This week’s gambling news looks at betting on March Madness, as the NCAA Men’s basketball Tournament tips off soon! There is also sports betting news from BetMGM to discuss, and Las Vegas casino news regarding the pandemic and occupancy rules!
Top of the morning to you, lads and lassies! And thanks so much for joining me for another stroll through the green fields of gambling news! And you’ll be happy to know that’s the extent of my Irish references! We have so many things to talk about on this week’s program! We have the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament starting up. We have St. Patrick’s day to talk about! We have… um… we have… we have TWO things! Two things to talk about!
Our big story this week is of course the NCAA Basketball Tournament! The Sweet 16! Elite Eight and Final Four! March Madness! The Big Dance! The Grand Bar-b-que! Okay, I made up the last one, but I was kind of hoping it would catch on. The NCAA Tournament is the second largest sports betting event in the country, right behind the Super Bowl and just ahead of the Kentucky Derby. And now with over half the states in America regulating sports betting, things are set to explode!
Remember, there was no tournament last year thanks to the freaking Coronavirus. However, the year before that in Nevada there was over $300 million bet legally on the Tournament. Now, with expanded sports betting, if you take into account all those off the book bets that people make with family and friends… not to mention office pools… estimates are that upwards of $8.5 billion could be wagered.
So where can you go for betting on March Madness legally? Well there’s always casinos in Nevada and New Jersey. And just this week both states have announced a loosening of their COVID-19 restrictions to allow up to 50% occupancy in their casinos. That’s another step on the road to recovery. But what if you can’t get to a casino? Well, there’s always Buffalo Wild Wings!
Believe it or not MGM is offering special wagers through their BetMGM app to customers who are physically located inside of a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. But don’t get too excited, it’s only in six states currently. These six: Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, Tennessee, and West Virginia. But hey, this sort of expanded branding and marketing could be a sign of things to come.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this show we’re also celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this week. Of course, I can’t wear green on this program (due to the green screen). Also, I have some lovely Irish themed online slots to tell you about this week, starting with Leprechauns Loot. It’s a five reel online slot with 50 pay lines from Net Gaming. A luscious green and gold themed game with free spins and bonus spins, plus wild and scatter symbols. Also the Shamrock Holmes Megaways slot from Microgaming. A six reel game with over 117,000 pay lines, plus a max win of up to 28,000 times your bet! Both reviews and hundreds more like them are available right now on our YouTube channel.
Finally this week, we’ve discussed betting on March Madness, MGM, and their partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings in the first part of our show. But did you know that they also have other partnerships in place with Yahoo and professional sports leagues? And now, you can add Clorox bleach to the list. Yes, MGM has named Clorox their official disinfectant! And believe it or not, this move has nothing to do with Coronavirus. The deal was actually struck following an extended stay at the MGM Grand by Charlie Sheen… and that’s a whole other kind of virus, my friends!
