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NFL-themed slot machines will be appearing on casino floors beginning September.
It marks the first time the NFL has done a casino licensing deal.
Aristocrat CEO Hector Fernandez believes it will help attract a new generation to slot machines.

Aristocrat Gaming unveiled Thursday new NFL-themed slot machines slated to appear on casino floors when football season kicks off in September.
It’s symbolic of a major reversal for the National Football League, from its vehement opposition to legalized sports betting prior to the 2018 Supreme Court decision, which paved the way for states to adopt sports wagering, to partnering with the American Gaming Association on responsible gambling initiatives.

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Now, its highly sought-after license will appear on casino slot machines nationwide, designed and manufactured by Aristocrat.
“The unveiling of the first NFL-themed slot machines represents an opportunity to bring the League closer to our fans in a new area,” said Joe Ruggiero, senior vice president of consumer products at the NFL.
Aristocrat Gaming first announced the multiyear agreement in 2021.

Aristocrat unveils the first look of its NFL-themed slot machines that will begin appearing on casino floors in September.
Source: Aristocrat Gaming

“I truly believe that this could be an industry changing event for for slot machines and for casinos themselves … pushing the boundaries, driving innovation to something that really has never been done before,” Aristocrat Gaming CEO Hector Fernandez told CNBC.
Part of the innovation challenge was to create a gaming opportunity that appeals to fans of different NFL teams, 40% of whom are what Aristocrat calls “displaced fans,” or those who don’t live in the city they root for.

The Aristocrat games will have customizable skins. Players can choose their favorite team, which will then load relevant imagery, videos of key game moments and even stadium anthems.

Aristocrat unveils the first look of its NFL-themed slot machines that will begin appearing on casino floors in September.
Source: Aristocrat Gaming

Fernandez believes the NFL-branded slot machines will encourage younger men to give slots a spin, where previously, slot machines have traditionally been the domain of older women.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, casinos began drawing a younger crowd, eager for entertainment options. Young adults, especially men, may be visiting casino sportsbooks more often as sports betting proliferates across the nation.
Fernandez was quick to highlight the strategy around responsible gaming initiatives, developed in partnership with the NFL, which will launch alongside the new slot machines.
The NFL has made a public commitment to responsible gaming and integrity but has struggled this year with players and other team staff breaking its rules about who can engage in sports gambling and where and when it can take place.
On Monday, the league confirmed that Eyioma Uwazurike of the Denver Broncos has been suspended indefinitely for betting on NFL games during the 2022 season. Uwazurike marks the 10th player this year to be suspended for violations of the league’s sports betting policy. More

MOTORING’S SOUNDTRACK use to be generated by the petrol engine and car radio. Near-silent battery power and snazzy infotainment systems have provided an aural void—and a high-tech way to fill it. Carmakers are giving their electric vehicles’ occupants, and anyone within earshot, an alternative set of sounds to enliven the journey.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

