In this episode of Behind The Books, we talked to Mike Palm, VP of Operations at Circa Casino in Las Vegas to talk about the sports gambling landscape.
Mike talked about the impact that online sports betting has on the traditional brick-and-mortar businesses in the industry. He believes that despite the ease and popularity of online sportsbooks, destination spots are still necessary. He referenced the demand for viewing sports at a venue like Circa. That is a unique experience that you just don’t get watching from your couch. The desire to visit a venue like that will never go away, especially in Las Vegas.
We covered the differences between the American model and the European model. Mike said the European model gives more offerings for bettors but has lower limits. So there is a bigger selection to bet on, but you can’t make as big of a bet as you can with the American model.
We also asked Mike about the competitive advantages offshore books have. He presented some solutions that could help the U.S. books. Offshore books are not paying taxes on bets, whereas U.S. books have to pay the federal government each month for every bet that is not decided yet in addition to state taxes.
Mike proposed two solutions to this problem. One is eliminating the tax burden that the U.S. books face currently. The other is for the U.S. government to crack down on the way the offshore books are able to operate with customers. Mike said that would likely take a lot of time and money for the U.S. government to do, so the first option of eliminating the tax burden would likely be easier.
While there are some questions to be answered, places like Circa will only continue to grow alongside the industry as a whole.
