Spin Cycle: $2K Slot News, $10M Poker News Highlight Week In Gambling

Welcome to “Spin Cycle,” Casino Reports’ weekly Friday roundup of all things impactful, intriguing, impressive, or idiotic in the gambling industry. Pull up a chair, grab a stack of chips and a glass of your beverage of choice, and take a spin with us through this week’s news cycle …

Slot in one tax win for gamblers

While much of the gambling industry remains in a state of frustration or even panic over the clause snuck into federal legislation to reduce gamblers’ tax deductions for losses (and create scenarios where a person might owe tax on “phantom income”) this week brought one piece of positive news regarding changes to tax policies.

Effective Jan. 1, the minimum threshold for slot machine wins that trigger automatic tax payments will go up from $1,200 to $2,000 — and will, according to the IRS, “be adjusted yearly for inflation” going forward.

It’s not the $5,000 minimum that the American Gaming Association was pushing for, but it’s still a significant change to benefit casino customers (and, in turn, casinos). One social media user reported that “One of the managers at El Cortez said about 67% of their hand pays are between $1200-1999,” a figure in line with others’ estimates.

Welcome to Paradise

The World Series of Poker Main Event every summer in Las Vegas is in a class of its own for poker tournament significance, but two of the next-biggest-deal tournaments on the 2025 poker calendar landed this week, with one having concluded Thursday and crowned a $10 million winner, while the other will finish Saturday with someone winning just over $2.5 million.

Bernhard Binder of Austria took down the World Series of Poker Paradise Super Main Event in the Bahamas Thursday to win that massive $10 mil prize. The $25,000 buy-in tourney had a $60 million guarantee and crushed that (thanks in part to copious re-buys, including some players who managed to spend over $300,000 on entries), building a total prize pool of $72,275,000.

Binder outdueled Frenchman Jean-Noel Thorel heads-up (Thorel still won a tidy $6 million). Brazil’s Belarmino De Souza took third place for $4 million, followed by three Americans: Terrance Reid, Eric Wasserson, and Natasha Mercier — formerly Natasha Barbour and married since 2016 to six-time WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier.

Meanwhile, the World Poker Tour World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas is winding toward its final table, with 16 players returning Friday and playing down to six, who will play down to a champion on Saturday. The $10,400 event attracted 1,865 entries, vying for $2,528,200 up top — with second and third place also earning paychecks in excess of $1 million.

Horse of a different color

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sided Tuesday with Churchill Downs over the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) in a case with implications around federal versus state jurisdiction in connection with horse racing wagers.

The lawsuit tracks back to the closing of Northville Downs, Churchill Downs’ partner for its TwinSpires advance-deposit wagering (ADW) app in Michigan — which led Michigan’s regulator to declare that because there were no active horse tracks in the state anymore, all ADW apps would have to stop operating. Churchill Downs did not shutter the TwinSpires app, which led the MGCB to suspend its license.

But Churchill has relied on the federal Interstate Horseracing Act, and the consent it obtained from state regulators and the racetrack’s racing association. But which state regulators? TwinSpires says only Oregon and the racetrack’s home state is pertinent, and the closure of the Michigan track does not determine the legality of ADW wagers accepted in Michigan.

“TwinSpires is likely to show that the IHA preempts Michigan’s licensing
requirement, and the other preliminary injunction factors favor TwinSpires,” and so the Sixth Circuit court affirmed the lower court ruling.

Every ruling in the case so far has favored Churchill Downs, but further appeals and rulings in district court await — with potential consequences other forms of betting, as Unabated’s Captain Jack Andrews noted on X:

House Rules: Insights from around our network

FROM THE HOME OFFICE: The top 10 highlights of the New York asino liicensing process [by Chris Altruda]

PONY DOWN: Tiny Oklahoma tribe’s casino shuttered amid leadership battle [by Jeff Edelstein]

CONTRARY TO BINARY: No, sportsbooks and exchanges are not engaged in some zero-sum war [by Brett Smiley]

MAKING MONEY IN MICHIGAN: Eight-figure jackpot skews Michigan’s November iGaming revenue [by Chris Altruda]

