How are the Predictions from WhatIfSports Looking Now?

I wrote a post back in September at the beginning of the NFL season relating the predictions of WhatIfSports with regard to the division winners, wild card teams and Super Bowl participants and winner. Since ten weeks have transpired, let's take a peek at how accurate WhatIfSports' predictions are appearing to be.

They claim that in the AFC the division winners would be the Jets, Ravens, Chargers and Texans, with the wild cards being Tennessee and Indianapolis. The Jets and Ravens seems like decent picks to win their divisions, but the Chargers seem to be behind the 8-ball with regard to winning the AFC West and the Houston Texans are at the bottom of their division. The prediction that New England and Pittsburgh would NOT make the playoffs in the AFC also seems off base as well as their prediction that the top 3 teams in the AFC East - New York, New England and Miami would all finish with 8-8 records. Both New York and New England already have 8 wins.

In the NFC, WhatIfSports predicted that the division winners would be Dallas, Green Bay, San Francisco and New Orleans. Of this set, Dallas is totally out and it looks tough for San Francisco. The other two teams have a good chance but have strong competition in their division races. The wild card picks, Minnesota and Carolina only have 4 wins between both teams - they're not going anywhere.

Overall, the accuracy of WhatIfSports predictions is seriously lame. If they used their typical methodologies that they use for their core business to make these preditions, I think you know all you need to know about these guys. Maybe WhatIfSports needs to be renamed WTF Sports?

Tribal Casino Lowers Gambling Age

UpperMichiganSource.com reports that the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians has lowered the minimum gambling age at its Odawa Casino from 21 to 19. The change should be implemented by the end of the year.

It is apparent that there was no restriction from the State in order for the tribe to make this operational change to the casino on its tribal lands. However, the change did have to go through the tribal council. The Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians Tribal Council passed the bill and it was signed into law by Tribal Chairman Ken Harrington.

Since legal age of adulthood is 18, it may be only a matter of time for minimum gambling ages to be lowered to 18. In several jurisdictions, you can play the state lottery at 18, but not in a casino until 21. So, the age restriction for casinos may not be as much in order to protect innocent youth as opposed to the providing the state lottery the best chance to grab as much money out of a young adult's wallet.

It would be expected that tribes that have this latitude to change the minimum age to gamble to eliminate this state advantage, but not to lower the age below 18. Generally, the minimum age to gamble is in the 18 to 21 range, although in Missouri, a person as young as 16 can play charity bingo.

Arizona Tribal Gaming Revenue Stablizing

Unlike the continuing trouble with Nevada gaming, the tribal gaming properties in neighboring states are somewhat stable. Casino Gambling Web reports that current gambling revenue for the quarter will come in at around $22 million, about 1% higher than the same period last year, reversing the declining revenue trend of the last couple of years due to the economy.

The tribal properties in Arizona pay differing tax rates, depending on their compact with the state. The article states that there are 22 tribal gaming properties in Arizona, with each property paying a tax rate that varies between 1% and 8%, again depending on the compact.

Since Arizona stirred up controversy and a boycott due to its illegal immigration law, that seems to have not had a huge negative impact on gaming revenues.

Atlantic City Gambling Revenue Takes Hit

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Bloomberg reports that Atlantic City gambling revenue fell 12% in September 2010 from September 2009 levels. Gambling revenue was $2.8 billion in the first 3 quarters of 2010, which was almost 9% less than the same period in 2009.

The economy is definitely a factor, but the impact of competition must be looked at as the primary factor for reduced gaming revenue. Surrounding states such as Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania have increased their gambling offerings for their local populations. No need to travel to Atlantic City if the gambler can play close to home.

Atlantic City needs to prevail in New Jersey's efforts to allow sports betting to provide the competitive differentiator to bring back this destination. Otherwise, the long term trend for Atlantic City may not look promising.

See previous posts on New Jersey sports betting here, here and here. The posts discuss New Jersey's efforts and surveys with regard to establishing sports betting and overturning PASPA.