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Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV.
Caesars Palace (Getty Images)
BALL SPINS

Caesars’ stock has been a winner since launching new NBA slot game

The casino entertainment group is cashing in on its digital gambling and sports betting divisions as Vegas revenues slump.

Millie Giles

In the online gambling business, sometimes it pays to shoot your shot. Caesars Entertainment, Inc., which claims to be the largest casino entertainment company in the US, launched a new NBA-themed slot game last Wednesday — helping its stock gain almost 14% over the last week.

With the NBA playoffs now playing out on court (and our screens), the online game, which features NBA branding and visuals, was created in collaboration with Games Global as part of Caesars Entertainment’s multiyear partnership with the basketball behemoth.

The news comes as Caesars’ online gambling arm continues its yearslong winning streak. Since Caesars Entertainment Corporation was acquired by Eldorado Resorts in 2020 as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, annual revenue for the group’s gaming and sports betting operations segment, Caesars Digital, has ballooned, topping more than $1.1 billion last year. In fact, digital was the only one of the company’s divisions that grew in FY24.

Caesars chart final
Sherwood News

Sides of the coin

The group’s digital gaming efforts, which include Caesars Sportsbook, Caesars Racebook, and other online casino apps, have been a bright spot for some time, burgeoning alongside a national boom in online gambling. Indeed, reports emerged in February that the entertainment giant is considering spinning off its digital business into its own publicly traded entity due to its exceptional growth.

But with digital gambling soaring, what happens in Vegas? While the Caesars brand is famed for its presence in the Nevada city — in particular, world-renowned hotel and casino Caesars Palace, though Caesars now leases this property from its new owner — net annual revenue from its Las Vegas segment declined last year.

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Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

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