Casino City’s Friday Five: Sports betting and terminations edition

Major League Baseball concluded its investigation and terminated an umpire for violating league rules regarding sports betting. Elsewhere, Robinhood also halted its Super Bowl-related sports betting offerings, two major lottery jackpots were won, a new casino in Louisiana is scheduled to open next week, and Las Vegas has been selected to be the host city for the 2027 College Football National Championship.

Let’s begin with a couple of jackpots:

5. Six-figure slot win at Mohegan Sun
On 27 January, Mohegan Sun guest Jose from Hartford turned a $5 bet on a Dollar Storm Caribbean Gold slot machine into a massive $347,562 jackpot at the Casino of the Sky section of the Connecticut resort.

We're makin' it rain! ?? ?? ??
Join us in congratulating Jose on winning a $347,562.62 jackpot on one of our Dollar Storm machines! ?? ? pic.twitter.com/7EeChRnBdF
— Mohegan Sun ?? (@MoheganSun) January 31, 2025

Less than a week later, on 31 January, a guest at Harrah's Las Vegas Casino & Hotel found fortune when he hit the Mega Progressive Jackpot for $313,064 while playing Three Card Poker.

The Greensburg, Indiana man was in town to celebrate his best friend's birthday and decided to play at Harrah's Las Vegas for the first time. He had only been playing for 20 minutes before winning and was thrilled when it occurred.

4. Las Vegas to host 2027 College Football National Championship game
Las Vegas will host the 2027 College Football Playoff National Championship at Allegiant Stadium on Monday, 25 January 2027.

The announcement comes two years ahead of the national championship weekend in 2027. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority celebrated the news by releasing a video of Strip Headliner Shin Lim performing an illusion at the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.

Las Vegas will host the 2027 College Football Playoff National Championship at Allegiant Stadium on Monday, January 25, 2027. ??

For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit https://t.co/9cZTuF2VGQ pic.twitter.com/Skx22Plvye
— Allegiant Stadium (@AllegiantStadm) January 24, 2025

3. Robinhood suspends rollout of Super Bowl market
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission formally requested that Robinhood Derivatives, LLC “not permit customers to access” sports event contracts.

Robinhood stated the following in a press release:

“While we continue to work with the CFTC to understand their concerns, we are suspending the rollout of the Pro Football Championship market. We have rolled this product out to roughly 1% of our customers, and for those who already placed trades, we plan on providing the option to close their positions or take them to resolution.”

A couple of days later, it was announced that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold a public roundtable in approximately 45 days at the conclusion of its requests for information on certain sports-related event contracts.

The goal of the roundtable is to develop a robust administrative record with studies, data, expert reports, and public input from a wide variety of stakeholder groups.

2. Live! Casino and Hotel Louisiana opening next week
The Cordish Companies will celebrate the grand opening of Live! Casino and Hotel Louisiana on Thursday, 13 February.

Reservations are now open for stays at the luxury Live! Hotel, beginning Friday, 14 February.

Below are some of the features of the new property:

- 47,000 square feet of gaming space
- More than 1,000 slots and electronic table games
- Over 40 live-action table games
- Dedicated high-limits room
- A sportsbook
- Luxury, 12-story, 549-room Live! Hotel with resort-style pool and fitness center

1. Major League Baseball terminates umpire for sports betting involvement
Earlier this week, Major League Baseball announced that following an appeal process in accordance with its Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. upheld an earlier decision by MLB to terminate Major League Umpire Pat Hoberg’s employment.

The disciplinary action was taken due to Hoberg’s failure to uphold the integrity of the game by sharing sports betting accounts with a professional poker player and friend who bet on baseball and whom Hoberg should have known bet on baseball, and due to Hoberg’s intentional deletion of messages central to MLB’s investigation into his conduct.

Consistent with Major League Rule 2(c) for players, Hoberg can apply for reinstatement, but no earlier than the start of 2026 Spring Training.