Texas Considers Sports Betting, Bally’s Enters Chicago Deal & More

This week’s casino news starts off in the great state of Texas where again the topic of legal sports betting has come up. Will they finally legalize the popular pastime?

Texas To Consider Allowing Sports Betting

Sports betting has long been prohibited in the Lone Star State but there is a new bill on the horizon that could potentially allow sports betting in Texas. The new bill was just filed and it will allow the voters to decide on whether or not gambling should be expanded upon. It isn’t expected to be put into action until November 7^th, 2023.

Texas, in particular, is one of the largest potential sports betting markets in the nation yet doesn’t have it legalized in the state. With so many football teams in the state, betting brands are salivating to enter the market. However, until now, it’s mostly been banned. There’s no question that a potential shift in sentiment would be welcomed by both brands and players.

The American Gaming Association reported that 36 states have legalized gambling. Texas and California remain two of the largest that have not yet got onboard. California doesn’t appear to be trending in the right direction either in regard to this as voters rejected not one but two proposals for expanded gambling. Texas could blaze their own trail if they decide to legalize.

Bally’s Enters Deal For Chicago Casino

Bally’s Corporation continues to grow in various directions and the latest is the brand expanding their footprint in Illinois. They just announced that they came to a deal with a real estate private equity firm. It was reported that it was $200 million and that the investor is picking up a 30-acre site, the spot where Bally’s Chicago is set to be built.

Bally’s Chicago definitely needed the space to build their massive casino. In fact, it was estimated that Bally’s Chicago is going to cost them approximately $1.7 billion.

The property is set to include roughly 3,400 slot machines and 170 table games along with it. The deal that Bally’s made also allows for them to operate a temporary property as their permanent one gets built up, so they can start generating revenue. The rights to that temporary property will only last up to three years, but the permanent one should be built by that point.

A Study Highlights Most Popular Forms Of Betting In UK

Wondering what the fine folks in the United Kingdom like to bet on? A recent study showed the most popular forms of betting in the UK to shed some light on the matter. It was a top 10 list that was based upon the percentage of people participating in them.

The tenth is simply casino games as those are universally popular. That was followed by Football Pools at number nine and bingo at eight. Bingo, believe it or not, rakes in 812 million a year in the United Kingdom.

Seventh and sixth are various types of slot machines, which generate peak profits that equated out to 58 percent of their revenue. Slots comes in at six, accounting for 2.9 billion Gross Gambling Yield. Horse Racing is fifth with the Grand National event bringing together 500 million people across from 140 countries.

Private betting made the list at fourth, which some estimate to be utilized by roughly 3.8 percent of the population. That’s just casual bets among friends. Third is unsurprisingly sports. 5.2 percent of the population have spoken about gambling on sports throughout the year 2022.

As for the last two, it’s scratch cards and lotteries. Scratch cards are played by 7.1 percent of the population in the UK has. However, a lot of that can be attributed to them being easily accessible. Finally, lotteries have seen almost a third of people in the population buy at least one ticket at some point in 2022.