Monthly Archives: May 2021

How to Invest in Tomorrows Big Tech Trends Today – Barron’s

Posted: May 11, 2021 at 10:39 pm

Ziplines fixed-wing drones, able to carry a few kilograms of payload, are being used to deliver medical supplies in Ghana. Ruth McDowall/AFP/Getty Images

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Which companies, public and private, are best-positioned for the next 100 yearsor at least the next few years? We put the question to Jerry Yang, founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures and co-founder of Yahoo!, and a member of Barrons Centennial Roundtable. Yang, a longtime venture capitalist based in Silicon Valley, has seen his share of start-ups and innovations. He highlights some of todays most promising companies and trends in the edited interview below.

Barrons: Which companies excite you these days, and why?

Jerry Yang: Ill start with Zoom Video Communications [ticker: ZM]. Never in a thousand years would we have thought that Zoom would become a verb in this context. This company took the opportunity to become massively skilled in the past 15 months. In hindsight, we might say it was easy for them to have done that, but they had to overcome a lot of privacy and scale issues. They really matured in a hurry. The future for video is huge. How do we enhance it? How do we make video more intelligent and productive?

Will the future belong to Zoom or a host of competitors?

From the big competitors to start-ups, everyone is emulating or attempting to catch up to Zooms capabilities. Zoom has announced a platform marketplace for applications. It is adding more intelligence to its platform, and more productivity tools. In my view, by launching an app store of sorts, Zoom can create an ecosystem that is a defensible barrier to competition.

With todays abundance of low-cost capital, private companies can take risks and have the money to grow.

Zipline, an on-demand delivery service, is another company to watch. It operates fixed-wing drones that carry a few kilograms of payload. They can fly 160 kilometers round trip. When they reach their destination, they drop an insulated package with a parachute. Zipline was founded in Silicon Valley, but its first scaled deployment is medical supply in Rwanda, Africa. Zipline delivers blood supplies and critical medicines. It continues to scale. It is an incredibly exciting company.

Do you expect Zipline to go public in the next few years?

Thats a good question. Companies are raising as much money now in private funding rounds as they would have in an initial public offering. IPOs help with branding and maybe create a new investor base, but if a company just needs capital, there is plenty in the private market. From 2012 to 2015 or 16, there were few companies coming public. The IPO market goes in cycles. With todays abundance of low-cost capital, private companies can take risks and have the money to grow.

What other industries or companies look promising to you?

In the area of artificial intelligence and drug discovery, we invested in Recursion Pharmaceuticals [RXRX], which went public in April. Recursion is based in Salt Lake City, which has become a hotbed for biotech start-ups. The company uses massive data computational tools, lab robotics, and a petabyte-level database to speed up the drug-discovery process. Zymergen [ZY] also operates in an area Im pretty excited aboutbiofacturing. This is a materials manufacturing company, using AI, automation, and biology for scale manufacturing.

How does biology fit into the equation?

Instead of using chemicals, for instance, theyre using yeast fermentation to make new materials and productsfrom new electronic displays to naturally derived bug repellents. Ginkgo Bioworks is another biofacturing company Im excited about. More broadly, the birth of genetic sequencing launched a whole industry thats exciting, including gene editing. Synthetic biology is at an early stage, but were already starting to see companies come to fruition, such as Twist Bioscience [TWST], which manufactures and sells synthetic DNA-based products. The world will need more of these technologies in coming years. Ten years ago, we hadnt printed a single gene. Now were printing tens of millions, and that will go to billions in the next few years.

What other technologies should we be watching?

Ill emphasize a couple of trends. Were moving into a world where cameras will be smarter. Whether cameras are manned by Zoom apps or cars or your watch, they will be equipped with more sensors, and the sensors will get smarter. That means more data will be fed into the cloud. Were also seeing huge investments in natural-language processing. A lot of theoretical work was done in this area, and now were starting to see practical applications. All of this means the cloud is getting smarter. Were going to need a lot more bandwidth. If we build bandwidth, the applications will come. Sensors and devices will be communicating with each other, without human intervention. Thats another massive source of new data that will come online.

The idea of using biomaterials in sensors is still in the research lab, but its something to watch. Sensors made of carbon, instead of silicon, could be much more responsive to an individuals biology.

We havent talked about longevity. Science tells us the average life span for todays teenagers could be well beyond 100.

There will be a lot to live for. Thanks, Jerry.

Write to Lauren R. Rublin at lauren.rublin@dowjones.com

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This Big Tech Stock Crushed Earnings — Why It’s Not Too Late to Buy – Motley Fool

Posted: at 10:39 pm

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported first-quarter earnings last week, smashing Wall Street's expectations on both the top and bottom lines. Revenue jumped 44% to $108.5 billion, but the real showstopper was profitability: Amazon's net income more than tripled to $8.1 billion.

The company's blowout performance may have many investors wishing they owned shares (or more shares) of Amazon. After all, the stock is up 50% in the last year alone, and 400% in the last five years. But I don't think you've missed your chance. Here's why.

In the most recent quarter, revenue from Amazon's online stores and third-party sellers surged 44% and 64%, respectively. Its operating margin also expanded in the North America and international segments, driving a big uptick in profitability. These results highlight Amazon's many competitive advantages.

