[NOON UPDATE at bottom with nine of the dozens of topics listed in that link]
The finalized New Jersey Internet online gaming rules are 106 sometimes arcane pages long.
Here’s what you want to know: Online gaming in the state is a GO for Nov. 26 at 9 a.m.
NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee CEO Al Kelly was joined by NFL Senior VP for Events Frank Supovitz and Pepsi executive Adam Harter this morning for the CSE Sports Marketing Symposium “Super Bowl XLVIII Update” panel at the Crowne Plaza Times Square with event partner Sports Business Journal.
Some highlights:
- A short film at the start of the event noted that the Super Bowl Boulevard attractions on Broadway – running from Wednesday through Saturday before the Feb. 2 title game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ – will include autograph sessions from noon til 6 p.m. each day and concerts from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. each night (don’t be surprised if some pretty big stars show up for these).
- Supovitz noted that it took an entire year to convince NYC to close Broadway for four days. Even more interesting: The announcement in January touted a 10-block festival from 34th to 44th. But now Supovitz says it’s “a half mile of Broadway between 34th and 48th Streets.”
Rich Fritzky is a name familiar to many Meadowlanders (and to me), so it’s worth noting here that on Nov. 11, the Friends of Rich Fritzky have a 6 p.m. event at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Rothman Center in Hackensack. The banquet features a number of former Giants football players – and expect to see some current ones as well.
The sixth annual event, whose previous incarnations have raised $150,000 according to organizers, helps assist Fritzky, an FDU adjunct professor and 20-year president of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber with aid needed because Fritzky contracted a rare form of meningitis and ultimately lost both of his legs and all but one of his fingers.
There will be no horse racing on the beach in Atlantic City next weekend, in spite of legislation signed into law recently by Governor Christie allowing such an event to take place.
Dennis Drazin, who operates Monmouth Park for the state’s thoroughbred horsemen, said that he and the Atlantic City Alliance, the gambling resort’s marketing arm, would shoot instead for a debut sometime next spring.
“We wanted to make a go of it, but we just ran out of time,” said Drazin, who added that officials have made test runs with horses at the beach site in recent months. “We have to make sure we can can provide a safe surface for the horses.”
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We’ve got up to another month to wait to see if New Jersey will file an “en banc” appeal in its sports betting case, which would be a request to have the entire bench of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rehear the case. The court ruled 2-1 two weeks ago in favor of upholding a lower court’s ruling that the New Jersey sports betting law is unconstitutional because it violates the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that Congress passed in 1993.
In the meantime, Fort Lauderdale attorney Daniel L. Wallach unearthed an interesting nugget related to Congress’s intentions on gambling:
If you have a long Meadowlands memory, you remember when Cabela’s – the outdoors store – was going to offer more than “just a store” at Xanadu on the Continental Arena site.
Nearly a decade ago, the idea was that you wouldn’t just buy a fishing rod – you’d be able to try it out in a real live trout stream inside that very same establishment.
Well, Nebraska-based Cabela’s bailed out years ago, for both the slow pace of the project and the fact that it changed its business model to smaller (though still large) stores.
But today, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno was on hand for a different version of “fish and games” for New Jersey – the announcement that a Best of Bass Pro Shops was coming to Atlantic City.
[almost two years ago, I noted in news about the indictment of a former EnCap executive that "it never hurts to mention how profound “innocent until proven guilty” is when someone’s freedom is at stake." Here's why]
William Gauger, a founding father of the failed Meadowlands EnCap golf and housing project, recently pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud under terms of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that would lead to the other 10 counts of the Jan. 2012 indictment being dropped.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Gauger appears likely to receive 0 to 6 months in prison at sentencing in January with the added possibility of up to three years of “supervised release,” although all parties agreed that the specific sentence technically will be at the discretion of the sentencing judge.
The core of the indictment was an alleged shakedown of a financial consultant and former friend of Gauger for $100,000 stemming from an Asbury Park condo development in which the adviser wound up receiving nearly $900,000 in “success fees.” But all five of those counts, which were for an alleged scheme to deprive North Carolina-based Cherokee Investment Partners of Gauger’s “honest services,” would be dropped as part of the deal.
Wednesday update below…
Phil Ciarco embraces Anny Scardina at the Official Meadowlands Hug Off, a 2014 Super Bowl-related event in Carlstadt, on Oct. 1. (Marko Georgiev/staff photographer)
Dozens of community leaders attended the event, which was judged by New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority President Wayne Hasenbalg and Meadowlands Regional Chamber CEO Jim Kirkos with the help of Hasbrouck Heights Holiday Inn executive Sally Altman.
An interesting poll released today by the Siena College Research Institute finds 55 percent in favor of authorizing seven more casinos in New York State, with 42 pct opposing.
The interesting part? Voters were split 46-46 if the question was asked in a more neutral manner.
Guess which version will be on the ballot? The more favorable one.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection two weeks ago of New Jersey’s petition to legalize sports gambling at Atlantic City casinos is described as a “net negative” in a filing released Friday by Moody’s.
Senior analyst Baye Larsen said the decision – which was reached on the conclusion that the New Jersey law runs afoul of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 passed by Congress and signed into law – “eliminates a potential new source of tax revenues and economic activity for the state.”
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John Brennan has been covering sports business — with a focus on the Meadowlands Sports Complex — since 2002 and has worked for The Record since 1983. |