GAMBLING
The company that owns the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and a major New Jersey sports arena is going all in on promoting sports betting.
Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment on Tuesday announced its second deal in five days to open a lounge at Newark’s Prudential Center to promote sports betting to customers with gambling accounts on their mobile phones.
This time it’s a deal with Caesars Entertainment for a 5,000-square-foot restaurant and bar on the main concourse. It follows last week’s deal opening a sports lounge with bookmaker William Hill.
Neither facility can accept cash bets, something reserved for Atlantic City casinos and New Jersey racetracks. But they may prove to be an effective way to promote and cash in on mobile sports betting, where most of the industry’s growth is.
TENNIS
SAUDI ARABIA EXHIBITION: Roger Federer turned down an invitation to play in a planned exhibition match in Saudi Arabia in December that his rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have committed to play in.
Saudi Arabia is under growing pressure from the international community following the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi after he entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. He was a Washington Post columnist who had written critically of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince.
Tennis stars Djokovic and Nadal have expressed doubt as to whether they will play an exhibition match at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on Dec. 22, but they have not withdrawn. Both players have said the invitations were made at least one year ago.
PARIS MASTERS: Novak Djokovic began his bid for a record-extending fifth Paris title with a 7-5, 6-1 win against Joao Sousa in the second round Tuesday.
The U.S. Open champion has won four of the last five tournaments he has entered, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and most recently the Shanghai Masters.
Djokovic is seeking to reclaim the top ranking from Rafael Nadal at a tournament Nadal has never won. Djokovic next faces Damir Dzumhur, who upset 14th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-3.
SOCCER
FIFA: FIFA President Gianni Infantino is braced for a release of private information gained by hackers after world soccer’s governing body said its computer network was subject to another cyberattack.
The disclosure comes in the same month the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI said Russia’s military intelligence body was responsible for a hack on FIFA in 2016, which led to evidence from antidoping investigations and lab results being published.
FIFA did not provide details about the information gained in the latest attack on email systems but it has been contacted by media outlets about information contained in private exchanges.
OLYMPICS
2026 GAMES: Another bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics is at risk, with Calgary’s city council poised to vote on whether to kill the bid over financial concerns.
The council has scheduled a vote for Wednesday on motions to kill the bid and to cancel a vote scheduled for next month by Calgary residents on whether they want the games or not.
An end of the bid by Calgary would leave Stockholm and a combined bid from two Italian cities as the only remaining contenders for the 2026 Games – and the local government in Stockholm, too, has balked at spending taxpayer money.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.