Backyard Grill

How to play Backyard Grill

BGaming has released Johnny vs Chicken, a slot that pulls two recurring characters out of separate franchises and stages a head-to-head between them. The Johnny Cash character, from titles including Johnny Cash Train Heist and Johnny Cash Gold Rush, draws pistols with the lead sheriff from Chicken Rush.

The news here isn’t really about a single Wild West slot. It’s about how BGaming is treating its existing intellectual property. Rather than launching another standalone theme, the studio is connecting characters that already carry their own player recognition, a crossover approach more common to entertainment franchises than to slot catalogs.

The game arrived on September 15, 2026, and forms part of BGaming’s Entertainment line.

What is Backyard Grill?

Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) estimates that bettors will plunk down $40.5 billion on the NFL this season through regulated channels. Traditional sportsbooks are projected to capture $31.7 billion of that total, compared to a handle analog of $8.4 billion for prediction markets—a 79% to 21% split in favor of legacy operators.

Handle analog is a metric used as a cleaner comparison between sportsbooks and prediction markets because the latter’s volume doesn’t compare evenly with sportsbook handle.

Based on its projections, EKG sees the overall sports wagering industry growing 8% year-over-year, outpacing the current baseline growth rate of 5% (a figure that strips out temporary boosts from the 2026 World Cup).

What is Backyard Grill?

Japan has drawn on Singapore’s IR development model, which embodies a balancing act between ambitious economic visions and restrictive conditions. But Andrew Klebanow, principal of Klebanow Consulting, believes Japan’s IR regulations swerved “too far into crafting regulations and policies”. Klebanow specialises in hotel-casino market feasibility studies, strategic planning and facility planning recommendations.

“As the RFP process played out, regulators introduced additional policies and regulations. As each regulation was introduced, developers adjusted their gaming forecasting models downward. Finally, those models reached a tipping point where potential revenues were insufficient to justify a project’s capital costs,” says Klebanow.

Japan’s attempt to reap the economic benefits of casino gaming while keeping gambling socially contained is comparable to Asia’s dominant casino hubs Singapore and Macau.