The Wall Street Journal - 03.09.2019

A2| Tuesday, September 3, 2019 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

ECONOMIC

CALENDAR

Tuesday:TheInstitute for

Supply Managementreleases

the Augustmanufacturing in-

dex. In July, the U.S. factory sec-

tor lost further momentum, slip-

ping to its lowest reading in

nearly three years. Economists

surveyed by The Wall Street

Journal forecast the ISM manu-

facturing index logged in at 51.

in August, down slightly from

51.2 in July.

Wednesday:TheCommerce

Departmentreleases July inter-

national trade figures. The June

trade report showed the stand-

off between Washington and

Beijing cost China its position as

the U.S.’s top trading partner.

Economists surveyed by the

Journal forecast thetrade deficit

narrowed to $53.7 billion in July

from $55.2 billion in June.

TheFederal Reservereleases

its latest version of thebeige

book, a collection of business an-

ecdotes across Fed districts. In

July, the beige book showed

American businesses saw eco-

nomic activity expanding mod-

estly amid lingering fears over

trade.

Friday:TheLabor Depart-

mentreleases the Augustjobs

report, which will offer insight

into the state of one of the U.S.

economy’s pillars during a month

of global turbulence. Economic

output in Germany, the world’s

fourth-largest economy, con-

tracted in the second quarter,

while a report on factory output

in China, the second-largest

economy, came in lower than ex-

pected, according to reports re-

leased last month. Economists

will closely watch Friday’s report

for any signs the global slow-

down is spreading to the U.S.

Economists surveyed by the

Journal forecast the U.S. econ-

omy added 149,000 to payrolls

in August, with the unemploy-

ment rate holding steady at 3.7%.

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U.S. WATCH

DETROIT

Days After Search,

UAW Head at Parade

The United Auto Workers

president walked a portion of

Detroit’s traditional Labor Day

parade just days after FBI

agents searched his home while

a small group of protesting

union members called for his

resignation.

UAW President Gary Jones

left Monday’s parade route be-

fore its completion and didn’t

speak to union members gath-

ered afterward. UAW spokesman

Brian Rothenberg said Mr. Jones

left because of another commit-

ment.

Federal agents searched Mr.

Jones’s suburban Detroit home

Wednesday in what appeared to

be another step in an investiga-

tion of union officials and Fiat

Chrysler executives.

About 20 marchers hoisted

signs with messages such as

“Reform the UAW!”

—Associated Press

CALIFORNIA

RFK Assassin Back

in Prison Post-Attack

Sirhan Sirhan, who has been

imprisoned for more than 50

years for the 1968 assassination

of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is

back in a California prison after

being attacked by another in-

mate and hospitalized.

State corrections department

spokesman Jeffrey Callison said

Sunday that a wounded inmate

was returned to the Richard J.

Donovan Correctional Facility

near San Diego on Saturday.

A person in the government

with knowledge of the matter

confirmed that Mr. Sirhan, 75

years old, was the victim.

—Associated Press

ILLINOIS

Lawsuit Settled in

Teen-Suicide Case

The case of a suburban Chi-

cago teenager who killed himself

after being confronted at his

high school about whether he

made a video of himself having

sex with a classmate raised un-

comfortable questions about

how aggressively school officials

should question children sus-

pected of wrongdoing and

whether they should wait until a

parent arrives.

A wrongful-death lawsuit

brought by the parents of 16-

year-old Corey Walgren that fo-

cused on those questions has

been resolved, with the city of

Naperville expected to approve a

settlement on Tuesday in which

it and the local school district

each agree to pay the Walgren

family $125,000.

Corey’s death on Jan. 11,

2017, three hours after a dean

and in-school police officer at

Naperville High School told the

honor-roll student he might face

child-pornography charges, also

prompted a change in Illinois

law.

As of August, a parent,

guardian, family lawyer or desig-

nated advocate must be present

before police can begin question-

ing students at school who are

younger than 18 and suspected

of crimes, unless they pose an

imminent threat.

—Associated Press

for the Nevada Gaming Con-

trol Board said.

Arkansas and Mississippi

have avoided mobile betting

altogether, instead allowing

sports betting only in casinos.

Mississippi projected the state

would receive about $5 million

from taxes on sports betting;

the first year brought in under

$4 million, said Allen Godfrey,

the Mississippi Gaming Com-

mission’s executive director.

Gamblers in the state can use

a mobile app while inside a ca-

sino.

Tennessee, which has no ca-

sinos, is expected to be the

first state to test an online-only

sports-betting system, though

it hasn’t set a start date.

A flurry of deals among

gambling companies for online

expansion have emerged in the

past year. Caesars Entertain-

ment Corp. signed a deal with

DraftKings giving the smaller

company access to Caesars

markets, including casinos in

13 states. DraftKings will pro-

mote Caesars as its official ca-

sino partner and give it equity,

according to the companies,

while Caesars can continue to

offer its own betting and on-

line casino apps.

