Once again, the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Championship, also known as March Madness, attracted countless sports betting aficionados to Las Vegas. Despite its efforts to distance itself from gambling, the annual tournament continues to attract millions of punters.

The Nevada Independent’s Howard Stutz reported that the West Regional Championship, which is the first time Las Vegas has ever hosted an NCAA tournament, further improved operators’ handle. The BetMGM sportsbook insider, for example, was flooded by basketball fans from many states who wanted to place last-minute wagers.

The games were exciting for operators and sports fans alike. The Las Vegas-y atmosphere managed to excite fans from all states, even appealing to locals.

Despite Chad Beynon’s claim that the March Madness handle will translate into 30% of North American sportsbooks’ total handle, Stutz believes that these figures might be a little different in Vegas because of the heightened activity.

While the NCAA continues to try to distance college sports from wagering, the number of conference tournaments in Las Vegas continues to increase. Some of the events hosted in the Mecca of gambling this year alone include the Pac-12 event at T-Mobile, the Mountain West tournament at Thomas & Mack Center and the WAC championships at the Orleans Arena. Meanwhile, the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson hosted the Big West for the second year in a row.

The NCAA used to be very skeptical of Las Vegas. With time, however, the organization seems to have mellowed down on its stance, in part thanks to all the recent events and developments.

March Madness Handle: Beynon’s Predictions

Attesting to the popularity of the Match Madness tournament is the value it generates for sportsbooks. Last week, Chad Beynon, a Macquarie Securities gaming analyst, said the event’s first two rounds have likely generated 70% of the prior week’s overall betting handle.

The first four days of the event, Beynon noted, usually see the most betting activity because of the number of games. For reference, the two opening rounds of March Madness saw teams engage in a whopping 48 matches.

Usually, handle will decline in the later stages of the tournament as fewer teams continue competing. But the first two rounds, Beynon says, have likely generated sports betting handle of around $4.5 billion. This figure includes both traditional and parlay bets.

Meanwhile, Beynon believes that the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds will together represent 55% of sportsbooks’ weekly handle. The betting volume will likely wane further into the Final 4 and the Championship rounds, which Beynon estimates will contribute 40-50% to the weekly sports betting handle.

Beyton expects March Madness bets to form 30% of all sports betting volume in March and 10% of April’s sports betting handle.

He also talked about the hold percentage he estimates sportsbooks to record. He believes that the first two rounds will see operators hold around 7% of the handle. This number was impacted by certain unexpected events, such as Fairleigh Dickinson University dominating Purdue – the second time ever a 16-seed team has defeated a 1-seed team.

Beyton said that Macquarie Securities expects Q1 2023 market hold to be close to 8%. He added that most operators will likely achieve a hold 100-200bps below the market hold.

The Racing Post reported that O’Brien claims that the sportsbook ignored its social responsibility towards him as they were aware of his gambling addiction but still allowed him to bet, leading to a loss of over GBP48,000 ($59,533) between September 14, 2018, and March 30, 2019. O’Brien stated that the amount he lost did not include the money he staked and lost on the betting terminals in the Star Sports shop, although the defense disputed whether he ever used the terminals.

Problem Gambler Seeks Justice against Star Sports by Disputing Negligence

O’Brien’s counsel will examine whether Star Sports complied with the Social Responsibility Code Provisions (SRCP) to its applicable operating license, and if not, whether the claimant sustained losses as a result. 

On the first day of the trial, O’Brien told the court about his problem gambling history, where he spent ten months in rehab between 2002-2003 and visited Gamblers Anonymous. He also revealed that his addiction had previously led him to attempt to take his own life.

O’Brien said he first confessed his gambling problem to Star Sports when he recognized a cashier as a parent from the same school his children attended. Worried she might tell his ex-partner, he revealed to cashier Gemma Mehmet that he had a bit of a problem and that he did not want his ex-partner to find out, fearing it could restrict him from seeing his children if she knew he was gambling. 

However, the defense disputed O’Brien’s recollection of the conversation with Mehmet and suggested it was all “nonsense.”

Central London Court Hears O’Brien’s Revelations Under Intense Defense Scrutiny

Mehmet, who currently resides in Spain, inadvertently played a significant role on the first day of the proceedings when the judge determined that the reasons for her absence from the court were in violation of civil procedure rules. The judge permitted Mehmet’s previous statement to be relied upon for now, but what weight could ultimately be given to her statement remained in question.

On March 27, O’Brien’s claim became the central topic, and he faced intense scrutiny from the defense, who alleged that the plaintiff enjoyed boasting about his wealth and influential connections. 

