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About Lucky Leprechaun
This week, Casino.org reported on Atlantic City’s difficulties in August, where in-person casino revenue slowed 5.5% to $294.9 million.
The Mid-Atlantic struggles weren’t limited to New Jersey, as Pennsylvania revealed today (Sept. 17) that brick-and-mortar gross gaming revenue (GGR) from slot machines and table games totaled $280.3 million.
Pennsylvania casino revenue for August was almost 6% lower than a year ago, when the state’s casinos won $297.7 million from their physical slots and table games. Pennsylvania’s August 2026 struggles came despite the state having one more casino last month than it did in August 2025, as Happy Valley Casino only opened in April 2026.
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The regulatory framework strictly keeps the casino component in check. Casino floor space is capped at 3% of the total floor area of the IR, while Japanese residents are restricted to three visits per week and 10 visits within any 28-day period. Each visit also carries a mandatory ¥6,000 entry fee, reinforcing the government’s intent to curb excessive gambling even as it opens the door to casinos.
Japan’s path to IR legalisation was not straight forward. The IR Promotion Act, which set Japan on the road to casino-integrated resorts, was passed in December 2016 after a contentious debate. Nearly two years later came the IR Implementation Act, which laid out the regulatory frameworks for casinos, from entry restrictions to measures addressing gambling addiction and other social concerns. Yet even as the government pitched IRs as a catalyst for tourism, regional development and economic growth, opposition remained aggressive.
Among the opposing forces was Kenji Eda, a prominent House of Representatives lawmaker from Yokohama and a senior figure in the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Eda has been a vocal critic of the government’s IR push, raising concerns over gambling addiction, the economic impact on local businesses and whether the casino-led model would deliver the promised benefits.
About Lucky Leprechaun
A similar scenario is playing out on the back of the MLB index introduction. Both LeagueShares and RexShares filed plans for ETFs tied to the FutureSports MLB indexes.
If approved, the funds would hold baskets of the CME-traded derivatives. LeagueShares went a step further by adding a filing for 2x leveraged MLB futures funds.
“Of course there’s already a filing for daily leveraged futures baseball ETFs — which are basically the equivalent of a corked bat with eight holes drilled in the handle that’s been dipped in pine tar,” wrote Ben Johnson, head of client solutions at Morningstar, on X.
