 2,000 slot machines are planned for the 3,000-slot casino by late November; that’s space that could be reserved for tables if they are permitted by then, Adelson said. The Pennsylvania legislature could decide by the end of July whether to legalize the games.

Sands Bethlehem now has the second largest number of slots in the state (the Meadows near Pittsburgh is first, with 3,748). Weeks after its soft opening in May, the new casino already ranks fourth out of the state’s eight casinos in weekly wagers. More than 60,000 people visited the casino in its first three days; a reported $18 million was wagered the first day alone.

The host communities stand to win as well. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Bethlehem could reap $8.6 million a year from the casino, Northampton County $2.4 million, Allentown $3.2 million, and Lehigh County $822,400.

Those numbers could be persuasive as Adelson makes the case for table games. While most lawmakers feel the need to cite education as the raison d’etre for more gaming, Adelson is more pragmatic–and much pithier.

“In Hebrew, Bethlehem means ‘the house of bread,’” he told reporters covering the opening. “And what do you need to make bread? Dough. That’s what we intend to make here.”

–Marjorie Preston

You know how you hate it when someone lets their house go to tatters in your neighborhood? You complain that it’s going to bring down the value of all the houses in the neighborhood? And when someone actually does pay a lot less for a house comparable to your’s, the impact on your ability to get the price you think you deserve is greatly diminished.

That’s what happened on a larger scale this week in Atlantic City. The Tropicana was sold to a group led by Carl Icahn for $200 million. That is considerably less than the state thought it was worth when it seized the license held by Columbia Sussex 18 months ago. The Casino Control Commission was expecting that it would take maybe $900 million to buy the property.

The difference between what was expected and what was actually paid (and it wasn’t really paid, either; Icahn simply forgave $200 million in debt that the casino already owed him) is indicative of what has happened to Atlantic City in the past two years. The city’s luster is completely gone. With gross gaming revenues plunging each month by double digits, the value of these properties has plummeted as well.

If the Tropicana is only worth $200 million, what then is the Atlantic City Hilton or Resorts Atlantic City worth? The two properties owned by Colony Capital have produced GGR less than 70 percent of the Tropicana. So what are they worth? $90 million? $50 million? And how about Trump Marina, where a deal to purchase the property for $270 million fell apart last week? Since it barely scrapes together GGR of $13 million each month, how much would it truly be worth in this environment? $25 million? $15 million?

These are serious questions that will be answered within the next six months to one year and will impact ALL jurisdictions and corporations, not just Atlantic City. When you have a property that was once valued at $1 billion (as the Trop was at one time), what is the impact on the company (and the community) when the value falls so dramatically?  While Carl Icahn is a good operator, why didn’t some other operator who had eyed the Trop, such as the Cordish Group, come in and bid $210 million? Is Atlantic City in such bad shape that even a supposed “bargain” like this is ignored? Yes, it could be the debt that comes with the Trop sale, but it’s still a viable question with an answer that could impact the entire gaming industry.

So let’s keep up our houses so the entire value of the industry will be maintained. It’s important to everyone!

While attending last week’s G2E Asia, I learned plenty of things about the Asian market. Like the importance of the mass market to all the operators in Macau. With the opening of the City of Dreams, all operators are paying close attention to the popularity of the new property. It’s less than a week old, but my impression is that it will be a huge success. The design and layout of the property is very well done. Unlike the Venetian, where you have to trek through the property to get to the shopping mall, the shops at the COD are on the perimeter of the property, forcing visitors to go into the mall before getting to the casino. Very smart. Now if they had any shops that the normal person would be interested in or could afford, I’d say it would be a smashing success.

But one of the presentations I particularly enjoyed was one by Cirian Carruthers (above) , the COO for Galaxy Entertainment. He focused on the Asian market brilliantly and outlined the difference between Asian and western gamblers. He had a chart that I’ll synopsize below:

Activity                       Western Gambler                        Asian Gambler

Placing Bet                            Fun                                             Investment

Losing Bet                             Fun                                              Deposit

Luxury Rooms              Desirable                                   Waste of Time

Dining                               Experience                                     Fuel Stop

Entertainment              Excitement                                Waste of Time

Objective                 Fun, Relaxation, Socialization         To Get Rich

These attributes are true of most Asian gamblers, according to Carruthers. And trying to change them into the western mode is very hard and maybe impossible.

Take some other examples of how much Asians like to gamble. The gross gaming revenue of Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the Chicago metro area—the three biggest gambling hotspots int he U.S.—totals about $12.5 billion made from 100 million visitors. With just 22 million visitors, the GGR of Macau is $13 billion.

