Bowlero plans sports betting services at all Virginia bowling centers

The worldwide leader in bowling entertainment, Bowlero Corp., announced a collaboration last month with BettorView, the nation’s leading in-venue sports betting marketing and technology platform to distribute BettorView content across all of Bowlero’s centers that are located within legal online betting states.

BettorView will showcase customized sports stats, analytics and odds alongside special sports betting promotions across multiple touchpoints throughout Bowlero’s centers including its bars, lounges, and lanes, reaching millions of highly engaged sports fans.

Currently, over 20% of Bowlero’s 300+ locations across the United States are located within legal online betting states. If industry trends continue into 2022, this count will increase to over 50% of Bowlero locations.

BettorView and Bowlero will drive increased awareness for the numerous sportsbook brands that have already signed deals for Bowlero locations in highly competitive markets including Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

TwinSpires highlights surprising upsets ahead of Kentucky Derby

As we close in on the first Saturday in May, we’re only 17 days away from the 147th Run for the Roses Kentucky Derby.

The road to the Kentucky Derby wrapped up last Saturday with a pair of surprising upsets, according to TwinSpires, an online service for horse race betting in the United States.

In the Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland, 18-1 long shot King Fury rallied to claim victory and 20 qualification points, putting him in 28th on the leaderboard. Trainer Kenny McPeek indicated King Fury is eyeing the Derby if enough horses above him drop out to help him qualify. Those drop outs are occurring.

With 70 points and a 9th place spot on the leaderboard, Bob Baffert’s Concert Tour was the heavy favorite for the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park with 3-10 odds. But as Concert Tour weakened at the eighth pole, 12-1 long shot Super Stock took advantage and soared to victory to claim 100 points and a spot in the top 20.

One thing that does seem for sure is Essential Quality being the Derby favorite.

“There is now no doubt in my mind that undefeated champion Essential Quality will start the Derby a well-supported favorite,” TwinSpires Handicapper Ed DeRosa said a WDRB TV article. “The combination of his unblemished record, fast times, local trainer and color (gray) will all add up to a large amount of public support.”

After Concert Tour’s stumble in the Arkansas Derby, DeRosa is predicting Essential Quality will go off at 7-2 odds.

Other Derby coverage:

Get to know the 2021 Kentucky Derby contenders

Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: King Fury

Kentucky Derby roundup: April 12, 2021

Bally's schedules 'listening tour' to hear community concerns over proposed Richmond casino

Richmonder's will have a chance to meet with Bally's Corp. officials this week to discuss the company's proposed $650 million Bally's Richmond Casino Resort, one of three casinos that may be selected for development in Virginia's capital. By law only one casino will be built in Richmond.

Recent editorials and opinion pieces appearing in local Richmond newspapers show strong opposition against all three proposed casino projects. More than 100 people participated in a protest against the project last week, according to an article in the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Bally's, the proposed developer and operator of Bally's Richmond Casino Resort, will proactively embark upon a listening tour consisting of a series of in-person conversations and meetings in Richmond this week, the company announced on Monday.

“The objective of the tour is to provide Bally's, and Richmond residents and local business owners spanning all nine districts, with opportunities to engage with Bally's, and address important issues regarding the casino selection process, to ensure that Richmonders' interests and values are best served,” Bally's officials said in a company press release. Jonathan Davis, an African American Community Activist in Richmond, is partnering with Bally's in the planning and implementation of the listening tour.

The listening tour will consist of three events taking place on the following dates at each respective time and location:

• Tuesday, April 13th, 6:30pm ET at Bryan Park (4308 Hermitage Road, Richmond, VA);

• Wednesday, April 14th, 1:00pm ET at Battery Park (2803 Dupont Circle, Richmond, VA); and

• Wednesday, April 14th, 6:30pm ET at Chimborazo Park (3215 E Broad St, Richmond, VA).

