Spin Cycle: Keystone State Kid, Mountain State Moolah 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 …

A major minor offense

In the Jewish religion, turning 13 makes you an adult. But in the world of casino gambling, it absolutely does not.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) announced Wednesday a $30,000 fine assessed to Valley Forge Casino Resort in the Philadelphia suburbs for allowing a 13-year-old (!) to be on the casino floor for over six hours (!), playing slots for three hours (!) and gambling a total of $1,640 (!).

The 13-year-old boy was with his father, who, according to the PGCB, supplied him with $600 in cash and more than $1,000 in gaming vouchers to play games he is very much prohibited by law from playing. (The legal age at Pennsylvania casinos is 21.) Oh, and the underage gambler was also reportedly served a beer by the casino staff.

The father was issued a citation for “aiding and abetting” the illegal activity.

No word on whether the 13-year-old tricked security staff by sitting atop his dad’s shoulders while wearing a trench coat that made them look like one unusually tall person.

Michigan crackdown continues

No state gaming board is more aggressive in sending cease-and-desist orders to unregulated operators than the Michigan Gaming Control Board, and the MGCB was at it again this week, announcing Monday it had issued C&Ds to eight more unlicensed operators.

Receiving orders to scram this time around:

• Bspin Casino
• Everygame Casino
• Everygame Sports Casino
• Kudos Casino
• PlayCroco Online Casino
• Slots of Vegas
• Spin Dimension
• Super Slots

MGCB Executive Director Henry Williams said in a statement: “These unlawful operators try to present themselves as legitimate entertainment options, but they offer zero player protections, no accountability, and a real risk to consumers. Our message is simple: If you want to offer gambling in Michigan, follow the law or we will stop you. We will continue to work aggressively to keep illegal gambling out of our state.”

West Virginia, mountains of money

We here at Casino Reports dive every month into the online casino revenue figures in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, but we sometimes skip over the smaller iCasino states. Well, it’s time to shine the spotlight on West Virginia, which, like those other states, is enjoying booming mobile casino business and collecting large tax amounts as a result.

The West Virginia Lottery reported this week a new single-month state record for online casino revenue in August, with operators combining for $32.8 million, up 66.5% year-over-year and comfortably surpassing the previous record set in March of $30.1 million.

For the year, West Virginia iCasino revenue is up 57.5%, to $227.4 million.

At the state’s 15% tax rate, that means the Mountain State collected $4.92 million in August and a shade over $34 million on the year so far.

House Rules: Insights from around our network

GLASS HALF FULL IN NY: MGM Empire City, Resorts World advance for New York casino licenses [by Chris Altruda]

GLASS HALF EMPTY IN NY: CAC votes down Freedom Plaza, Manhattan shut out on casinos [by Chris Altruda]

CALIFORNIA DREAMING: SBA ‘YES Pledge’ for legal California sports betting circulating, but CNIGA calls it a ‘corporate-driven maneuver’ [by Jill R. Dorson]

RIP, CONSIG: Remembering Dave Sharapan — beloved bookmaker, sports betting media personality [by Eric Raskin]

EYES ON THE PRIZE: Adam Wexler on PrizePicks now, then [by Brant James]

LET ME TRANSFER YOUR CALL: Crisis at the crisis line: What happens Monday with 1-800-GAMBLER? [by Jeff Edelstein]

NOT ABOUT TO FOLD: ClubWPT Gold unveils work-around for laws that would ban sweepstakes poker sites [by Eric Raskin]

HOT TIP: Casino workers big winners, will be allowed to deduct tips from taxes [by Jeff Edelstein]

THREAT ASSESSMENT: A Big Beautiful Bill story: As gambling armageddon nears for some, ‘regulatory arbitrage’ looking more attractive [by Brett Smiley]

PENN IS MIGHTIER: Analyst: ESPN Bet, Hollywood Online turning corners, but Penn’s retail business the real star [by Jill R. Dorson]

PEER-TO-PEER: Peer support programs fill gaps in gambling harm treatment landscape [by Daniel O’Boyle]

Small stakes and hot takes

This week on the Casino Reports podcast Low Rollers, my co-host Jeff Edelstein and I welcome our colleague Chris Altruda to share his insights on where the New York casino bidding is headed (spoiler: he’s not aligned with conventional wisdom) and whether online casino legalization will follow. Here’s a taste:

Jeff and I also discuss two major pieces of PrizePicks news — Allwyn’s acquisition of the DFS+ company, and PrizePicks getting prediction market clearance — in addition to making an announcement about a major change to Low Rollers beginning next week. Full episode:

The Shuffle: Other news and views

THAT’S A RAP: Inside the war over Jay-Z’s New York City casino [Vanity Fair]

SO MUCH WINNING: Empty lot where Trump’s first casino once stood is now up for grabs in Atlantic City [NJ.com]

WORK STOPPAGE: Las Vegas sheds thousands of jobs amid tourism slump [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

FUNDING THE GOOD FIGHT: Birches Health announces $20M investment from AlleyCorp, General Catalyst, and Will Ventures [press release]

TOTAL HACKS: Boyd Gaming reports cyberattack impacted data, but not operations [CDC Gaming]

HOLD YOUR HORSES: Meadowlands Racetrack could drop hosting Hambletonian amid push for casino [NorthJersey.com]

BATTING .500: A’s stadium is taking shape on Strip, but Bally’s casino project has been quiet for a year [The Nevada Independent]

CHURCHILL UPS: State board OKs opening of contentious Henrico gambling facility [VPM.org]

LAUGHLIN LAUGHS LAST: ‘Bang for your buck’: Tourism is slumping in Las Vegas, but not in this rural casino town [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 isn’t so easy without that Cowboys offensive line blocking for you, huh Emmitt? One of the greatest running backs of all-time, Emmitt Smith, is running into some post-football headaches, as this week a Las Vegas steakhouse with his name on it — Emmitt’s Vegas at Fashion Show — was locked down by its landlord for “delinquent payment of rent.” The alleged amount owed is $407,730.88. The restaurant had been open for just 19 months.

• Congrats to Benjamin Rolle, the winner of the 2025 WSOP Online Main Event, who secured a $3.9 million prize when he outlasted a field of 5,961 entries in the $5k buy-in international (i.e., not open legally to players in the U.S.) tournament. Rolle, of Germany, finished eighth in the very same tourney in 2024. It’s not easy to improve on an eighth-place finish in a field of thousands … but as Rolle showed, it’s not impossible either.