It’s been a wild week of gambling news, with rumors still flying about both a Las Vegas NBA and an MLB team. There are new basketball arenas being build and plots of land being looked at for baseball stadiums. And over the weekend, a small amount of rain caused some major Las Vegas flooding, virtually shutting down the city and the airport!
Hello friends! And welcome to This Week in Gambling, where we have a lot to discuss, including the latest state to regulate sports betting and possible Las Vegas NBA and MLB teams! More on all of that in just a moment. Up first: This week’s big story is the torrential rainfall and flooding in Las Vegas over the weekend, causing traffic issues and affecting casino operations. And while no one lost their lives, unlike the tragic events we watched unfolding in Kentucky, this still caused quite a mess.
It only took about a third of an inch of rain to cause street flooding and turn parking garages into rivers. There was water falling from lighting fixtures in casinos, and it even closed the airport for a while. Sadly, however, it was still not enough rain to make an impact on water levels in Lake Mead, and we’ll probably end up having to do a story on that at some point.
Now, remember when all the professional sports leagues in America were opposed to sports betting? They said it would corrupt their athletes. They said it would hurt the integrity of their games. They said a lot of shit… until the money started rolling in. Now that they are making some cash the leagues have done a real quick about face when it comes to betting on sports.
That fact, coupled with the expansion of sports betting regulation all across the country has put Las Vegas into a very interesting situation. That spread of regulated sports betting across the nation means there’s no real reason to keep professional teams out of Las Vegas anymore. A fact that both the NHL and NFL have already recognized. And if the city of Oakland, California, doesn’t get their act together real soon and build a brand new stadium, baseball could be heading to Las Vegas next!
The Oakland Athletics are considering a move to Las Vegas, which is right at the top of their list. A move which Major League Baseball would support, by the way. But it’s not just baseball taking a good hard look at Nevada. While there are no professional basketball teams currently looking to relocate, an Las Vegas NBA team may still be in the cards. The NBA does hold its summer league in Las Vegas, and while speaking of League expansion recently the NBA’s commissioner said Las Vegas could get a team… even though it is a “smaller market”.
This week’s game review is for the Piggy Bank Farm online slot, where pigs can fly in this 5 reel, 3 row game with 50 pay lines from the good people at Play’n GO. It features both a bonus round and bonus spins, along with wilds and scatters. And Piggy Bank Farm can even go with you on your mobile device!
Check out this game review, along with hundreds more, when you visit our YouTube channel!
And finally this week, against all odds lawmakers were able to get a Massachusetts sports betting deal done, making them the 36th state to do so! And believe it or not, they actually plan to have sports betting up and running in time for this year’s NFL season! This agreement will allow the state’s casinos and race tracks to accept sports bets, as well as up to seven online operators. And while it may seem a bit optimistic to have the bets being accepted by this fall, Massachusetts does have a lot of incentives to get things going as quickly as possible. Actually, they have about 35 million incentives… annually.
Read more on the Las Vegas NBA potential right here on our website! And subscribe to our newsletter to get weekly updates!