As other investors bear-hug tech to drive growth, 84-year-old Barry Diller is trying to take over the rest of MGM Resorts in a multibillion-dollar wager that its business is one that AI can’t replace.

“While everyone was running into all sorts of ‘AI opportunities,’ I wanted to run the other way,” the studio executive-turned-digital-brand-builder-turned-publishing-magnate told Jessica Toonkel in an interview. “It wasn’t hard for me to find MGM, where no one is going to get in between those resorts and consumers until we get to the final simulation.”

The offer that Diller made Monday via his People Incorporated, formerly known as IAC, is a bet on real-world entertainment as well as the company’s BetMGM online casino business, he said.

But even gambling operators have some marketing to do.

• Economic headwinds have dampened tourism to Las Vegas, with visitors now bristling over higher starting bids at table games and increased prices for beverages and poolside cabanas. A “Welcome to Fabulous” ad campaign from the city’s casinos and convention centers last fall sparked a gripe session about costs. (Sample take: “The slogan should be ‘the best restaurants, the biggest hotels, the coolest clubs and concerts…and if you come Sunday - Thursday, it’s a decent deal.’”) Visitors last year fell 7.5% from 2024.
• The legacy casino industry is also under pressure from digital competitors like DraftKings and FanDuel. Online gambling itself is under scrutiny, however, for its effect on young people. Two senators just introduced bipartisan legislation that would ban digital gambling ads targeting people under 18. In the U.K., the Premier League’s ban on gambling ads on the front of players’ jerseys takes effect this summer. 
• And of course prediction markets are crowding in on sports-betting turf. FanDuel remains an Official Sports Betting Partner of Major League Baseball under a deal announced in 2023, for example, but Polymarket this year became the league’s Official Prediction Market.

The NRA Foundation, the charitable arm of the National Rifle Association, is declaring independence from the more famous political wing and rebranding itself as the 1791 Foundation, Zusha Elinson reports for The Wall Street Journal.

The NRA has been hammered by scandals over the past decade as well as the rise of rival gun groups with big social-media followings.

The foundation for its part was sued in 2020 by the District of Columbia attorney general, who alleged that it allowed NRA leaders to use it as a piggy bank. The foundation settled the case in 2024, agreeing to independent oversight, audits and compliance training.

The NRA itself sued the NRA Foundation in January, alleging that a “disgruntled faction of former NRA directors” had seized control of the charity, positioned it as a direct competitor and misused some $160 million in funds.

“The reasons we’re doing this are because we wanted to refresh, we wanted to restart,” said Tom King, president of the 1791 Foundation’s board. “We have absolutely no ulterior motives.”

The new name is a nod to the year that the Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment, was ratified.

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