The reels are always spinning in the gambling industry, and “The Double Down” is here every Friday to catch you up on all of the week’s biggest news. Sports Handle’s “Get a Grip” rounds up everything on the sports betting side, and US Bets provides the best of the rest: brick-and-mortar happenings, online casino developments, poker headlines, horse wagering, and more. So pull up a chair, crunch the numbers, and slide forward another stack of chips.

Problem gambling made personal

Every so often, I use this “Double Down” space to highlight the work of one of my colleagues, to spotlight an article from the past week that anyone with so much as a passing interest in gambling ought to read.

This is one such week. Jill Dorson’s feature on recovering gambling addict Dave Yeager is one such story.

Hunker down — it’s a long read, but it’s well worth absorbing. Yeager is a former Army staff sergeant who developed an addiction to slots while in the military, reached deeper and deeper depths, and is now a full-time gambling recovery coach. I’m leaving out the details in between because they’re stunning, raw, riveting, and should be read spoiler-free in Jill’s article, not summarized here in this one.

Next week, US Bets will publish a story with some thematic overlap, by Richard Schuetz, about Carol O’Hare, who went from gambling addict to executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. These are deeply personal stories about people who survived their gambling problems and came out on the other side ready to help folks like them.

Yeager and O’Hare are often treated as statistics. We see numbers about problem gambling all the time, we tout responsible gambling practices, we talk about signs of problem gambling — but nothing resonates like putting names, faces, stories, and specific details with the numbers.

This is Dave.

This is Carol.

They are human beings who went through decidedly human experiences. They are not shy about telling their stories, because those stories can make a difference.

If you haven’t read the feature on Yeager yet, you should. And make a mental bookmark for the O’Hare piece next week. For most people, gambling serves an entertaining, “win some, lose some” activity. But for some, the stakes are much higher, and everyone in or around this industry needs a reminder of that from time to time.

This week on Gamble On …

Every Thursday, US Bets drops a new episode of the Gamble On podcast, and this week’s welcomed veteran industry journalist Steve Ruddock for a conversation spanning post-PASPA surprises, responsible gambling messaging, and studies suggesting that mobile casino apps hurt retail casinos’ business:

Does online casino really cannibalize brick-and-mortar casino revenue? "I think people lose sight of the fact that it's a door that swings both ways," @SteveRuddock explains on the latest episode of the Gamble On podcast: https://t.co/QI4nEVPmt6 pic.twitter.com/thSZrZCG24

— US Bets (@US_Bets) December 1, 2023

Everything’s bigger in Texas

LVS Interest In Purchasing Mavs Stake May Boost Chances For Texas Gambling Expansion 

Roll, Tide?

Alabama Gambling Expansion Efforts Expected To Include House In 2024

Slow your roll, Hoosiers

Indiana Legislature Rules Out Internet Casino Gaming In 2024

Still not jumping in

Pennsylvania Online Poker Sees No Sign Of Either Growth Or Multi-State Pooling

Two out of three ain’t grand

MGM Grand Casino Workers Stay On Strike In Detroit

Say hello to Hollywood

Groundbreaking Coming Wednesday For PENN’s Relocated Casino In Aurora, Illinois

Horse betting for dummies

Speed Figures: Aussie Duo Strives To Simplify The Racing Form

I know a shortcut

Zoning Changes Proposed In New York To Pave Way For Casinos

Stacks upon stacks

U.S. Internet Casino Gaming Revenue Tops $5 Billion For 2023

New Jersey casino smoking ban vote pushed back

The New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens committee met Thursday, and the expectation was that it would push through a bill to ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos.

Instead, no vote occurred, apparently after some legislators — including those who had previously co-sponsored the bill — got cold feet.

“For those who said they would support the bill, who co-sponsored the bill, and are now having second thoughts, they need to wrestle with their conscience,” state Sen. Joseph Vitale, the chairman of the committee, said at the end of nearly two hours of testimony. “I don’t. With that, we conclude the hearing.”

Vitale said the committee will meet again next month, when he said a vote would take place.

Six senators on the eight-member committee are co-sponsors of the bill to ban smoking, which Gov. Phil Murphy said he would sign should it arrive on his desk. But Vitale said he didn’t have the five necessary votes to move the bill.

Under current state law enacted in 2006, workplaces are guaranteed to be smoke-free, but New Jersey casinos were grandfathered in. Currently, smoking is allowed on 25% of the casino floors in the state.

Smoking was banned in Atlantic City’s casinos in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but as the pandemic waned, the ban was lifted in late 2021.

— Jeff Edelstein

Victory in defeat at Rivers Pittsburgh poker room

The poker room at the Rivers Casino Pittsburgh made headlines in August 2022 when awarding a $1.2 million “bad beat” jackpot believed to be the highest ever in the nation, and until this week it seemed headed there again.

Fifteen months passed until the bad beat was hit again Tuesday night, resulting in a prize of $905,622.13 shared among eight players at the table. Many live poker rooms have a bad beat jackpot, but the requirements at Rivers Pittsburgh are unusually stiff — quad 10s beaten by a better hand — resulting in the long build-ups and big prizes.

On Tuesday, a player’s quad aces was beaten by a royal flush at a $1-$3 table for Texas Hold’em, according to a Rivers Casino Pittsburgh press release. Scott Thompson of Washington, Pennsylvania, held the aces, winning the top prize of $362,260, while the player with the royal flush won both the hand and $271,686. The six players sitting and watching the hand play out received $45,281 each.

— Gary Rotstein

Don’t give lottery tickets to kids, campaign urges

Thinking of giving your 9-year-old the gift of scratch-off lottery tickets this Christmas? Keith Whyte, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, would like you to think twice about that.

“Lottery tickets are not suitable gifts for children or teens,” Whyte said in a press release announcing that 66 lotteries around the world had signed on to the NCPG’s Gift Responsibly Campaign, which, among other things, works to educate communities about the dangers of problem gambling among youth in general and gifting lottery tickets to children in particular.

The campaign, which includes PSAs, in-store signage, and retailer training, is being presented in partnership with McGill University’s International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviours.

— Mike Seely

More from around the gambling biz

LOW-SPEED INTERNET: Internet casinos thrive in 6 states. So why hasn’t it caught on more widely in the US? [Associated Press]

SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATION: Ontario: Chatham Cascades Casino workers ratify new deal, avert strike [CDC Gaming Reports]

HITTING THE HIGH NOTES: Hard Rock Atlantic City opens new high-limit slots area [The Press of Atlantic City]

GAMES TABLED: Mark Twain Casino will no longer offer live table games [KHQA.com]

BIT BY BIT: New app brings cryptocurrency assets to gaming floor [Las Vegas Sun]

THE MATH CHECKS OUT: Not just fun and games: State’s testing lab for casino machines ensures fair play is no roll of the dice [Altoona Mirror]

NOT A MIRAGE: New details unveiled in Mirage’s rebrand to Hard Rock [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

Image: Blundell Design