In Japan, the only way to gamble is using pachinko machines. Compared to total U.S. gaming revenues of $32.5 billion from 300 million people, Japan’s pachinko industry has revenues of $240 billion from 128 million people. And that’s just pachinko. Imagine if Japan offered true casino gambling?!

Carruthers revealed some Galaxy research on how the Asian customer chooses which casino to frequent. The single most important element in a person’s decision is word of mouth. And that’s by far. Something like direct mail ranks lowest on the list. Two-thirds of the visitors to Macau don’t make up their minds on where to play until they get there. Another astounding fact.

So in order of importance, the gambling decision made by Asian customers to Macau starts with reputation/friendliness, service, friendliness, signage, trust & belief in the property and the fact that his personal information is secure, safety,  convenience and finally, promotions. An American marketer coming into this environment sees all his assumptions turned on their heads.

So the success of Asian gaming operations is very tenuous and subject to whims and superstition. And the best marketing is that which inspires word of mouth. Now let’s figure out how to do that!

—Roger Gros

We’ve been hearing for years about how “server-based gaming,” or alternately “networked slot floors,” are going to change the industry. It has, until now, been almost entirely a theoretical discussion, at least in the U.S.

We’ve been told that in the new world of the digital slot floor, casinos will benefit from being able to switch out denominations and games, and that players will benefit from a host of features, from being able to choose their game style on demand to enjoyment of new types of slot games, and actual player-to-player competition.

The main barrier to the ultimate arrival of this new technology has been infrastructure, and in a broader sense, the economy. Creating a server-based slot floor is the same as creating a local-area computer network. That means the machines, like computers, need Ethernet connections, and the network over which the games will communicate needs to be in place. Unless it’s a new property, that means an expensive retrofit. And, as we all know, it’s tough these days to get a new property open.

Next year, of course, we’re looking forward to just such a new property when CityCenter (above) opens with an Ethernet-equipped floor and a commitment from slot-maker International Game Technology to use the new casino as a giant test ground for networked gaming.

In the meantime, though, IGT has found another solution to show what networked gaming can do—it’s called “sbX Tier One.” This is a small-scale server-based network. Fifty or fewer cabinets are placed in a dedicated area, and are given access to a total of 100 different games from the IGT library. Casinos can mix and match the games on the cabinets by remote control, players can be given different game menus. Thanks to “REELdepth”—the overlapping-screen technology that allows duplication of mechanical reels on video—players can switch among three-reel traditional slots, five-reel mechanical-style games, video slots, and even video poker.

The sbX system gives operators the chance to see what networked floors can do without making the major investment of converting a whole floor to handle Ethernet. The system just got its third installation last week. It’s now at Barona in San Diego; Ameristar in St. Charles, Missouri; and the Imperial Palace in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Meanwhile, WMS and Bally both have practical demonstrations of networked gaming technology that are available and in place for games that can be bought and leased right now. WMS has technologies like “Adaptive Gaming,” which in products like “Star Trek” place a standard video slot on a wide-area network. Bally has “Power Bonusing,” which adds reward games and screen-within-screen technology to standard slots through the online tracking network already in place.

These products will all be watched closely over the next year. They’ll have to prove more than mere convenience or efficiency for operators. They also will have to offer players something they can’t get elsewhere. In the end, networked gaming will have to prove it can generate incremental revenue for casinos.

If sbX, Adaptive Gaming and the rest can do this by the time the economy recovers and casinos once again have money to spend in their capital budgets, only then will server-based gaming truly move from theory to reality in the larger U.S. casino industry.
— Frank Legato

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a stereotypical view of the American South as being a little behind the times, and maybe a little bit, well, dull. After all, there is a surprisingly large number of people in this part of the country who are still upset about the Civil War and refer to it as the “War of Northern Aggression.”

But in reading about efforts to enact a smoking ban at bars and casinos in Louisiana I’ve come to the conclusion that I may have entirely underestimated these folks. While there was support for the ban in the Senate, the House voted against it 71-29.

One of the reasons was they saw that a smoking ban could hit the state in the pocketbook, and right now, there aren’t any states that can afford to give away money. But another reason mentioned was that no one is forced to be exposed to secondhand smoke in casinos or bars.

Hurrah! Hurrah!

Finally, someone has figured this thing out.

I fully support smoking bans in places like government buildings, schools, even most public places that generally can’t be avoided like airports or shopping malls. In fact, I’m glad that bans are in place in these buildings. I can’t imagine how awful it must have been to sit next to someone chain-smoking on a six-hour cross country flight or to bring home some new clothes from the mall that already stink like an ashtray. And, of course, you have to think about the children. (Won’t somebody please think of the children!)