IN THE EARLY 1980s AT&T Corporation, then America’s telecoms monopoly, was the darling of Wall Street. As big tech of the day, it was the mightiest company in the S&P 500, accounting for 5.5% of the blue-chip index’s total market value. Today its largest descendants, AT&T and Verizon, can only dream of their parent’s former glory. The two companies make up less than 0.7% of the index—and falling. Their combined market capitalisation of $250bn is roughly half what it was at the start of 2020; the S&P 500 is up by more than two-fifths since then (see chart). Factors beyond the undynamic duo’s control, such as rising interest rates or the recent discovery of a network of old lead-sheathed telephone cables, which injected uncertainty over their potential liability for the toxic assets, are partly to blame. Yet much of AT&T’s and Verizon’s malaise is of their own making. The two telecoms incumbents are finding just how difficult it is to be a mature firm in a saturated market, especially if you also have a mountain of debt to manage. Their core business of selling mobile and broadband subscriptions is stagnating. On July 25th Verizon said that these revenues grew by less than 1% in the second quarter, year on year. The next day AT&T announced that its equivalent figure rose by just 2.4%. What has long been a cosy industry is turning more competitive. A merger in 2020 between T-Mobile and Sprint created a 5G powerhouse that is offering equally fast mobile connections at lower prices. And on July 26th DISH Network, a satellite-TV firm, unveiled a partnership with one of today’s tech titans, Amazon, to provide mobile services for $25 a month to members of Amazon’s Prime loyalty scheme.Previous big bets have backfired. AT&T’s disastrous $200bn foray into media, including the purchase of Time Warner and DirecTV, has been unwound. But its effects on morale and on the balance-sheet, weighed down by net debt of more than $130bn, continue to be felt. Verizon has been less spendthrift, though it still splurged $53bn in 2021 on 5G spectrum—an investment which was deemed necessary at the time to compete with T-Mobile but which has yet to produce a return, as early hype over 5G has dissipated. Its effort to build a wholesale business, by allowing cable providers such as Comcast and Charter to piggyback on its networks, created new competitors, which are offering bundles of internet and TV at a steep discount.That leaves the two incumbents with few options. One is to protect margins. Both Verizon and AT&T are touting their premium plans. On July 24th Verizon raised the price of its wireless home broadband by $10, to $35 a month. Both companies are also cutting costs, including by shutting down retail outlets, which helped each trim operating expenses by 2.5% in the first half of 2023, year on year. A more radical move would be to follow some European peers, such as TIM in Italy, and spin off their fixed networks. This would raise capital, lower fixed costs and allow management to focus on faster-growing segments such as wireless broadband. Such a deal would, though, be at odds with the industry’s trend towards convergence, whereby cable companies are becoming more like telecom providers, and vice versa, in a battle for consumers. Offering both home and mobile connections, especially in a bundle, makes consumers stickier, reduces churn and increases long-term profitability. That at least is the thinking. To investors, it seems increasingly wishful. ■To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the Bottom Line, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter. More

Power is a fact of corporate life. It also affects behaviour. Research suggests power makes people less likely to take the advice of others, even if those others are experts in their fields. It makes them more likely to gratify their physical needs. In a test conducted by Ana Guinote of University College London, powerful people were likelier than less powerful folk to choose tempting food, like chocolate, and ignore worthier snacks like radishes. In conversations, the powerful are bewitched by themselves: they rate their own stories as more inspiring than interlocutors’. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Eli Lilly’s experimental drug helped patients lose about 26% of their weight on average following extended use or intensive lifestyle changes, according to results from two late-stage studies.
The injection, tirzepatide, helped patients achieve the highest reduction seen in a phase three clinical trial to date.
The data further bolsters Eli Lilly’s position in the budding weight loss drug market and establishes the company as a formidable competitor to Novo Nordisk

The Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of the company’s offices in San Diego, California, September 17, 2020.
Mike Blake | Reuters

An Eli Lilly experimental drug helped patients lose about 26% of their weight on average following extended use or intensive lifestyle changes, according to results from two studies released Thursday.
It’s the highest weight reduction seen in a late-stage clinical trial to date, the company said. The injectable drug, tirzepatide, alone resulted in up to 22.5% weight loss in a previous phase three trial.

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The data further bolsters Eli Lilly’s position in the budding weight loss drug market and establishes the company as a formidable competitor to Novo Nordisk, the Danish manufacturer of the blockbuster Ozempic and Wegovy treatments. 
Eli Lilly last month filed for Food and Drug Administration approval of the injection for chronic weight management. Tirzepatide is already approved in the U.S. and sold under the name Mounjaro for the treatment of diabetes. 
Both trials followed adults who were obese or overweight with weight-related conditions, but excluded those with Type 2 diabetes. 

Trial results

One trial, called Surmount-4, evaluated more than 600 people over two periods. 
Patients took tirzepatide for 36 weeks and achieved 21.1% weight loss on average. The patients were then randomized to either continue taking the injection or switch to a placebo for an additional 52-week period.  

Those who continued tirzepatide lost an additional 6.7% of their body weight on average after 52 weeks. Patients who switched to a placebo regained 14.8% of their weight on average over the same time period. 
Overall, patients who stayed on the drug lost 26% of their weight on average after 88 weeks.
The findings of the trial “reinforce that obesity should be regarded like other chronic diseases where chronic therapy may be needed to maintain treatment benefits,” Dr. Jeff Emmick, Eli Lilly’s senior vice president of product development, said in a statement.