Image source: Getty Images

First, it's the largest e-commerce marketplace in North America, and the second-largest worldwide. That scale means Amazon makes more money than its rivals, allowing the company to aggressively reinvest in its business. For instance, Amazon can afford to offer Prime Video and one- or two-day shipping to its 200 million Prime members. Put simply, it's hard to compete with a company that is bigger, richer, and better known.

Second, a network effect creates a virtuous cycle that brings consumers and merchants to the platform. In other words, as more consumers shop on Amazon, more merchants will join the marketplace, and vice versa.

Finally, Amazon's extensive fulfillment and logistics network streamlines the shipping process, creating synergies that make the company more efficient as unit volume rises. Consider this example: If Amazon delivers a package to your house, it costs next to nothing for Amazon to deliver a package to your neighbor at the same time. In other words, Amazon benefits as delivery routes become more dense.

Synergies created by Amazon's marketplace (and content platforms like Fire TV) have also helped the company enter the digital ad market. During the most recent earnings call, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said: "Advertising revenue within the North America and international segments also accelerated during the quarter."

And Amazon's digital ad business was already growing quickly. Its U.S. market share jumped from 6.8%in 2018 to 10.3% in 2020, according to eMarketer.

Amazon's growing dominance in this space has broad implications for its business as a whole. For instance, eMarketer estimates that e-commerce channel ad spending will reach $22.5 billion in the U.S. by 2021, and that Amazon will capture $18.2 billion, or 81% of that total. By comparison, second-place Walmart is expected to take just $1.6 billion, or 7.1%. This suggests that Amazon is by far the most valuable e-commerce ad platform.

Over time, that should bring more brands to Amazon, meaning consumers will see a more diverse range of sponsored search results and product recommendations, which could drive sales on Amazon's marketplace. In other words, Amazon's ad business not only boosts its top line directly, but it could also boost retail revenue and further solidify its lead in e-commerce.

Amazon's cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is also a product of synergies created by its marketplace. Roughly two decades ago, Amazon started offering compute, storage, and database services to support third-party merchantsas they transitioned to the internet.

At the time, these efforts were necessary to support the growth of its marketplace, but they also allowed Amazon to hone its infrastructure management skills. In 2006 the company officially launched AWS, bringing cloud services to businesses on a global scale. It's worth noting that AWS beat Microsoft Azureto the market by two years, and that first-mover status has been a considerable advantage.

Image source: Getty Images

Today AWS still controls a dominant portion of the market, and still offers a broader range of servicesthan any rival. Not surprisingly, AWS has been recognized as the best-in-class solution by research firms like Gartnerand the International Data Corporation(IDC).

Market Share

Q4 2019

Q4 2020

Amazon Web Services

32%

32%

Microsoft Azure

18%

20%

Google Cloud Platform

6%

7%

Data source:Canalys.

Cloud computing is much more profitable than retail. For example, AWS's operating margin was nearly 31% in the most recent quarter, much higher than the mid-single-digit operating margin of Amazon's other segments. In other words, AWS is a cash-generating machine, and that has helped Amazon fund the expansion of its commerce empire.

Going forward, Gartner expects the cloud computing market to expand at 18.6% per year through 2022. As the clear leader, AWS is well positioned to capture value.

Over the last 27 years, Amazon has grown from an online bookstore into a $1.7 trillion titan. Is its stock going to double in the next three years? I doubt it. But I probably would have said the same thing three years ago, and I would have been wrong.

The point is that Amazon still has growth opportunities. Industries like e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital advertising are still getting bigger. Moreover, Amazon has an ironclad competitive position that few companies can rival. That's why the stock is still a buy.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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High Times Greats: Talking To Travel Writer Rick Steves About Exploring The World – High Times

Posted: at 10:38 pm

From the August, 2005 issue of High Times comes Rick Steves ode to Amsterdam. In honor of his birthday on May 10, were republishing it below, followed by a Q&A between Rick Steves and Steve Bloom.

Ive spent a quarter of my adult life in Europe and Asia, living out of a 9 x 22 x 14-inch bag, promoting the idea that travel is accelerated living, the last great source of legal adventure for Americans. When you travel, everything is vivid; your cultural furniture is rearranged. Life is carbonated with a different and refreshing perspective. Its like smoking pot.

Travel is full of learning. A self-assured American can learn about dealing pragmatically with societal challenges through travel. In Europe, people say a community must make a choice: tolerate different lifestyles or build more prisons.

The Dutch, who have very few people in prison, are quick to remind me that America, with four percent of the planets population, holds over a quarter of its prisoners. We Dutch are businessmen, one explained. If theres a problem, we deal with it as if that person is a future customer or partner.

In Amsterdamwhere 40 percent of the traffic is two-wheeled, mailboxes have decals saying either ja or nee to junk mail and junkies are given dean needlespeople believe its futile to legislate personal morality. In the Netherlands, euthanasia, third-term abortion, prostitution and the use of marijuana are considered victimless crimes and, if not entirety legal, these actions are at least tolerated.

Dutch prostitutes are unionized, taxed, counseled and provided with health care. If a prostitute needs help and pushes her emergency button, the policerather than a pimpcome to her aid. As a result, crime and health problems associated with prostitution are minimized.