But bars and casinos are something different. First of all, children aren’t allowed, so the argument that the ban is necessary to protect our little miracles is out the window immediately (although I’m sure someone brought it up at some point). So only adults are allowed in bars, and shouldn’t adults be able to decide for themselves what they will or won’t be exposed to? I understand that the idea of personal responsibility is increasingly foreign in the U.S. where is has become mandatory to require people to wear seatbelts and motorcycle helmets to protect them from themselves (rather than letting nature do its job and thin the weakest members from the herd). But apparently lawmakers in Louisiana still think that people can make some choices for themselves, because one of the reasons they voted against the ban was that people make the decision to go to a bar or casino. They know what they’re getting in to and if they don’t want to be exposed to smoke, they can either stay home or find an establishment that doesn’t allow smoking. Additionally, the people who work at bars and casinos aren’t indentured servants. They are allowed to look for employment elsewhere if they don’t want to be exposed to smoke.

I didn’t read any mention of the other important issue: private business owners should be allowed to decide for themselves how to run their businesses. If a bar owner wants to ban smoking in his establishment, he is free to do so and will probably enjoy some success among those who are averse to cigarette smoke. But if he wants his bar to be a real bar that stinks like stale beer and cigarette butts, it is entirely out of line for the state to tell him that he can’t do that for any reason, let alone the asinine statement that the people working there and his customers need to be protected from the secondhand smoke.

It is nice to hear something reasonable coming out of the mouths of lawmakers. It is nice to know that at least one state in the Union realizes that adults have the ability to make decisions for themselves and that they will live with the consequences of those decisions. It’s called responsibility.

And before anyone starts in with the argument about the health care costs being a burden to the state and all of its residents, all I’ll say is that until there is no fat tax on using the drive through and until there is no excise tax on the fat-laden crap places like McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s try to pass off as food—obesity now being the biggest health care problem facing the country—I’m not interested in hearing it.

—Greg

The East Coast Gaming Congress was held last month, and when it came to the future of gaming in Atlantic City, speakers there fell into several categories: the out-and-out cheerleaders and the harbingers of doom. The yay-sayers and the naysayers. The daydream believers and those who think we’re in the epicenter of a perfect storm.

The cheerleaders declared that Atlantic City’s future will be even brighter because of recent tough years. That outcome is very possible. Given the level of investment in this city and the commitment of the casinos, the South Jersey Transportation Authority, and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority,  today’s challenges could propel the sort of change this industry and this market might otherwise have kept on the back burner. It’s already happening, and though the industry is at the on-ramp of a very steep grade, it may be able to huff and puff and get to the top–at which point, it hopefully will never coast again.

On the other side of the spectrum was the doom-and-gloom contingent, including Tim Wilmott (below), former Harrah’s Atlantic City executive and now president and COO of Penn National Gaming. Wilmott raised a lot of hackles and even sparked a little anger when he said Atlantic City is in a “death spiral.”

Wilmott said that Sands Bethlehem, which opened in late May, along with new casinos in  Philadelphia and Maryland, and expansion in Delaware and West Virginia, will create “carnage that’s hard to describe” for Atlantic City. He also predicted that AC could become “the next Reno, Nevada.”

Understandably, some people found the remark very off-putting–when I hear the word “carnage,” I think of bullets and battlefields, not a slump in the gaming industry. Though Wilmott added that his remarks “are not intended as a eulogy,” they prompted Revel Entertainment CEO Kevin DeSanctis to later say, “I want to slit my wrists listening to these people.”

But SJTA Executive Director Bart Mueller, whom I interviewed shortly after the conference, says the city needs more people like Wilmott to act as “voices in the wilderness.”

In Mueller’s view, it sometimes takes a brick wall to keep the bus from plunging off the side of the cliff. Though that brick wall hurts, it’s better than the fall. Mueller is definitely a cheerleader–the word “indefatigable” comes to mind–but he appreciated the power of Wilmott’s words to rev up the people of this city to make sure the vision of a post-apocalyptic Atlantic City never becomes reality.

On reflection, I agree with Mueller. Let’s thank the naysayers for getting our blood boiling. As state Senator Jim Whelan said at the ECGC, “Incremental changes won’t get us where we need to be. We need to be bold.”

And as the editor of Casino Connection magazine, Frank Legato, wrote in the wake of the conference, “Those who do business in Atlantic City can decide either to cash in their chips or roll up their sleeves and prepare for what could be the city’s finest hour.”