MGM Resorts International

recently made public a part-

nership with Boyd Gaming

Corp. to expand mobile and

online gaming across the com-

bined 15 states where the two

companies are licensed.

The sports-betting business

offers operators slim mar-

gins—on average about 5% of

money wagered, before ex-

penses, according to Scott

Butera, MGM president of in-

teractive gambling. Even so,

the industry will continue to

grow over the next two years,

driven by mobile technology,

Mr. Butera said.

“It actually helps the casino

business quite a bit because

there’s a lot of crossover be-

tween table room players and

sports bettors,” he said. “It’s

not different from other busi-

nesses. To do any form of re-

tail well in this economy, you

have to have a really good mo-

bile presence and a really good

retail presence. They enhance

each other.”

CORRECTIONSAMPLIFICATIONS

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[email protected] by calling 888-410-2667.

Dominick Ruggerio countered
that without mobile betting,
wait times at physical loca-
tions could be prohibitive.
Last November, he said, before
Rhode Island began allowing
mobile betting, sports gam-
blers at the two casinos got
frustrated by long lines and
sometimes missed out on bets
while waiting.
“The line was out the door,
around the corner,” Mr. Rugge-
rio, a Democrat, said.
Supporters said mobile
sports betting is already
widely available in the form of
gray-market apps and offshore
websites, and states might as
well take control and tax the
activity. The American Gaming
Association has estimated the
value of illegal bets made
through neighborhood bookies
and offshore sites at $150 bil-
lion annually.
“This is a product that
wants to live online, where a
significant amount of its cus-
tomer base wants to interact
online, and it’s a product that
frankly makes more sense on-
line,” said Chris Grove, a man-
aging director with consulting
firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming.
Under the Supreme Court’s
ruling, each state can set up
its own betting system, but
bets across state lines aren’t
permitted. Mobile apps can
use a method known as
“geofencing” to keep betting
action within a state’s borders.
Twelve states currently al-
low sports betting of some
kind, with online or mobile
gambling in five of them: New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Iowa and Nevada.
Four states limit betting to
physical locations. (In the re-
maining three, laws permit on-
line betting but it hasn’t
launched yet.)
Measures to introduce
sports betting are at various
stages in numerous other
states, some with more politi-
cal support than others.
New Jersey sports bettors
wagered a total of $3.2 billion
in the first year, with $2.4 bil-
lion of that coming in through
mobile phones and computers,
according to state data.
The online market is domi-
nated by DraftKings Inc. and
FanDuel Inc.—rivals best
known for fantasy-sports of-
ferings that in some respects
resemble betting.
“This should grow our busi-

Continued from Page One

N.Y.) and roughed out an agree-

ment for a $2 trillion infra-

structure package, though the

source of the capital was still

up in the air.

A few weeks later, the deal

fell apart, when a second meet-

ing with Democratic leaders

ended abruptly after the presi-

dent said he wouldn’t work

with Democrats while the con-

gressional Russia investiga-

tions continue. Those probes

continue, and the White House

says Mr. Trump is still commit-

ted to getting an infrastructure

measure turned into law.

Mr. Barrasso said federal in-

vestment is necessary to give

states considering infrastruc-

ture projects enough certainty

to move forward.

In a nod to concerns about

effects of climate change on

infrastructure, the bill empha-

sizes the importance of build-

ing resilient infrastructure to

“reduce the magnitude and

duration of impacts of current

and future weather events and

natural disasters,” Mr. Bar-

rasso said.

In 2018, the pace of repair

on America’s bridges slowed to

the lowest point in five years,

according to the American

Road and Transportation Build-

ers Association.

It is hard to isolate infra-

structure as a contributor to

accidents from other causes,

but the number of public tran-

sit safety incidents on streets,

highways and bridges rose by

13% between 2015 and 2018,

and the amount of property

damage caused by those acci-

dents increased by almost 20%,

according to an analysis of the

National Transit Database. The

National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration in 2018

reported 36,750 traffic fatali-

ties on roads, or about 101

deaths a day, up from 97 a day

in 2015.

Delays in road improve-

U.S. NEWS

ments contribute to some of

those deaths, experts say.

“We’re jeopardizing public

safety and we’re falling behind

other countries,” said Tom

Smith, executive director for

the American Society of Civil

Engineers, which is a member-

ship and advocacy organiza-

tion. “We really need to in-

vest.”

While more cities and states

have taken on the task of im-

proving roads, they are often

squeezed by funding and fed-

eral compliance issues. The city

of Philadelphia, for instance,

has filled 231,920 potholes in

the five fiscal years ending in

2019, according to Chris Pu-

chalsky, director of policy and

strategic initiatives for Phila-

delphia’s Office of Infrastruc-

ture, Transportation and Sus-

tainability—about 127 a day.