Dutch coffeeshopsmany decorated with Rastafarian colorssell marijuana to locals and tourists alike. Older users get their weed to go. Younger users enjoy the ambience and consume it there, often with loaner bongs and vaporizers. Coffeeshop proprietors work with the police to educate people about the dangers of hard drugs. The coffeeshops provide a helpful wall between the use of tolerated soft drugs and still strictly illegal hard drugs.

Conservative Dutch drug-enforcement officers report that there has been no increase in drug problems with the spread of Hollands coffeeshops. The major concern is pressure from the US and certain European Union nations (Sweden, France) to arrest pot smokers. Some European countries make a few arrests each year just to maintain favored-trade status with the US.

On my website we have a board where travelers share information about the opportunities to smoke pot in Europe (without the paranoia that comes with smoking in America). I dont understand why so many righteous people complain to me that Im promoting breaking the law.

To think that a politically driven prohibition in our country makes enjoying pot abroad evil is a gross example of ethnocentrism. The US may have a law making smoking marijuana illegal, but that has nothing to do with its legality outside of our country.

Why did you Join the advisory board of NORML?

Rick Steves: I believe its good citizenship for anyone who thinks a law is wrong to encourage our government to change it. Conversely, I believe that to have this belief and do nothing is cowardice. Advocating for the rights of people who want to smoke marijuana is what NORML does, and the best way I can help NORML is to publicly put my name on their list of supporters.

Lots of counterculture types go public with their feelings about the recreational use of pot. They surprise no one and take no heat. Millions of other people have the same take on this issue but are in circles where this would raise eyebrows and perhaps discredit themlose their job or an election. They smoke pot in hiding. No one should ever have to be shy or apologetic about working to change a law thats so ruinous to so many good people.

Whats your favorite coffeeshop In Amsterdam?

Rick Steves: The Grey Area, famous for its Cannabis Cup awards, is a good place. But my favorite is the Paradox, tucked away in the Jordaan, run by a wonderful man named Ludo, with a mellow and graceful ambience, fresh juice and my kind of music. Its an ambience that my older readers feel comfortable in and therefore is perfect for my guidebook.

Does PBS or anyone else give you flak about your marijuana advocacy?

Rick Steves: Most people in authority are smart enough to understand that my stance is correct or at least reasonable, and Im just in a better position than they are to be honest about it. If someone boycotts my travel information because they disagree with my politics, thats their loss.

Whats your No. 1 travel destination?

Rick Steves: Globally, its India. In Europe, it would be Italybecause, for a traveler, Italy offers Europes most India-like experience.

Besides Amsterdam, where have you smoked the best pot or hash in the world?

Rick Steves: Kathmandu. One of the happiest days in my life was at an open-air cafe/bakery called Pie and Chai, waiting for the next apple pie to come out of the rustic Nepali oven, listening to the Rolling Stones, surrounded by fascinating travelers from around the world and new Nepali friends. High in the Himalayas!

Whats something every stoner traveler should know?

Rick Steves: Dont buy pot on the street. Buy from a source that locals will use on a regular basis and therefore needs to be reliably good-quality. Europeans mix their bud with tobacco, which I dont like at all.

How did you become a travel personality?

Rick Steves: Im passionate about European travel. Ive made my lifes work spending a hundred days a year over there making all the mistakes, taking careful notes, then coming home and teaching fellow travelers in hopes that they can learn from my mistakes rather than their own and travel smarter. Ive done this for 30 years now.

Do you write high?

Rick Steves: Yes. When I teach a travel-writing workshop, I joke that a travel writer could make a case that his or her marijuana expenses could be written off as business expenses. Journaling when high on the road has taught me to observe things differently. I dont think the actual writing is that great, but it opens me up to experiencing thingsfrom slow-motion leech attacks to Botticellis confetti maidensdifferently, even when Im not high.

This has been a huge help to me as a travel writer. I have on occasion brainstormed captions for books while high. For example, theres a beautiful painting by Leonardo da Vinci of the Madonna and Christ child with Saint Anne. Anne speaks to Mary as the two women look, concerned, at baby Jesus. My caption: Its so sad when a childs birthday falls on Christmas.

If someone didnt have any of your DVDs, which one would you recommend getting first?

Rick Steves: I have DVDs for each of my 50 travel shows. I suppose the most important would be the three-part special on travel skills. But my guidebooks are far more helpful for travelers than my DVDs. The most important of my 30 guidebooks is my travel-skills handbook, Europe Through the Back Door. At the risk of being immodest, I consider it the Kama Sutra of European travel fun. For High Times readers, perhaps my Amsterdam guidebook would be a close second.

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Online Gambling to Have Strong Impact on Gambling Businesses | Discover Company Insights on BizVibe – KPVI News 6

Posted: at 10:38 pm

NEW YORK, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

BizVibe has identified the increasing demand for online gambling applications as a major trend for the gambling industry. The increasing use of smartphones, ease of access, and rising disposable income have prompted more individuals to try out online gambling applications and wagering games. This has been contributing to the growth of the overall category. This trend is expected to have a strong influence on gambling industry companies, especially in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

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Wynn Resorts to Merge Digital Gambling Business Into SPAC in a Bet on Its Value – Barron’s

Posted: at 10:38 pm

Leisure business has been improving for Wynn in Las Vegas. Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images

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Wynn Resorts said it lost less money in the first quarter than in previous periods as leisure business in Las Vegas improved, and it unveiled a plan to merge its online/mobile sports betting and gambling business into a SPAC.