MAKING MONEY IN PENNSYLVANIA, TOO: Pennsylvania gaming revenue hits record $623M in November — 39% of it from iCasino [by Eric Raskin]

AND MAKING MONEY IN JERSEY, OF COURSE: New Jersey iGaming revenue tops $250M again in November [by Chris Altruda]

MORE THAN JUST OK: WinStar World Casino in Thackerville a must-visit [by Mitch Malherbe]

CROWNING MOMENT: DraftKings launches prediction market in 38 States, offers CME contracts [by Daniel O’Boyle]

LAYING DOWN THE LAW: NCLGS panel: Coalition of state enforcement would help shut down black, gray markets [by Brant James]

NEW YEAR, NEW BRIEFS: California tribes prepare appeal of their suit against cardrooms [by Brian Joseph]

FED UP: FBI: Beware illegal offshore betting, casino sites [by Brant James]

Small stakes and hot takes

This week on the Casino Reports podcast Low Rollers, I welcome Scott Roeben, the man behind the Vital Vegas blog and social media accounts, for a conversation touching on the Vegas economy, Sin City’s hidden gems, the Westgate-set episode of Pluribus, and Scott’s unwavering opinion on the baseball stadium allegedly being built for the Vegas A’s. Here’s a taste:

I also analyze Kalshi’s highly controversial attempt to offer markets on the NCAA transfer portal, Arizona giving Underdog the boot for its prediction market connection, and this weekend’s $1.5 billion Powerball drawing, plus I share the story of an online casino triumph involving a hand that rhymes with “loyal blush.” Full episode:

The Shuffle: Other news and views

HIGHS AND LOWS: Lawsuit: High-stakes gambler was drugged, no memory of $75K credit at Strip casino [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

THINK OF THE CHILDREN: 15 banned from PA casinos, four for leaving children unattended [WTAJ]

CLEARING THE AIR: Atlantic City casino workers ask judges to ban smoking as New York licenses 3 new competitors [Press of Atlantic City]

MORE BARRIERS TO ENTRY: Nevada resorts fear social media checks could deter foreign visitors [Las Vegas Sun]

JUST SAY KE-NO: Conway to ask voters to prohibit keno, more casinos [The Conway Daily Sun]

SOUTHWEST SHUFFLE: Fort Mojave Tribe’s new casino in northwest Arizona won’t impact its Avi Resort in Nevada, exec says [CDC Gaming]

THE MORE YOU KNOW: As gambling addiction spreads, one scientist’s work reveals timely insights [ScienceNews]

NUGGET OF NEWS: Lake Tahoe hotel-casino wraps up major renovation of tower, amenities [Reno Gazette Journal]

DON’T PRESS THE RED BUTTON: Casino recording ban remains unresolved [KeloLand]

WHALES WELCOME: 2-year-old Durango expanding with high-limit slot machine room [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

The Bonus Round

Completing the Spin Cycle with some odds and ends and our favorite social media posts of the week.

• It’s been a strangely busy news week in the world of West Virginia online gaming. On Tuesday, New York-based White Hat Studios announced a new partnership with Betly online casino in West Virginia to provide some of its “premium branded” iCasino titles, and on Thursday, Malta-based game developer Wazdan announced a partnership of its own in the state with Caesars. Shoutout to the Mountain State, which is often left out of the conversation when folks discuss states with robust iGaming industries but is making industry headlines this week, at least.

• What’s in a name? Alongside the renovation of the Rampart Casino in Summerlin, Nevada, comes a rebranding effective on New Year’s Day to “The Resort at Summerlin,” as the property parts with the Rampart part. (Try saying that five times fast.)

• There’s a new season of High Stakes Poker coming to PokerGO next Tuesday, and one name in particular stands out among the pros at the table: Kevin Hart. The diminutive, DraftKings-hawking actor/comedian is making his HSP debut this season. And I, for one, hope PokerGO can recruit David Spade and Neil Diamond to play as well and make a theme of it. (No, I couldn’t come up with a celebrity with the last name “Club.”)