This week’s casino news starts off in Wisconsin where sports betting has finally come online. That’s great news for residents of the Badger State as they’ve been craving some action for quite some time now.
Wisconsin Sports Betting Launches At Oneida Casino
Wisconsin residents are finally able to gamble on their favorite teams as sports betting is now legal in the state. The first wager in this new market was made at the Oneida Casino in Green Bay. It’s been an incredibly long journey to get sports betting legal in the state, but it seems that it has worked out in the end. Oneida Nation had to partner up with International Gaming Technology to help get their sportsbook kicked off smoothly.
As it stands right now, Wisconsin doesn’t have any commercial casinos. Slot machines and other table games are held for federally recognized tribes instead. Still, the Oneida casino is pretty close to Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, so the thinking is that a number of people going to the game will stop by and place their bets. This could be crucial to their early success as the Green Bay Packers look to make a deep playoff run this season in the NFL.
Despite sports betting getting legalized, the state has made it clear that nobody is able to bet on state schools. That means fans won’t be able to bet on the Wisconsin Badgers, who are a popular and strong team in the Big Ten in both college football and college basketball.
888 Gets Closer To Completing Their Acquisition Of William Hill
Gaming operator 888 is starting to get closer to completing the acquisition of all William Hill’s assets in Europe. It was just announced that they have gotten regulatory clearances, which will help them inch closer to finalizing the purchase. In fact, some believe that this transaction is moving incredibly quickly compared to other major gaming acquisitions like this one.
These two sides came to an agreement on the assets back in September with Caesars Entertainment for roughly $3 billion. Although, not all assets will be carried over when everything gets finalized. Caesars has made a point in saying that a few online casino brands are going to be shut down entirely.
The company is also expected to start raising money with a target of approximately $667.3 million right now. Assuming they hit this target, it will help lessen the costs. At any rate, this should help raise 888’s brand and bottom line in the long run.
Woman Wins $3.5M Jackpot On Borgata Website
It was a phenomenal day for one woman doing some online gambling in New Jersey. The lucky player struck gold when she won a $3.5 million dollar jackpot at the Borgata online casino. This massive victory is getting marked down as the largest United States iGaming jackpot in history as well. When asked about why she decided to play the game, she said that the grand prize kept growing and there was just a feeling that somebody was going to hit it soon. Sounds like she has great instincts.
In terms of how she plans to spend the money, the woman has stated that she plans to just take a lot of vacations and volunteer wherever she can. A heartwarming answer to a question that is always asked when somebody wins a large cash prize.
The record in the United States was previously held by BetMGM. That jackpot went for a total of $3.2 million. In terms of worldwide jackpots, the largest that has ever been recorded was a $23.6 million win by a Finnish man back in 2013.