New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed a bill which allows the Atlantic City’s Golden Nugget casino to accept bets on most National Basketball Association (NBA) games.

Tilman Fertitta, a billionaire from Texas, is the owner Golden Nugget casino. He also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets team. When New Jersey lawmakers legalised sports betting last year, a provision in the law banned team owners from placing or accepting bets on any games involving their sport.

“We’re grateful, and appreciative that people eventually realized this was an overreaction. It allows us to compete,” Steve Scheinthal, general counsel for the Golden Nugget’s parent company, Houston-based Landry’s Inc., said.

The ban on all NBA bets cut badly into the Golden Nugget’s New Jersey sports betting business. A gambler wanting to place bets on football at the Golden Nugget had to go somewhere else to bet on basketball, making it much less likely he or she would visit the Golden Nugget at all for sports betting.

“It was like going into a boxing ring with one arm tied behind your back. You just can’t compete that way. It gave everyone a year’s head start on us,” Scheinthal said.

Andy Beshear, the Democratic candidate of Kentucky gubernatorial election, has unveiled his plan to expand gaming and bring casinos, sports betting, fantasy sports and potentially online poker into the Bluegrass State.

Beshear, the state’s current Attorney General, faces Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin in the November general election. Bevin has spoken out against gaming, especially as an option to increase funding for public pensions.

Beshear’s plan resembles what Illinois officials pushed through in their state earlier this year. While Illinois already had casino gaming, the new law expands the number of casino licenses available and allows sports betting across the state. Illinois plans to use the revenue stream to shore up the state’s infrastructure and fund pensions.

Kentucky is one of the 10 states in the US without a commercial or tribal casino. The border states of Kentucky such as Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio have casinos or racinos located just across the Ohio River near major population centres in Kentucky. Beshear said that the state loses out on $500 million in tax revenue annually to its neighbouring states.

Blackstone Group is going to buy the Bellagio and the MGM Grand, two of the biggest properties owned by MGM Resorts. Blackstone is in talks with MGM Resorts regarding this.

After buying, Blackstone would then lease the property back to MGM Resorts, who would continue to run the day-to-day casino operations.

By selling the property to Blackstone, MGM would free up needed capital to build a $10 billion resort in Japan. Early estimates have MGM receiving roughly $7 billion for the two casino resorts.

Blackstone has made a splash in the gaming market over the last several years. It purchased the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas in 2014 for $1.73 billion and acquired Spain-based Cirsa Gaming Corp in 2018 for $1.8 billion.