This is the most intense time of the year for college basketball fans as the NCAA March Madness championship tournament begins.

Internet gambling and sports betting set new records in New Jersey in November as the Atlantic City gambling market continues to evolve and become less dependent on physical casinos.

All nine Atlantic City casinos turned a profit in the second quarter of this year, although that collective profit was down more than 20% from a year ago.

A woman rang in the New Year with a big payout from a Louisiana casino.

Fertitta Entertainment, Inc., the parent company of Golden Nugget and Landry’s, announced Monday it will become publicly listed. According to a news release, owner Tilman Fertitta has entered a merger agreement with FAST Acquisition Corp. valued at approximately $6.6 billion. However, in today’s opportunistic world, I determined that in order to maximize the opportunities in the gaming, entertainment and hospitality sectors, it was preferable to take my company public,” Fertitta said. Fertitta will be the company’s largest shareholder, owning 60% of the company and a roughly $2 billion stake. “At the end of the day, the decision to do a deal with FAST was a no-brainer.”AdAccording to the news release, Golden Nugget and Landry’s management team will continue to lead the company and Fertitta will serve as chairman, president, and CEO.

(AP Photo/Wayne Parry)ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The U.S. gambling industry wants additional financial aid from the next round of coronavirus stimulus legislation, and promises to fight new or higher taxes on its operations as it works to recover from the pandemic. In an online speech outlining the industry's goals for 2021, Miller predicted the gambling industry's fortunes will improve this year, particularly in the second half, as more people become immunized and economic activity picks up. That’s an environment where gaming will thrive.”Like most other industries, the gambling industry was hit hard by the pandemic. Last year, for the first time, the U.S. gambling industry was included in a federal relief package. Internet gambling, while available in only four states, generated nearly $1.4 billion in revenue and $340 million in taxes over the first 11 months of 2020.

(AP Photo/Wayne Parry)ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – America’s casinos are recovering from months of closures necessitated by the coronavirus outbreak, having regained 81% of the gambling revenue they saw in the third quarter of last year, the casinos' trade association said Monday. But that recovery is threatened in places as the virus continues to surge throughout the country. It found that the industry won over $9 billion in the third quarter of this year, which is 81% of the amount it won during the same period a year earlier, when there was no virus and casinos were operating normally. “While these quarterly results are promising, the reality is a full recovery is dependent on continued public health measures to control prevalence rates” of the virus. Revenue from slot machines was $5.87 billion for the quarter, down 19.3%, and table games revenue was $1.57 billion, down 31.2%.

The U.S. gambling industry was a big winner at the polls on Nov. 3, 2020, with three states authorizing sports betting and three others either authorizing or expanding casino gambling. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The U.S. gambling industry won big at the polls Tuesday, with three states authorizing legal sports betting and three others either approving or expanding casino gambling. Virginia approved casino gambling in four locations, Nebraska authorized adding casino games at its horse racing tracks, and Colorado expanded the number and type of casino games it can offer, along with eliminating some wagering limits. Voters in four Virginia cities — Bristol, Danville, Portsmouth and Norfolk — approved ballot measures authorizing casinos. Nebraska allowed casino games at racetracks in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Columbus and South Sioux City.

That compares with an operating profit of nearly $160 million in the second quarter of last year. That more than covers the entire second quarter, the months of April, May and June. The Borgata had the biggest loss at more than $40 million for the quarter, compared to a $55 million profit in the second quarter of last year. Hard Rock had a loss of $18.2 million, compared to a profit of $11.2 million a year ago; Harrah's had a $15.1 million loss, compared to a $23 million profit a year ago; Resorts had a $12.6 million loss, compared to a $5.3 million profit a year ago; and Tropicana had an $11.8 million loss, compared to a $22.6 million profit last year. Caesars had a $9.9 million loss, compared to a profit of $16.3 million a year ago, and Bally's had a $8.7 million loss, compared to a $9.3 million profit a year ago.

(AP Photo/Wayne Parry)ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) Helped by the continuing spread of legal sports betting, commercial casinos in the U.S. won $43.6 billion from gamblers last year, an increase of 3.7% from the previous year. The commercial casinos were aided in part by a continuing expansion of sports betting, with more than $13 billion wagered legally last year. Sportsbook operators took in $908.9 million in sports betting revenue in 2019, more than double the $430.7 million they won in 2018. New York saw $2.73 billion last year, up 5.5%; Louisiana saw $2.46 billion, down nearly 4%, and Indiana saw $2.24 billion, which was virtually unchanged from a year earlier. At the end of 2019, there were 524 tribal casinos operating in 29 states, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission, compared with 465 commercial casinos in 25 states.

HOUSTON – People from around the world will be betting on the Super Bowl Sunday. A majority of those wagers will be made online or in person at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. Other than the game, the Golden Nugget has more than 235 betting propositions, including whether Madonna will wear a headset microphone during her halftime performance. Tony Miller with the Golden Nugget told Local 2, "I've seen million-dollar wagers come over the counter. A $20,000 or $50,000 bet is not an uncommon wager during the Super Bowl."