Sunday, January 31, 2021
Hudson Stremmel has conducted all types of auctions in his seven years as an auctioneer. He’s presided over dispersals of real estate and fine arts, vehicles, and estate sales, for his family’s business Stremmel Auctions.

But an upcoming auction at a revered casino and resort in Stateline, Nevada, is giving him pause. When items from the Lakeside Inn and Casino go up for bid on March 4-7, it will mark the end of a 35-year run.

The Southshore Lake Tahoe resort closed permanently in April 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue Reading: Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports
Legislation is being prepared to preserve historical racing operations that serve as a crucial revenue source for Kentucky’s horse tracks, a key Senate committee chairman said Thursday. Republican Sen. John Schickel said he will introduce the measure when lawmakers resume their 2021 session next Tuesday. It will come up two days later in the Senate Licensing and Occupations Committee, said Schickel, who is the committee’s chairman. Senate President Robert Stivers will co-sponsor the bill, Schickel said.
Proposals to legalize gambling in Georgia are now in the pipeline of both legislative chambers in the General Assembly. A bill introduced in the state Senate this week would allow pari-mutuel betting on horse racing in the Peach State subject to a statewide referendum. The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Brandon Beach, follows the introduction of two measures in the Georgia House of Representatives to legalize online sports betting and casino gambling. Beach’s 51-page bill calls for the construction of up to three mixed-use developments featuring a racetrack, hotels and restaurants. The facilities also could include convention space, entertainment venues and retail shopping.
The fast-tracking of legal sports betting in America is being fueled by a frenzy among media outlets, teams and leagues as they embrace a new, potentially huge, revenue stream. And this has created many business and ethical questions. A grandiose plan now in the works is for Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Cardinals, Blues and St. Louis University basketball telecaster Fox Sports Midwest, to incorporate sports wagering into its telecasts at a date to be determined.
Bill C-13, which would amend the Criminal Code of Canada to allow single-wager sports betting, was introduced in fall 2020, but remains idle on the floor of the House. The Liberal government voted in December against fast-tracking the bill. Now, Windsor West MP Brian Masse, a proponent of single-game betting, has questioned the government’s commitment to bringing the pastime to Canada. “This government continues telling Canadians that they are committed to passing this legislation, yet they cancel, for the second time, the necessary debate in order for it to move forward through the House of Commons,” said Masse in a media release.
Massachusetts gamblers could benefit from a better understanding of the games they play and the risks involved, and from greater use of strategies like setting a limit before beginning to gamble, a Canadian consultancy reported to the Gaming Commission. Overall, a study of more than 1,500 gamblers in Massachusetts found that their beliefs and behaviors around responsible gaming are mostly in line with their peers in some other states with legal gambling, but that they are more likely to be less responsible players than those in Canada.
A Tennessee panel approved licenses Friday for two more sportsbook operators under the state's online-only sports betting law. William Hill and Wynn Sports drew approval from the Tennessee Lottery's Sports Wagering Committee. Lottery CEO Rebecca Hargrove said those companies and a third, Churchill Downs, have indicated they won't launch in Tennessee in time for the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. One operator’s server was near where a bomb detonated in downtown Nashville on Christmas, Hargrove said.
Read more: Associated Press
Legislators in Alabama are to run the rule over a new bill that seeks to legalize online, mobile and land-based sports betting in the US state. Introduced by Representative John Rogers, House Bill 161 would permit betting on professional and collegiate sports events in Alabama, with consumers able to bet in person at licensed venues or with approved online and mobile operators. The bill would create the Alabama Sports Wagering Commission to regulate the market and take control of the licensing process. The Commission would be able to issue up to seven licenses for sports betting, with each permit to cost $100,000. Licenses would run for a period of five years, after which the holder would be required to pay a $100,000 renewal fee.
Tax revenue numbers show that legalized sports betting has been a huge hit during its first year in Illinois. People wagered more than $1 billion on football, baseball, basketball and other sports during 2020. Most bets were placed online, and revenues may be poised to soar during 2021. “I think we could see $4 billion this year,” said John Walsh, assistant general manager for Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney. Walsh was in Crestwood Thursday to welcome guests to a new sportsbook entertainment venue. The venue shares a building with an off-track betting parlor that the horse racing enterprise has operated since 1989 at 13148 Rivercrest Drive.
This report is edited by Jeffrey Compton and Alec Rubin