Late Legislation To Legalize Online Gambling in California

A couple of bills in the California legislature are still hanging around even though there are only a few weeks left in this year's legislative session.  Stranger things have happened than having bills that haven't gone through the full legislative review process get passed in the mad rush to get the end of session work completed.

In this case, although it is possible one or both of these bills are approved, I am not overly enthusiastic about their chances.  Personally, I am in favor of online gambling, but I much prefer the bills to be fully vetted and edited, with all stakeholders and opinion-holders having their full say in the matter.

Here's an editorial from a local newspaper that shares the same sentiment.  I agree.  In California, the tribes have huge leverage and influence.  And the tribes are not monolithic in their perspectives.  The tribes do compete against each other, which extends to the political arena.  In general, if all the tribes are not in consensus, the likely and easiest answer is no.

Gambling Superstitions

Gambling, like sports, easily is compatible with superstitious activity.  Certain outfits, such as a "lucky hat," are required before a person heads to the casino, racetrack or sports arena.  But in terms of gambling play, many other superstitions can be seen.  We're not even delving here into betting systems or schemes.

What superstitions have you run into?  Feel free, if desired, to add them to the discussion by commenting.

Here are some:

For slot play:

• press the spin reels button as quickly as possible
• count to 3 (or 7) after the previous result before pressing the spin reels button
• only use your right hand to play the machine (even including inserting money/tickets)

For scratch lottery tickets:

• scratch off the tickets in a straight-line fashion like tic-tac-toe (Tic-Tac-Toe gets me the dough)
• scratch off the tickets slowly (slow and win, fast and lose)

 For card games:

• Cutting the cards "thin to win"

For craps:

• Tapping the dice on the felt before shooting
• Setting the dice with the desired roll before shooting

What others have you seen?

Zynga Avoiding US Gambling Market

MarketWatch.com has a story commending Zynga for not pursuing the US gambling business, but instead focusing on its core social game business.  I agree.  Zynga (acutally any non-big US gambling company) is going to have a tough time competing against the big incumbent US gambling firms like Caesar's, Wynn, Las Vegas Sands, etc.  Zynga's core business has plateaued and is declining, so Zynga's push to rehabilitate that business makes more sense than trying to compete against savvy veteran US gambling operators on their turf.

That doesn't mean that Zynga can't look at social gambling or other legal variants of casino games or other gambling games in the US, just that it's probably better to avoid bona fide wagering opportunities in the US, that will require high licensing fees and defeating well financed competition for licenses that will be granted on a state by state basis. 

What Zynga can do is look at unique social gambling concepts preferably protected by intellectual property that can be scaled across the US.  That would be a much cheaper alternative that would give Zynga new social gaming/social gambling revenue streams, a national go-to-market path, without having to compete for licenses against very well financed and experienced gambling operators.

Bally Buys SHFL Entertainment for Big Bucks

Bloomberg reports that Bally Technologies, a leading slot manufacturer, is buying SHFL Entertainment (formerly known as Shuffle Master), for $1.3 billion.  Bally, with this acquisition, is now a top-tier gaming vendor with a full line of offerings: slots, lottery and now table games.  There are some geographic synergies as well, allowing Bally expanded market presence.

Not sure about the price, but the thinking behind the acquisition appears sound.  Other slot vendors like IGT and Aristocrat should take notice.