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Another trial, called Surmount-3, evaluated tirzepatide in more than 500 patients who first engaged in “intensive lifestyle interventions” for 12 weeks. That included a low-calorie diet, exercise and weekly counseling sessions. 
Patients lost 6.9% of their weight on average after those 12 weeks. The patients were then randomized to either start taking tirzepatide or a placebo for 72 weeks. 
Those who took tirzepatide lost an additional 21.1% of their weight on average, while patients in the placebo group gained back 3.3% of their weight on average. 
In total, patients who engaged in drastic lifestyle changes for 12 weeks and took tirzepatide for 72 weeks achieved 26.6% weight loss on average. 
The findings from the trial “challenge the notion that patients living with obesity or overweight can achieve their weight loss goals with diet and exercise alone,” according to Emmick.
The overall safety of the tirzepatide was similar to that observed in previous studies. The most common adverse events in both trials were gastrointestinal related and generally mild to moderate in severity.
The results follow groundbreaking data released last month on a different Eli Lilly drug called retatrutide. The experimental obesity drug helped patients lose around 24% of their weight, setting a new bar for weight loss in mid-stage clinical trials.

Weight loss craze

Like Ozempic and Wegovy, Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide is a weekly injection that changes the way patients eat and leads to decreased appetite by mimicking certain hormones in the gut.
But Wegovy only mimics one hunger-regulating hormone called GLP-1, while tirzepatide mimics GLP-1 and another hormone called GIP.
Eli Lilly earlier this month registered a new clinical trial that will pit tirzepatide against Wegovy in 700 patients who have obesity or are overweight with weight-related health conditions. The company expects to complete the study in 2025.

A selection of injector pens for the Wegovy weight loss drug are shown in this photo illustration in Chicago, Illinois, March 31, 2023.
Jim Vondruska | Reuters

The drugs were catapulted to the national spotlight in recent years for the dramatic level of weight loss they can help people achieve. 
Social media influencers, Hollywood celebrities and even billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk have reportedly used the popular injections to get rid of unwanted weight. 
But experts say the medicines may further perpetuate a dangerous diet culture that idealizes weight loss and thinness.
More than 2 in 5 adults have obesity, according to the National Institutes of Health. 
About 1 in 11 adults have severe obesity. More

Southwest Airlines reported a drop in unit revenue and higher costs for the three months ended June 30.
The airline said the trends are likely to continue this quarter.
Southwest plans to revamp its 2024 schedule to reflect a slower recovery in business travel compared with leisure.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 aircraft as seen landing at dusk time at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport DCA in Arlington County, Virginia over the Potomac River in the United States of America flying over water and buildings. 
Nicolas Economou | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Southwest Airlines shares slid more than 6% in premarket trading Thursday after the airline reported lower unit revenue and higher costs during the second quarter — and said the trends are likely to continue this quarter.
The Dallas-based airline’s second-quarter unit revenue dropped 8.3% from a year earlier, Southwest said, citing a policy change last summer that removed expiration dates from pandemic travel credits.

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The carrier said it expects unit revenue to fall as much as 7% during the third quarter on capacity up 12% from a year earlier. It blamed “challenging comparisons from the pent-up travel demand surge in 2022, and higher than seasonally-normal growth.”
Airlines have enjoyed record revenue in recent months, but airfare in the U.S. has dropped from 2022, according to the latest inflation read.
Southwest said it is “revamping” 2024 schedules to reflect changing customer demand as business-travel revenue recovers but lags pre-pandemic levels.
“We are working to align our network, fleet plans, and staffing to better reflect the current business environment,” CEO Bob Jordan said in an earnings release.

Jordan told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau on Thursday that the revamp could mean bigger drops in capacity than usual on Mondays and Tuesdays, when business travel demand would normally pick up. The airline also plans to cut some short-haul flights in favor of longer-haul ones as well as reduce very early and very late departures.