–Marjorie Preston

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has not been a place that has offered a lot of hope for most of the past 14 years. Before the 1990s, it had been the site of the steel works that had helped arm the Allied Forces in World War II, and had provided employment to generations of residents of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.

When Bethlehem Steel Works closed in 1995, it joined numerous other rusting hulks in the ruins of Pennsylvania’s industrial past. Most thought the sprawling plant would fade into history.

This one, though, would be saved, and eventually, it could end up saving a major casino operator in the process. Last Friday, Las Vegas Sands Corporation opened the $743 million Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem on the site of the old mill. The familiar Sands logo—the same one that graced the iconic Las Vegas home of Frank, Dean and Sammy—now beams from a former industrial bridge on a property that has already brought economic revival to the region through hundreds of construction jobs.

It’s one of the few rays of good news for Las Vegas Sands, which is dealing with the recession by halting major projects due to slumping revenues not only in Las Vegas, but in the Macau market it helped to create. The operator’s stock price has plunged more than 90 percent over the past year.

Many analysts feel that Pennsylvania will be the factor that allows LV Sands to finally turn around and weather the economic storm. The state has provided consistent double-digit increases in revenue, and has maintained huge per-machine slot returns despite the recession.

It’s not only the newness of the Pennsylvania market that bodes well for LV Sands. Bethlehem has 5 million people living within 80 miles, and is expected to draw players from the enormous feeder markets of New York City and North Jersey.

Before it can realize that feat, though, the property will have to be finished. All that opened last week were the casino and restaurants (including, notably, one by celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse). On hold due to the recession are a hotel, a conference center, entertainment venues, a retail center and an industrial museum that will include elements of the historic steel works.

To its credit, Las Vegas Sands officials pledged last week that they will complete the master plan of the property, fulfilling the vision that was first laid out for the city of Bethlehem. (Until that happens, players from New York and North Jersey will still have more to do in Atlantic City than in Bethlehem, which will be another convenience slot house until its vision is fulfilled.)

Even without the complete resort, though, the casino’s opening is good news for LV Sands, for the Lehigh Valley, and for the little town of Bethlehem, which is welcoming employment and economic revival to replace the identity it lost 14 years ago.

—Frank Legato

The National Football League hates gambling… unless it can get a cut of the action. There is really no other way to say it.

It’s always been blatant hypocrisy. For years, the NFL (and other professional sports leagues and college sports programs) has cried “foul” whenever any state or online entity wanted to legalize sports betting. They all show up in force to testify against the wager, but they are very happy to take the money from casinos in sponsorship or advertising revenue.

The league is fighting efforts to legalize sports betting in Delaware. It is opposed to any changes to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act—even just a carve-out allowing people to play poker online. In Delaware, the league is arguing that sports betting is a game of skill and therefore not subject to the state’s exemptions allowing a lottery-style of chance-based gaming. As for the UIGEA, the league’s lobbyist Jeff Miller who plans to fight efforts by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank to overturn that legislation, it’s even simpler: ““We want to maintain the integrity of the game, and gambling threatens that.”

But just this week the league relaxed some of its gambling rules and it is now allowing teams to partner with state lotteries. The first team to do so is the New England Patriots (stolen joke here: the odds of winning are 18-1), but others, including the Washington Redskins, were quick to follow.

The league attempted to distinguish the difference between the kind of gambling that threatens the integrity of its sport and the other kind of gambling that doesn’t. “This would purely be scratch-off and chance games. They are not in any way connected to the outcome of our games. That is a critical feature for us,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.

But online poker isn’t connected to the outcome of NFL games. And playing blackjack or craps or roulette or any other game online has no connection to the outcome of NFL games. And yet the league is opposed to that idea, too.

So what is so special about the lottery? Well, for one, the NFL will get a nice cut of the action, and it will certainly help offset an anticipated drop in advertising revenue forecast for the coming year. But it also allows NFL fans to do something good for the community by helping out cash-strapped states.

“We do think it is responsive to the pressures that states are feeling right now to help meet some of those budget shortfalls,” Goodell said.

The NFL is not at all averse to hypocrisy when it comes to gambling. It refuses to accept ads from Las Vegas during its broadcast of games because Las Vegas allows sports betting. But, in efforts to grow its international market, it allows games to be played in Mexico City and London where, get this, they have locations set up where you can legally bet on NFL games.

Quite simply, gambling is just a red herring. The NFL wouldn’t care less about games of skill and games of chance and wagers and anything else like it if it was the one writing the tickets. If the NFL got a piece of the betting pool, you can be sure that it would promote gambling as hard as the world’s most successful casino.

—Greg Jones