Among the revelations were O’Brien’s former relationship with Claire Caudwell, former partner of billionaire Phones 4U founder John Caudwell, and that he had made GBP2.2 million ($2.7 million) when a business in which he was a director sold for GBP9 million ($11.2 million). The court also heard how he lost GBP836,000 ($1 million) in one night at a casino, only to make it all back and more during the following eight months.

The hearing will continue for four days at the Central London County Court.

The Las Vegas shooting from 2017 might have been motivated by gambling frustration, a recent report shows. A newly-released FBI report shows that the 64-year-old shooter, Stephen Paddock, was an avid high roller who was really unhappy with the way casinos treat him.

The 2017 Las Vegas shooting happened on October 1, 2017, when the Mesquite man opened fire on the audience of the Route 91 Harvest music festival. From a suite in the Mandalay Bay hotel, Paddock fired over a thousand bullets, killing 60 people and wounding more than 400.

Paddock’s terrible deed is remembered as the deadliest shooting in American history. However, the motives behind the shooting remain somewhat mysterious, for the murderer took his own life before he could be interrogated.

A new FBI report, however, suggests that the shooting may have been the result of Paddock’s gambling-related frustration.

Paddock Thought Casinos Treated Him Unfairly

The report shows that Paddock was a very active gambler. He would sometimes gamble for as many as 18 hours at a time. Other casino goers say that Paddock would often carry some $100,000 in cash to play.

A Tropicana Las Vegas worker noted that Paddock was a quiet man who played poker a lot. In addition, one gambler told the FBI that the gunman was an “intelligent man” who, “like all professional gamblers, frequently kept to himself.”

The interrogated gambler provides further insight into what may have motivated Paddock’s murderous rampage. According to them, the 64-year-old was growing increasingly discontent with how the casinos treated him and other high rollers.

Previously, operators had policies that would see high rollers rewarded with luxurious experiences such as penthouse suites, cruises, vacations, etc. Unfortunately, casinos had been less generous the last few years, immensely frustrating Paddock.

No one can say for certain whether this truly is what caused Paddock to pull the trigger. However, it seems like a plausible explanation and, even if not the whole truth, might have been one of the factors that pushed the man onto this dark path.

Paddock had no prior criminal record either. However, his descent might have begun long before the shooting. One of his business associates told the FBI that the man was furious with the system and had become morbidly fascinated with the Oklahoma City bombing from 1995 – an event that left 168 people dead and around 680 injured.

The report found that casinos captured the largest share of the market, accounting for 63% of the total revenue, followed by lotteries at 23%. Distributed gaming and route operations, sports betting, charity, and racing made up the remaining 12%. The online channel, which includes online casinos, poker, sports betting, iLottery, and pari-mutuel ADW, represented 9% of the total revenue, up from 7% in the previous year. 

More States Legalize Sports Betting, but Brick-and-Mortar Casinos Maintain Dominance

The legal gaming landscape in the US has changed significantly since May 2018 when the US Supreme Court ruled that states could decide their laws on sports betting. Since then, more than 30 states have legalized gambling in sports events.

Six states now permit iGaming with interactive slot machines and table games, further expanding the online gaming market. However, traditional brick-and-mortar casinos remained the dominant force in the industry, with gross gaming revenue (GGR) from commercial and tribal casinos totalling $91 billion, or 58% of the overall gaming win.

Including revenue from online gaming and sports betting linked to physical casinos through third-party partnerships, the total GGR for casinos was $98 billion, or almost 63% of the net win in 2022. Despite the many new legal gaming options available to players, casinos continue to account for the lion’s share of the industry’s revenue.

US Gaming Industry Shatters Annual Revenue Record in 2022 According to AGA Report

In February, the American Gaming Association (AGA) reported that the US commercial gaming industry set a new revenue record in 2022, generating $60.4 billion. This marks the second consecutive year that the industry has broken its annual revenue record, surpassing the previous year’s revenue of $53 billion. The record-breaking year was driven by all-time high quarterly revenue of nearly $15.9 billion in Q4 2022, with both sports betting and iGaming contributing to the growth. Traditional gaming also experienced a 1.7% year-on-year increase.

AGA President and CEO Bill Miller attributed the industry’s success to its ability to outpace expectations. He stated: “American adults are choosing casino gaming for entertainment in record numbers, benefiting communities, and taking market share from the predatory, illegal marketplace.” 

The industry continues to diversify its offerings, with retail gaming accounting for 80.5% of total revenue, and online gaming contributing 19.5% to the revenue.

In traditional gaming, table games experienced a 13.9% year-on-year increase in revenue, while slot machines showed steady 5.1% annual growth. The legal sports betting market saw record highs in handle and sportsbook revenue. Meanwhile, online casino revenue in limited iGaming states increased 35.2% year-on-year to $5 billion.

Las Vegas and Atlantic City retained their positions as the top commercial markets, while the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. market reclaimed its position as the third-largest gaming market.