Here’s how Southwest performed in the second quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations according to Refinitiv consensus estimates:

Adjusted earnings per share: $1.09 vs. an expected $1.10
Total revenue: $7.04 billion vs. an expected $6.98 billion

The airline’s net income fell to $683 million, or $1.08 a share, down 10% from $760 million, or $1.20 per share, during the second quarter of 2022.
Revenue came in at a record $7.04 billion for the three months ended June 30, ahead of analyst expectations and up 4.6% from the same quarter last year.
Meanwhile, operating expenses rose more than 12% from a year earlier. Stripping out fuel, expenses were up 7.5%, at the higher end of the company’s previous cost guidance due in part to planned wage increases tied to open labor agreements.
Southwest executives will hold an analyst and media call at 12:30 ET, when they’re expected to face questions about growth plans and progress on improving technology to avoid a repeat of the holiday meltdown. They are also likely to provide an update on what has been difficult labor talks with pilots. More

Comcast’s second-quarter earnings topped analyst expectations.
A slowdown in the broadband business continued, although it was offset by higher pricing.
Peacock subscribers reached 24 million, but losses continued to mount from the fledgling streaming platform.

The Comcast NBCUniversal building in Universal City, California, on May 2, 2023.
Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images

Comcast beat analyst estimates on Thursday when it reported its second-quarter results, as higher pricing helped offset a continued slowdown in its broadband business.
The company also said the number of subscribers for its streaming service, Peacock, nearly doubled to 24 million compared with the prior-year period, with revenue up 85% to $820 million. Still, losses from the streaming platform continued to weigh on NBCUniversal’s media business.

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Comcast shares were up about 3% in pre-market trading.
Here’s how Comcast performed, compared with estimates from analysts surveyed by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $1.13 adjusted vs. 97 cents estimated

Revenue: $30.51 billion vs. $30.13 billion estimated

For the quarter ended June 30, Comcast reported earnings of $4.25 billion, or $1.02 per share, compared with $3.4 billion, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, Comcast posted earnings of $1.13 per share for the most recent period.
This marked Comcast’s biggest earnings beat in the last two years.
Earlier this year Comcast changed how it reported its segments. The company now groups its Xfinity-branded broadband, cable TV and wireless services with its U.K.-based Sky. Total revenue for the segment was $20.36 billion, relatively flat compared with the same period last year.

The company lost 19,000 domestic broadband subscribers during the period. It had more than 32.3 million total broadband customers at the end of the quarter.
Last quarter, Comcast executives warned that adding broadband customers would remain a challenge in the near term, and would instead focus on average revenue per user to grow revenue for the business. Higher average rates helped to offset second-quarter subscriber losses, leading to broadband revenue growth of 4.4%.
The broadband business looked to be stabilizing, as it was expected Comcast with lose more than 70,000 customers this quarter, Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall said in a Thursday note.
Comcast and its peers have experienced slowing growth in the broadband segment following quarters of robust gains during the early days of the Covid pandemic. Executives have pointed to heightened competition from telecom and wireless providers, as well as a lower rate of Americans moving between homes, as reasons for stagnating growth.
The Xfinity mobile business continued its momentum, and grew to nearly 6 million customers during the quarter.
Despite the strong quarter, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said on Thursday’s earnings call the company is “very clear eyed about the challenges we and our competitors face.” He noted cord cutting, the recent Hollywood writers and actors strikes, and the uncertain macro economic environment.
Comcast continued to bleed traditional cable TV customers, losing 543,000 subscribers during the quarter. The company had less than 15 million total domestic cable TV customers as of June 30.
Cord cutting, although not a new trend, has accelerated in recent quarters as consumers shift more to streaming. In recent weeks, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company was reconsidering whether its cable TV networks were still a so-called core business, and indicated Disney would be open to selling the channels.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal also owns a portfolio of cable TV channels, including USA Network and Bravo. Much of the content on Peacock, including live sports like Premier League soccer, as well as next-day airings of TV shows, comes from these networks.
While Peacock subscribers and revenue were up, losses related to the fledgling streaming platform still weighed on the media unit. Adjusted losses from Peacock were $651 million, widening from an adjusted loss of $467 million in the same period last year.
The company noted in prior months that Peacock losses would amount to roughly $3 billion this year.
CFO Jason Armstrong said Thursday the company was “bullish on further increasing the Peacock subscriber base,” as more Xfinity customers transition to paid accounts and a strong slate of programming in the second half of the year, including the premiere on Aug. 3 of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” and “Sunday Night Football” in the fall.
Peacock added two million customers during the quarter, largely driven by Comcast Xfinity subscribers that began paying for subscriptions in June following nearly three years of free access.
NBCUniversal is grouped under Comcast’s second segment — content and experiences — which includes all of the TV and streaming business, the international networks and Sky Sports, along with its film studios and theme parks. The segment notched $10.87 billion in overall revenue, up 4% compared with last year’s quarter.
Revenue for the media business was $6.2 billion, relatively flat compared with the same period last year.
The soft advertising market continued to rear its head, with domestic advertising revenue down roughly 5% to $2.03 billion. The drop in domestic advertising was largely due to lower revenue at NBCUniversal’s TV networks, which was partially offset by the leap in Peacock revenue.
NBCUniversal said it recently wrapped up its upfronts discussions – the industry’s annual pitch to advertisers for the upcoming TV season – with total cash commitments roughly in line with last year, its highest upfronts to date. The company reportedly had $7 billion in upfront commitments in 2022.
Revenue for the film studios business was down about 1% to $3.09 billion compared with the same period last year, despite a spike in theatrical revenue tied to the box-office hits “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Fast X.”
Comcast boasted that it was the second in box office earnings so far this year. Cavanagh noted the recent release of critically acclaimed “Oppenheimer,” which grossed more than $82 million in its opening weekend.
NBCUniversal’s theme parks segment continued to ride high since the shutdowns and restrictions during earlier part of the pandemic, with revenue up 22% to $2.21 billion for the period.
The main driver was the opening of Super Nintendo World at Universal’s Hollywood park, along with growth at parks in Beijing and Japan. Its Orlando, Florida, operations, however, posted lower revenue. Disney’s Orlando theme parks have recently experienced a slowdown in traffic amid ticket price increases.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. More