Las Vegasbased Wynn Resorts (ticker: WYNN) lost an adjusted $2.41 a share in the first-quarter, versus a loss of $3.54 in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. The quarters operating revenue totaled $726 million, down 24% from $954 million a year ago.

In a quarter still hampered by operational restrictions, WYNNs domestic operations outperformed Street expectations while Macau came in slightly below, Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon wrote in a research note. Macquarie has a Neutral rating on the stock.

The stock was at $127.86 Tuesday morning, up nearly 2% in early trading. As of Mondays close, the stock had appreciated about 11% this year.

In addition to earnings results, the company said Monday that its sports betting and i-gaming subsidiary, Wynn Interactive, will merge with special-purpose acquisition company Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. (AUS.U). Austerlitz is overseen by Bill Foley, a well-regarded investor who also owns the Vegas Golden Knights, an NHL franchise.

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After the deal closes, the sports betting and i-gaming entity will be called Wynn Interactive and trade under the stock ticker WBET. Under the deals structure, Wynn Resorts will have a 58% equity stake in the new company, but stockholders will get no shares in the new entity.

Wynn CEO Matthew Maddox said that Austerlitz will bring $640 million of capital to the new company. Wynn Interactive has about 300 employees.

Deutsche Bank Research analyst Carlo Santarelli wrote in a note Monday that Wynn has prudently created a tracking stock to value its early stage online business.

Various casino operators have taken different approaches to their digital businesses. Boyd Gaming (BYD), for example, owns a 5% equity stake in FanDuel. Caesars Entertainment (CZR) recently announced it had acquired William Hill (WMH.London), a British sports betting firm. MGM Resorts International has a joint venture with Entain (ENT.London), also a British company.

As for Wynns earnings, Maddox told analysts Monday evening that the company saw sales momentum as the quarter progressed in its three main markets: Macau, Las Vegas and Boston.

Since then, he said, momentum is continuing to accelerate.

In Macau, for example, the company generated $43.9 million of first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda.

That improvement continued in April and May. During Golden Week, which was the first week of May in Macau, we experienced $3 million of normalized Ebitda per day, Maddox said, adding that it was by far the highest amount of normalized profit the company generated there since the onset of the pandemic last year.

In 2019, the company generated roughly 70% of its sales in Macau.

Wynn has been shifting some of its focus there from the VIP market, which has been challenged during the pandemic, to premium and mass premium customers.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas volumes began to pick about around March Madness, the national college basketball tournament. That activity has accelerated, Maddox said.

In April, the companys revenue per available room in Las Vegas increased 50% over this years first-quarter results. Retail revenues in April were the second best month on record going back to 2005, Maddox added.

Slot machine revenues were strong as well.

Another promising sign for Wynn is hotel occupancy, which is expected to be in the 90% range on the weekends going forward, Maddox said.

The companys group business, a key driver of midweek sales, is holding on and looking quite strong for the back half of the year, he said.

Group business, conventions and trade shows came to a halt during the pandemic, and it remains to be seen how quickly those customers will return to Las Vegas.

Write to Lawrence C. Strauss at lawrence.strauss@barrons.com

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Sports and gambling | Local | dailyadvance.com – The Daily Advance

Posted: at 10:38 pm

Sports and gambling. When I grew up it was sports versus gambling. Sports seemed pure and it did all it could to keep gambling from contaminating it.

Eventually I came to realize that these two things coexisted in harmony with one another so long as those in control of them were never in the same room at the same time. Sports has been historically terrified of gambling while gambling has always loved sports but in the end, they benefited from each other.

Thats the way it used to be but the landscape of sports is changing. Dont get me wrong, sports is still terrified of gambling but its a potential revenue source they are choosing not to ignore any more. The change is slow but apparent.

Watch the worldwide leader in sports and look on the ticker or to the side of the screen and youll see the betting lines on tonights games. Listen to SportsCenter and catch how many references you hear to sports gambling.

My inspiration, muse and the wind beneath my wingsDan LeBatard recently helped to form a content creation company called Meadowlark Media and they just got a three-year deal from Draft Kings worth fifty million dollars.

I listen to his podcasts and when he was on ESPN, I listened to and watched his shows. For many months I have been hearing Draft Kings commercials and like all advertisements, its important to listen carefully when they talk real fast.

Turns out that while Draft Kings has spent a massive sum of money making sure that everyone in the country knows about their product, theyre only available to citizens in a handful of states. Using Draft Kings is illegal in most of the country.

Why do you think they would invest so much in a region with no customers?

In my honest opinion, its an attempt to normalize sports gambling. They are trying to change minds.

Thats something many fans are apprehensive of. Baseball purist will tell you its about protecting the integrity of the sport. They will tell you that men like Pete Rose tarnished the game of baseball. To my knowledge, no one has even pointed to a game or moment in a game and accused Pete Rose of cheating but for the integrity of the game, he is out of baseball forever. We dont know if he cheated but we knew he did something he was told not to do.

Meanwhile men like Alex Rodriguez and others who admitted to cheating the game are essentially forgiven and welcomed back into the league.

I dont know who is right and who is wrong but I sure do see a lot in the way of hand picking how the integrity of the game is protected and MLB is not alone in that. The NBA and NFL have their own rich history of hypocrisy.