"As we've said from the start, a key component of our proposal is partnering with the City of Richmond,” said Michael Monty, senior project manager of Bally's Richmond. “A critical part of building that partnership consists of listening to the community and its stakeholders. We want to hear Richmonders' thoughts, ideas and concerns so that we can best represent their interests and values. We look forward to this opportunity to engage with the community so that Bally's is best positioned to put Richmond first."

Mars helicopter two days away from making historic flight

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is two days away from making humanity’s first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. If all proceeds as planned, the four-pound rotorcraft is expected to take off from Mars’ Jezero Crater Sunday at 10:54 p.m. EDT, hovering 10 feet above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., expect to receive data from the flight attempt the following morning at around 4:15 a.m. EDT, Monday.

Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. Even though gravity on Mars is about one-third that of Earth’s, the helicopter must fly with the assistance of an atmosphere whose pressure at the surface is only 1% that of Earth.

Sunday’s flight will be autonomous, with Ingenuity’s guidance, navigation, and control systems doing the piloting. That’s mostly because radio signals will take 15 minutes, 27 seconds to bridge the 173-million-mile gap between Mars and Earth.

Events leading up to the first flight test begin when the Perseverance rover, which serves as a communications base station for Ingenuity, receives that day’s instructions from Earth. Those commands will have traveled from mission controllers at JPL through NASA’s Deep Space Network to a receiving antenna aboard Perseverance. Parked at “Van Zyl Overlook,” some 215 feet away, the rover will transmit the commands to the helicopter about an hour later.

Then, at 10:53 p.m. EDT, Ingenuity will begin undergoing its myriad preflight checks.

“It should take us about six seconds to climb to our maximum height for this first flight,” said JPL’s Håvard Grip, the flight control lead for Ingenuity.

While hovering, the helicopter’s navigation camera and laser altimeter will feed information into the navigation computer to ensure Ingenuity remains not only level, but in the middle of its 33-by-33-foot airfield – a patch of Martian real estate chosen for its flatness and lack of obstructions. Then, the Mars Helicopter will descend and touch back down on the surface of Jezero Crater, sending data back to Earth, via Perseverance, to confirm the flight.

Perseverance is expected to obtain imagery of the flight using its Navcam and Mastcam-Z imagers, with the pictures expected to come down early morning Monday. The helicopter will also document the flight from its perspective, with a color image and several lower-resolution black-and-white navigation pictures possibly being available by the next morning.

Waltzing Matilda Aviation launching new airline

Boston-based Waltzing Matilda Aviation (WMA) will be launching Connect Airlines, a new airline starting operations in October, connecting Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport with airports in the Northeast and Midwest United States.

Using the Canadian built Q400 turboprop aircraft, Connect Airlines will offer a premium service for day-tripping business travelers direct into Toronto's downtown island Billy Bishop airport. Subject to regulatory approvals, the airline will provide a valuable alternative to business travelers as they start to fly between the United States and Canada again.

WMA is a FAA Part 135 jet charter operator (Certificate number 6WZA614N) that has started the process to add FAA Part 121 scheduled and non-scheduled services to its Air Operators Certificate. WMA began private (Part 91) operations in June 2008 and has operated thousands of hours of safe and reliable flying with a focus on delivering superior customer service.

Borgata Atlantic City fully integrated as MGM property; $40 member bonus in April

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City, is going to be fully integrated as an MGM Resorts International property in April. The work will allow for:

• Earning Tier Credits for non-gaming spend (dining, hotel and more)

• A better experience with M life Rewards cards working at all MGM Resorts properties

• TheBorgata.com to have a fresh, new look with easier navigation

• Express Comps balances to be simplified (MGM & Borgata Express Comps are now combined)

“To implement these exciting changes, and prepare us for new promotions and events, we will pause promotional offers from April 17–30,” said Melonie Johnson, president and COO of Borgata, in an email to members. There will be limited disruption on the casino floor during this time. For any inconvenience this may cause, Borgata has added $40 Bonus SLOT DOLLARS to members M life Rewards account valid from April 1 – April 16.