McDonald’s beat Wall Street’s estimates for its second-quarter earnings and revenue.
The chain’s Grimace Birthday Meal helped drive customers to U.S. restaurants.
McDonald’s same-store sales grew 11.7% in the quarter.

In an aerial view, a sign is posted in front of a McDonald’s restaurant on April 03, 2023 in San Pablo, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

McDonald’s on Thursday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations as its China sales rebound and mascot Grimace drives U.S. visits.
“This quarter, if I’m being honest, the theme was Grimace,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the company’s conference call.

Shares of the company rose more than 1% in premarket trading.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $3.17 adjusted vs. $2.79 expected
Revenue: $6.5 billion vs. $6.27 billion expected

The fast-food giant reported second-quarter net income of $2.31 billion, or $3.15 per share, up from $1.19 billion, or $1.60 per share, a year earlier.
The company spent $18 million during the quarter on its corporate restructuring, which included layoffs and buyouts for some employees in April.
Excluding those charges and other items, McDonald’s earned $3.17 per share.

Net sales rose 14% to $6.5 billion.
The company’s global same-store sales climbed 11.7%, topping StreetAccount estimates of 9.2%. All three of McDonald’s divisions reported double-digit growth for same-store sales.
In the U.S., its largest market, same-store sales climbed 10.3%. McDonald’s also reported that visits to its U.S. locations grew for the fourth consecutive quarter.
The company attributed some of those visits to its marketing efforts, like its Grimace Birthday Meal, released in the last weeks of the quarter. The meal combo, which included a photo-friendly purple milkshake, went viral on social media, fueled by nostalgia for the McDonaldland character.
McDonald’s international operated markets reported same-store sales growth of 11.9%. The company said the United Kingdom and Germany drove the division’s strong performance.
McDonald’s international developmental licensed markets saw 14% same-store sales growth, fueled by higher demand in China, where the economy is still bouncing back from prolonged Covid lockdowns.
The company’s new business ventures team is also in the process of launching a spinoff brand called CosMc’s, Kempczinski said. The new brand will be a small-format restaurant with “all the DNA of McDonald’s but its own unique personality.”
The company plans to share more on the venture at its investor day in December.
Read the full earnings report here. More