“A lot of what the federal

funding does is allow us to do

street improvement and not

just maintenance in kind,” Mr.

Puchalsky said. That would in-

clude redesigning streets for

safety purposes or to reduce

congestion or improve transit.

Some argue the Senate bill

doesn’t go far enough, in terms

of maintaining existing infra-

structure and the climate pro-

visions. Mr. Puchalsky said he

wasn’t sure “this bill gets us all

the way there.”

Calling the Senate bill a

good start, Rep. Peter DeFazio

(D., Ore.), chairman of the

House Transportation and In-

frastructure Committee, said

there hasn’t been a proposed

funding mechanism. He is ex-

pected to propose his own ver-

sion of the bill in the House. He

has called for an increase in

the federal gasoline tax, which

pays for various infrastructure

projects and was last raised

nearly two decades ago.

As Congress returns for the
fall, President Trump and con-
gressional Democrats remain
stalemated over moving for-
ward on a large infrastructure
package that advocates and en-
gineers say is urgently needed.
Current infrastructure fund-
ing doesn’t run out for another
year, so the parties have some
time. The Senate may take ac-
tion this fall on the latest at-
tempt to pass an infrastructure
measure, but its fate remains
unclear as lawmakers struggle
to figure out how to pay for it.
The Senate Environment
and Public Works committee in
July unanimously approved a
bipartisan funding bill for $
billion for road projects, which
the American Society of Civil
Engineers says is a 27% in-
crease from current funding
levels but not to the level of a
large infrastructure package
Mr. Trump has promised.
“I have already met with Fi-
nance Committee Chairman
Chuck Grassley to discuss how
to fund the legislation,” said
committee Chairman Sen. John
Barrasso (R., Wyo.), who has
also been pressing Senate Ma-
jority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R., Ky.) to advance the mea-
sure. “I want it to pass the
Senate in 2019.”
On the 2016 campaign trail,
Mr. Trump called for a $1 tril-
lion investment in U.S. roads
and bridges, but his attempts
to deliver that package have hit
roadblocks. Mr. Trump’s plan
for $200 billion in federal
funds for infrastructure gained
no traction in Congress in

2018. Earlier this year, the
      president met with House
      Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Ca-
      lif.) and Senate Minority
      Leader Chuck Schumer (D.,

BYLIKHITHABUTCHIREDDYGARI

Infrastructure Bill Stalls on Funding

Not Staying in Vegas

The rise in online betting in New Jersey has cut into Nevada's dominance.

A state-by-state look at where sports betting is allowed or being considered.

Value of monthly sports bets Online and retail sports bets in

New Jersey, June 2019

Sources: American Gaming Association (state-by-state map); Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (monthly bets, N.J. handle split)

Legislation

being

considered

Allow single-

game sports

betting

Legislation

failed in 2019

No sports

betting bills

in 2019

Authorized,

but not yet

operational

Texas

Calif.

Mont.

Ariz.

Idaho

Colo.

Utah

Ore.

Wyo.

Ill.

Kan.

Neb. Iowa

S.D.

Fla.

Minn.

Okla.

N.D.

Wis.

Ala. Ga.

Mo.

Ark.

La.

N.Y.

Ind.

Tenn.

N.C.

Ky.

Mich.

Va.

Miss.

Ohio

S.C.

Vt. Maine

N.H.

Mass.

Wash.

Hawaii

Alaska

N.J.

Conn.

Md.

Del.

R.I.

D.C.

Nev.

N.M.

Pa.

W.Va.

$

0

100

200

300

400

500

million

July 2018 Oct. Jan. ’19 April

Nevada

New Jersey Online

83%

17%

Retail

ness many times over—not

double, not triple—this should

turn us four or five or 10

[times] the size we are now,

and those numbers depend on

which states and how quickly

those states adopt this,” Draft-

Kings Chief Executive Jason

Robins said in an interview.

Casino operators in Atlantic

City, N.J., have largely em-

braced sports betting, includ-

ing on mobile devices, as a

way to shore up revenue amid

competition from new casinos

sprouting up in the region.

Nevada doesn’t require ca-

sinos to break out mobile-bet-

ting revenue in their reports,

but regulators estimated that

last year about half of sports

bets were online, a spokesman

Online

Sports Bets

Are Rising

Online gamblers

account for 80% of

all legal wagers on

games in New Jersey.

Congressional Democrats and President Trump remain at odds over major infrastructure funding after

proposed deals have fallen apart. Construction of a bridge over the Santa Ana River in California.

WATCHARA PHOMICINDA/SCNG/ZUMA PRESS