“This will be in addition to the rest of your promotions. Rest assured, you will still be able to earn and redeem SLOT DOLLARS and Express Comps during this time,” Johnson said. “We are excited to resume promotional offers starting in May.”

Company Profile; Rush Street Interactive, Inc.

In the latter half of 2013, New Jersey became the first U.S. state to legally permit online casinos. Rush Street Interactive, Inc. (RSI) entered the New Jersey online casino market approximately three years after that market opened and there were already numerous competitors in the market at that time. Less than three years after beginning operations in New Jersey, RSI was ranked the #4 online casino brand in New Jersey based on revenue, out of 19 total operators in the market at that time, according to the Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) United States Online Casino Tracker for April 2019.

Today, Chicago-based RSI is a leading online gaming and entertainment company that focuses primarily on online casino and online sports betting in the U.S. and Latin American markets.

On May 14, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that PASPA – a nationwide ban of sports betting – was unconstitutional, thus allowing states to enact their own sports betting laws. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision 22 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting. Of those 23 jurisdictions, 15 states have authorized statewide online sports betting while eight remain retail-only at casinos or retail locations.

RSI provides customers an array of leading gaming offerings such as real-money online casino, online sports betting, and retail sports betting, as well as social gaming, which involves free-to-play games that use virtual credits that can be earned or purchased. The company launched their first social gaming website in 2015 and began accepting real-money bets in the United States in 2016. The company currently operates online casino and/or online sports betting in eight states (Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia). RSI's Betrivers.com website and phone app went live in Virginia on Jan. 27, 2021. In addition, the company has secured potential market access to New York, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri and if certain conditions are met, Texas.

RSI has been operating online gaming in Colombia since 2018, a country with a population of approximately 50 million. Online gaming is also authorized in Mexico and Brazil, which have populations of approximately 128.9 million and 212.6 million, respectively. The highest populated country in Latin America, Brazil, legalized sports betting in December 2018.

Real-money online casino and online sports betting offerings are provided under BetRivers.com and PlaySugarHouse.com brands in the United States and under RushBet.co in Colombia.

Experienced gaming operators Neil Bluhm, Greg Carlin and Richard Schwartz founded Rush Street Interactive, LP (“RSILP”), which is now an indirect subsidiary of RSI. Company founders had invested approximately $50 million into RSILP. This capital was primarily used to fund the development of our proprietary online gaming platform and offerings, recruit and grow an experienced team, and expand into new geographic and product markets.

Online casino revenue from slot machines and table games in New Jersey grew from $277.3 million in 2018 to $461.8 million in 2019 according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Furthermore, land-based casino revenue in New Jersey grew during that same period from $2.51 billion in 2018 to $2.69 billion in 2019 according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, showing that land-based casino revenue can grow at the same time that online casino revenue grows. In 2020, New Jersey online casino revenue continued to increase to $931.6 million while revenues from land-based casinos decreased to $1.51 billion.

As of March 22, 2021, RSI had a global workforce of approximately 264 employees and contractors, with approximately 37% of people working in technical roles. Approximately 50% of their people are based in the United States with the remaining 50% being based elsewhere in the world, including Canada, Colombia, Estonia and Mexico.

According to EKG, the United States generated approximately $1.15 billion in online sports betting revenue in 2020, despite the impacts of COVID-19 and the cancellations, postponement, shortening or rescheduling of sporting events and seasons. Only 35% of the United States currently has access to online sports betting, according to EKG.

If every U.S. state was to legalize online casino, based on state level projections from EKG, it is projected that the U.S. market would generate approximately $20 billion in revenue. Similarly, if every U.S. state was to legalize online sports betting, based on state level projections from EKG, it is projected that the U.S. market would generate approximately $15 billion in revenue.