I dont know what sports is going to look like 10 years from now but it appears that gambling is going to be a part of it.

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Colorado wagers over $2.3 billion in first year of legalized sports gambling – Canon City Daily Record

Posted: at 10:38 pm

The first year of Colorado legalized sports gambling is in the books with some eye-popping returns.

Coloradans wagered more than $2.3 billion on sports between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021, according to an unaudited report from the states department of revenue.

Colorados net sports betting proceeds (total bets placed minus all payouts/taxes) reached $65,962,159. In November 2019, voters approved a 10% tax on those proceeds to help fund the states water conservation efforts meaning roughly $6.5 million has been allocated thus far. However, Colorado is not expected to distribute those water funds until 2022.

The first year of sports betting exceeded our expectations, especially after we launched amid a worldwide pandemic that shuttered the casinos, the industry, and Colorado, said Dan Hartman, the states division of gaming director, in a news release. Looking back on a year ago, I dont believe any of us expected to be where we are with our numbers and our operations. Colorado is setting the benchmark for what a healthy, regulated legalized sports betting market can look like in the United States, and we will continue to be known for our regulatory leadership.

A breakdown for how Colorado sports gamblers placed their bets since last May

Basketball ($435M)

Football Pro American ($383M)

NCAA basketball ($193M)

Baseball ($105M)

Table tennis ($91M)

Hockey Ice ($63M)

Soccer ($61M)

NCAA Football ($61M)

Tennis ($44M)

Golf ($35M)

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Gamblers Who Bet On Medina Spirit Have Nothing To Worry About – Forbes

Posted: at 10:38 pm

Medina Spirit, ridden by jockey John Velazquez, won the 147th Kentucky Derby. But now after a failed ... [+] drug test Medina Spirit's win has been called into question.

Medina Spirit, the colt who won the 2021 Kentucky Derby, has failed a post-race drug test. If it fails a second test, Medina Spirit will be disqualifiedlosing its Derby title and the purse. But the gamblers who bet on the underdog will get to keep their winnings.

At the Westgate in Las Vegas, sports book director John Murray laughs when asked if a disqualification will change any of the bets made and paid out in his sportsbook.

Id love to see the reaction of bettors if they were told they need to return the funds, says Murray. This wont impact wagers one way or another. We dont recognize overturned results.

Once a result is official, the bet is over, and the results do not change. After-the-fact technicalities might alter the record books, but they dont change what happened at the sports book.

Bob Heleringer, a Kentucky-based lawyer, former racing official and author of textbook Equine Regulatory Law,says that once the racing results are posted official at the track, the pari-mutuel outcome can never change.

Thats by regulation at every racing state, says Heleringer. There has to be finality to the betting, no matter what happens afterwards. Its for finality and to prevent chaos.

If disqualified, Medina Spirit will be the third horse to have its victory overturned in the Derbys 147-year history. In 1968, Dancers Image failed a post-race drug test and in 2019 Maximum Security was disqualified for impeding the path of horses tailing behind.

Officials at Churchill Downs said in a statement that Mandaloun, the Derbys runner-up, will be declared the winner if Medina Spirits second drug test confirms the positive results.

A post-race blood test found betamethasone, a corticosteroid used to reduce joint pain, in Medina Spirits system.

Churchill Downs also said in its statement that Bob Baffert, the horse trainer hall-of-famer who trained Medina Spirit, has been suspended.

Given the seriousness of the alleged offense, Churchill Downs will immediately suspend Bob Baffert, the trainer of Medina Spirit, from entering any horses at Churchill Downs Racetrack, the track said in a statement. We will await the conclusion of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commissions investigation before taking further steps.

In a news conference, Baffert has denied any wrongdoing. This incident will mark the fifth positive drug test for one of Bafferts horses in more a year.

Heleringer says the last big case litigating whether the pari-mutuel results can be changed involving the first-place horse being disqualified was over thirty years ago.

In August 1986, the stewards of a race at Saratoga Racetrack accidentally disqualified the winner of the race, Allumeuse, and posted the incorrect results. Only after bettors left the stadium did officials admit a mistake was made to the press.

After the kerfuffle, horseracing reporter turned publisher Steve Crist wrotein the New York Times about the incident. New York racing rules state flatly that once the official sign is posted, the payoffs cannot be altered. It would have been illegal for the track to honor winning tickets on Allumeuse, and it also would have set an impossible precedent for the sport, Crist wrote. Every time a winner was disqualified for a positive postrace drug test a day or two after the payoffs had been posted, and every time a racing commission reversed a stewards' ruling, bettors would line up for payoffs and have precedent on their side. Tracks cannot afford to pay out on two winners.

While the bettors get to keep their winnings, if Medina Spirits win is overturned, his owner, Amr Zedan, wont get to keep the $1.8 million first-place check as it will go to the owners of Mandaloun. (Mandaloun is owned by Juddmonte Farms Inc., the international thoroughbred horse racing and breeding outfit founded by the late Prince Khalid bin Abdullah.)

In a statement, horseracing industry trade group The Jockey Club said it hopes justice is swift, sure, fair, and uniform. Bettors and fans need to have unshakable confidence in the integrity of the sport, the Club said.

