Lucky Monkey

What is Lucky Monkey?

Through July, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reported that visitor volume has rebounded only 0.5%. 2026 followed a difficult 2025, where visitation crashed 7.5%.

Far fewer travelers are arriving in the casino town by air this year. Harry Reid International Airport reported 30.2 million passengers through July—a 6.9% drop from the same period in 2025—with international traffic down nearly 9%.

The LVCVA and Harry Reid International Airport have not yet released their August reports. Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas isn’t expecting a major rally.

About Lucky Monkey

Earlier this year, the Powerball game launched in the UK, allowing Brits to play for the same uncapped jackpot as their American peers. A few weeks ago, on the other hand, the first Match 5 win in the UK happened. This has now happened again, as Powerball reported another seven-figure payout in the county.

The Monday Powerball drawing had players competing for a jackpot of $314 million with a cash value of $133.8 million. In order to win, players had to correctly match all six winning numbers. The white winning numbers for the September 21 drawing were 2, 7, 9, 17, and 58. The red Powerball, on the other hand, was 20, while the Power Play multiplier stood at 2x.

Unfortunately, a jackpot win did not occur, although the game continued to award smaller prizes to players across the US and UK. As mentioned, a second Match 5 win happened in the UK, where a lucky player succeeded in matching all five winning numbers to redeem a $1 million payout. The drawing did not have a Match 5 + Power Play win of $2 million.

How to play Lucky Monkey

As had been expected, the conclusion of the NFL season, which found the Tampa Bay Buccaneers handing the Kansas City Chiefs an embarrassing defeat, opened the doors for an increase in wagers in other sports. Football had dominated the charts since last September, but it’s now time for basketball to take the lead. On Bodog, NBA and NCAA Men’s Basketball are now the overwhelming go-to options for sports gamblers. 

This past weekend, college hoops wagers topped the charts on Bodog, garnering 36.88% of the action. That was about 2.5% better than what the NCAA received, and substantially more than that of the third-place NHL, which only picked up 10.17%. After that, the UFC/MMA made an appearance with 4.15% before different soccer leagues captured four of the remaining top-ten spots. The Premier League was the best, with 3.34%, but tennis and golf snuck in next. The Australian Open Men’s Singles picked up 3.21% and the Genesis Invitational grabbed 2.47%. Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A rounded out the top-ten list, with Germany and Spain sharing 2.02% each and Italy getting 1.44% of the wagers.

Despite taking the top spot on the charts on Bodog this past weekend, NCAA games didn’t prove overly enticing to gamblers. The NBA captured almost all of the top-ten most-wagered events, with only one NCAA game making it to the list. Sports gamblers liked betting on the LA Clippers a lot, as the team’s games against the Utah Jazz and the Brooklyn Nets picked up 13.85% and 11.51%, respectively. In a surprise victory, the Clippers beat the Jazz on Friday, but couldn’t keep the run going and lost to the Nets on Sunday.