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Gamblers Who Bet On Medina Spirit Have Nothing To Worry About - Forbes

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Sports, Media And Gambling: Where Is Congress? – Barrett Sports Media

Posted: at 10:38 pm

My friend covered the Detroit Pistons. He called me in distress one day, asking to borrow money. His gambling habit was so toxic, he said, that hed broached the topic with Isiah Thomas, the teams star player and a hard-ass not to be messed with. Aghast, I told him to make an appointment with the editor, beg for mercy and seek help for his problem if he wanted to save his writing career. He took my advice and moved on to a college beat.

This is why the scummy intersection of sports, sports media and gambling companies is a bad idea.

The public relations director of the Chicago Bears, Bryan Harlan, was privy to inside information on a daily basis. He was fired after federal investigators found his phone number in a bookmakers records and concluded he had bet on NFL games, including those involving the Bears. His father, Bob, was president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers at the time, and his brother, Kevin, has been broadcasting NFL and NBA games for years. The feds also linked calls made to a bookie from team-assigned portable phones belonging to Ken Valdiserri, the Bears vice president of marketing and broadcasting, who claimed never to have called a bookie but that he often allowed ready? Bears players and Chicago media people to use his phones.

Said Paul Tagliabue, then the NFL commissioner: Harlan acknowledged he violated our league policy on gambling. Its the integrity of the game. When we have the kind of competition we have and competition that features integrity, we have to enforce it strictly. The setback didnt stop Harlan from becoming a sports agent and to this day, according to his agency website, he represents coaches at all levels of collegiate and professional football, as well as sports broadcasters at major outlets in Chicago and across the country.

This is why the scummy intersection of sports, sports media and gambling companies is a bad idea.

My colleague covered the Denver Broncos. During one of those Super Bowl losses that got ugly early, he began to pound the table where he was working in the main press box. He wasnt doing so because he was a fan of the team. Days later, another Denver sportswriter, Teri Thompson, was busted by police in a bookies house with cocaine in her purse. Suddenly, it made more sense why her tone had been over-the-top savage in certain game columns.

This is why the scummy intersection of sports, sports media and gambling companies is a bad idea.

My former radio boss, who had moved on to sales at a TV station, asked to borrow $3,000. He didnt say why, but did I have to ask? Reluctantly, I gave him the money and issued a one-month deadline. Many months later, my attorney confronted him at their country club in Chicagos northern suburbs, demanding the money be repaid in increments. Later, I discovered hed made similar loan requests of another radio host and a producer.

This is why the scummy intersection of sports, sports media and gambling companies is a bad idea.

I could go on. Instead, I choose to look ahead in mortified fear, wondering how many other scandals await uglier, larger and of a more damaging scope now that the $300 billion U.S. sports industry has opened the devils door to a gambling free-for-all. When the Supreme Court authorized states in 2018 to legalize sports wagering, the justices couldnt have envisioned the immediate, untamed threat to the very integrity of which Tagliabue spoke. In one swoop, the NFL, the NBA and other leagues that long had viewed gambling as sinful and corrupt embraced the new financial possibilities, less concerned about game-fixing and inside-information-sharing amid their greedy, insidious money grabs. In the all-time hypocritical stinkbomb, Major League Baseball is all-in on gambling, too, even as Pete Rose remains banned for life. The NFL, which once routinely suspended players for gambling associations, now has a partnership with FanDuel and a stadium and future Super Bowls in Las Vegas.

The leagues have dirtied down, you see, striking deals with casinos and companies that include the omnipresent DraftKings, which has encountered issues with the law. And with furious, slobbering zeal, powerhouse media enterprises such as ESPN, Fox and Turner followed the money and jumped right into bed with their league partners, also inviting the gambling bigwigs onto the mattress for a mass wagering orgy. Next thing you knew, so-called journalists were leaving crumbling mainstream outlets for betting information sites while John Skipper, dumped as ESPN president after a cocaine scandal, was teaming with another deposed Bristol personality, the once-esteemed columnist Dan Le Batard, to form a media company that signed a lucrative sponsorship agreement with DraftKings.

Suddenly, sports is not sports anymore. Its a gambling-centric feast that has reduced the actual result of a game the sacred competition between athletes who are expected to remain honest and above-board to a sidebar. The fact the Milwaukee Bucks might beat the Boston Celtics, 113-111, doesnt mean as much anymore as the Celtics covering the point spread, or Jayson Tatum winning the prop bet. The sports industry has allowed this freak-show collaboration to create a tawdry alternate universe that, by and large, reduces a legitimate championship season to background noise.

All of which invites the likelihood of rampant manipulation of games and an inability to investigate the wrongdoing because many elite reporters work for the very media companies that, directly or indirectly, are attached to the leagues and gambling initiatives. The leagues and odds shops say otherwise, claiming sophisticated monitoring apparatus is in place, but theyve yet to explain any security plans in elaborate detail. It reminds me of Big Tobacco. In this case, the objective is to induce bettors at least 15 million of whom are problem gamblers in America to spend their money without any warning of consequences. The betting lines are nicotine, and cancer is diagnosed when people lose jobs and families and end up broke. Have the leagues, media and gambling companies at all considered the lives theyre putting at risk? Do they care that theyre contributing to the demise of society?

Nah. Theyre too busy bidding up, cashing out and bastardizing the purity of athletic competition. Never mind that there are many more sports observers in America who dont gamble such as me than those who do. Every sports visual, from a game broadcast to an ESPN SportsCenter update to a stadium advertisement, must include references to gambling. Inevitably, this alliance will lead to sweeping in-house scandals. The more prevalent gambling is, the more likely an athlete, coach or referee will be tempted to fix a game or a prop bet. What prevents a talk-show personality with a gambling-house relationship from devising a scheme, via an active athlete, to throw a point spread? What if the personalitys producers get wind and spread the word?

And we might never know its happening. Thats because too many former journalists already are on the payroll at gambling sites or eager to work for them. Ask DraftKings and FanDuel. Ask Barstool Sports. Ask Action Network and Vegas Stats & Information Network. They already view themselves as mainstream media companies, with FanDuel executive Mike Raffensperger telling Front Office Sports that hes seeking to poach content creators from mainstream outlets. We are looking to evaluate ways to improve our portfolio through pulling people into the fold, he said. Were actively looking into the marketplace now. It is absolutely part of the strategy if we want to continue to grow the No. 1 sports book in the country.

Meaning, the media people he hires must be gambling experts more than traditional sportswriters, as seen at VSiN and even The Athletic, which ask writers to break down games against spreads while ignoring the basics of who might win or lose a game. Just as Le Batard, while apparently maintaining his editorial freedom on political issues, will relinquish his journalistic values by reading relentless gambling spots during commercial breaks, as required by Skippers $50 million DraftKings deal. Im still flummoxed by a recent remark by VSiN chairman Brian Musburger whose famous sportscasting uncle, Brent, has sold out as a grinning front-man tout holding $100 bills on the company website that legitimate journalists can be hired by gambling sites to dish inside info about athletes, teams and games to readers. My God, how poisonous could this Bermuda triangle become?

Uncle Brent and South Beach Dan used to investigate sports stories and break news. Now, theyre taking gambling fortunes and leaving themselves vulnerable to investigations. Clay Travis once had journalism in his blood, then opted to lean conservative even when his Nashville-based site, Outkick, was covering sports. Fox acquired his anti-woke site last week amid a flurry of media-meets-gambling transactions, with Fox executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch sounding thrilled to have found a brand aligned politically with Fox News. Travis has bigger ideas, writing of the gambling craze, Over the past several months many companies put in bids to buy Outkick. Thats because our business is thriving, particularly our sports gambling business, where we are one of the largest affiliate sites in the country, signing up customers in all ten states where online gambling is legal. Sports gambling is poised to explode in the years ahead and I wanted to make sure whichever partner we picked fit our companys direction.

You could say sports is run by The Mob, a new sort of organized crime.

And if you think thats an overstatement, just wait for the fallout. Congress is busy, but the last time it was asked to clean up a historic moral unraveling in sports baseballs steroids scandals the 2005 hearings were successful in embarrassing the likes of Bud Selig, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro, which led to the Mitchell Report and a cleansing of the game. Given the staggering amounts of money in this triad, the responsibility of sports as a public trust and the potential bilking of gamblers, damn right a committee should prepare another spectacle and grill Roger Goodell and other commissioners, ESPNs Jimmy Pitaro and broadcast executives and whoever represents the gambling companies. Could you imagine Dave Portnoy, the bad-boy face of Barstool, being interrogated on Capitol Hill?

Weve already seen a naked conflict-of-interest on display at the NFL Draft. When the San Francisco 49ers played a guessing game with the No. 3 pick, I wondered if a week of indecision would spark a flurry of prop-bet activity. Of course, it did. Trey Lance, once a 15-1 underdog to be drafted third, improved to 3-1 on the morning of the draft and to a -180 favorite as the show began. Most of the action at No. 3 was bet on Mac Jones, and when FanDuel and other sportsbooks say the 49ers mystery produced the Drafts highest betting numbers how do we know the NFL, to appease its gambling partner, doesnt encourage a team or two to inject doubt throughout the day and keep the casino cash flowing?

And what planet has Colin Cowherd relocated to? Among the national talk-show hosts now immersed in gambling, he revealed in March that Lance, a friend of Cowherds 20-year-old daughter, had been hanging out at the family home. That wasnt an issue until Cowherd contacted 49ers general manager John Lynch and suggested he draft Lance, the details of which were sent by Cowherds publicist to Pro Football Talks Mike Florio in an email titled, Did Colin Cowherd help 49ers draft Trey Lance?

Spilling the details on his podcast, Cowherd said, So, long story short, I live in L.A. Trey Lance was working out in L.A. about three weeks ago for the draft. Ran into Trey Lance. Really, really impressed with him as a kid good size, looks you in the eye, really humble, really thoughtful. And after meeting him, its funny. I sent a text to a couple of GMs that I thought may have the chance to get him, one of them John Lynch. So I text John, I said `Hey, I just met Trey Lance I dont know what youre doing with the No. 3 pick, but totally impressed, so humble, what a great kid. And Johns like `Thanks, Colin!

I dont hear anything. Then after the third pick, I get a couple of fist bumps texted to me by John Lynch. So I know I had no influence, but nonetheless, it made me laugh. Johns a great guy and I actually think its the right pick.

Problem No. 1: Cowherd, now a gambling-influenced host, texted an NFL executive with draft suggestions.

Problem No. 2: The same NFL executive texted fist-bump emojis to a gambling-influenced host after the pick, fully recalling his advice about Lance.

Problem No. 3: Cowherds team took credit for the pick, as if it was some valiant deed.

As one of the biggest names in sports media, Cowherd should steer clear of such conflicts. But in this emerging Wild Wild West climate, all semblance of independence is lost. Any reliable, self-governed watchdogs out there? ESPN, NBC, Fox, CBS, Turner LOL, all bedfellows, forget it. Legacy media? The Boston Globe is owned by John Henry, who owns the Red Sox; the Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, who wants to own an NFL franchise; the Los Angeles Times is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong, a part-owner of the Lakers; the Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch, whose son acquired Outkick; and the New York Times reportedly is examining whether to invest in The Athletic, a struggling sports site that openly promotes a sports gambling component.

With nine of 10 sports media employees worried for their jobs these days, how many will follow the money and bail to gambling sites? How many league insiders, such as Adam Schefter and Jay Glazer, will bolt for bigger money now that the NFL is directly linked to gambling? Beat writers, columnists, editors will everyone jump to the dark side and focus on over-unders? Were just now emerging from the worst of the pandemic. People are desperate. Anticipate musical-chairs madness.

In that vein, how many more Bryan Harlans are out there, ready to exploit information? How many media professionals will use such information to bet themselves, recalling my Detroit, Chicago and Denver stories? You might ask, whats the big deal about a media person gambling legally? Answer: It will skew his/her coverage of a game and taint objectivity, along with the prospect of becoming addicted. As for executives, Skipper once stood up to Goodell when ESPN broke exposes about concussions and rallied to the side of Colin Kaepernick. Now, they are partners in gambling smut.

More than ever, investigative reporters are needed to keep three mega-industries honest in their new sandbox. Unfortunately, most sleuths work for ESPN or other aforementioned outlets. So when a betting scandal happens, who will dare probe it and risk being railroaded from a job? Jeremy Schaap is too comfortable in his gig to pound on C-suite doors, preferring easier stories on mascots these days.

I am fortunate. Ive made a great living as a columnist while battling editors who didnt want me immersed in the Rose scandal in Cincinnati, or didnt want me explaining to a Chicago audience why Michael Jordans gambling problem left him exposed to extortion. I usually found a way to get necessary columns into print and commentary onto radio airwaves.

Today, youre reading one of the few industry sites that would publish this column. We are covering sports here, not trying to make bushels of money off sports. I used to appear regularly on Around The Horn, ESPNs banter show. Theres a better chance now of ATH debating the color of Pitaros underwear than discussing the scummy intersection of sports, sports media and gambling companies.

At least I still have my bullhorn, prepared for the oncoming shitstorms. In gambling parlance, Im the longest of longshots, but Im also the rarest of rarities. No one can call me a sellout.

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Sports, Media And Gambling: Where Is Congress? - Barrett Sports Media

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Sports gambling in Texas: Will lawmakers roll the dice? – KENS5.com

Posted: at 10:37 pm

Its a bet some state lawmakers and sports fans are willing to take the plan to legalize sports betting to help state and local budgets.

SAN ANTONIO As the world was gripped by COVID pro sports kept spirits up. A reminder of the things we missed from society. Working together, triumphing against the odds, and making a little money on the side

CBS Reports Americans placed 4.3 billion dollars in bets on Super Bowl 55 making it the single biggest legal handle in American history. An estimated 7.6 million Americans placed bets online through platforms like FanDuel or DraftKings a 63 percent increase from the year before.

We spoke with UTSA Professor Jennifer Alexander to see if sports betting could be a help in Texas.

I think that state and local governments are in far worse shape than they have been for the past 20-30 years, said Alexander.

Right now state lawmakers are mulling two bills one aimed at putting casinos in the states major metro areas another allowing online betting. Alexander doesnt believe either will help the state make up for lost money, but she understands the drive behind the bills.

The states that are making money on it are not backing away. The states have to consider the fact that if they dont offer something, then people will just go to neighboring states, said Alexander.

ESPN San Antonios Jason Minnix explains the bills are also getting support from pro sports teams who stand to benefit by making more money.

You know youve sold that person a ticket, you might sell them something in the pro shop, youre going to sell some beer and some food and if you can make some money in the in-game bet that he made the NBAs going to do that, Minnix said.

But what about players, coaches, and referees facing the temptation to change the game to make a little more money?

It would be so hard for one individual for a long period of time to impact a lot of games without getting caught. Youre player X and you put 5 million dollars on the game. Well thats going to raise a red flag in all the sportsbooks, so if you bet 10 thousand dollars in a sportsbook it probably wont raise a red flag, but are you willing to risk the millions youre making over a 10 thousand dollar bet? And the answer is no, explained Minnix.

So whats next? The legislature could decide by the end of the month on whether these bills advance and become law. Minnix says if its not this session, one day soon well have sports betting in Texas.

It used to be taboo, but now its a part of the regular rundown. The gambling is there, its not ignored, said Minnix.

Alexander believes sports betting will be a tough sell in light of our states conservative values and the fact that many state-run lotteries and gambling taxes dont deliver.

I dont know that this is going to be the boon to revenue that our state and local governments really need, said Alexander.

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Sports gambling in Texas: Will lawmakers roll the dice? - KENS5.com

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