Betting News – Page 14 – FairOdds Network

February 27, 2025

Hawaii senate committee defers digital betting bill as legalisation hopes fade

A Hawaii senate committee deferred a version of a digital sports betting bill that was sent to the house floor, leaving the issue all but dead.

Up until Wednesday (26 February) afternoon, Hawaii looked like the state with the best shot to legalise digital sports betting in 2025. But the senate commerce and consumer protection/ways and means committee opted instead to defer the bill.

Its companion, HB 1308, got through the house finance committee two days earlier. But without a taste for the issue in the senate, any further action by the house will likely be academic.

SB 1569 did not get any discussion on Wednesday. “After reviewing the testimony, the recommendation is to defer,” said Donovan M Dela Cruz, the chairman of the senate committee.

Written testimony revealed that multiple state government agencies oppose the measure, including the department of the prosecuting attorney; the department of business, economic development and tourism; and the attorney general. All cited co..

February 27, 2025

Arizona sets new sports betting handle and revenue records in November

Arizona reported a record sports betting handle for the second consecutive month during November 2024, while the Grand Canyon State also saw revenue reach an all-time high.

Spending on sports betting in November hit $897.6 million (£708.2 million/€856.6 million). This beat October’s prior record of $759.8 million by 18.1% and was also 25.8% ahead of the previous year in Arizona.

Data from the Arizona Department of Gaming shows online spending amounted to $890 million, while retail wagers topped $7.6 million.

Consumer winnings across online and retail totalled $811.3 million. As such, adjusted gross event wagering receipts hit an all-time high of $84.1 million. This beat the previous record, set in September 2024, by 8.7% and was almost double November 2023’s total.

Online betting drew $83.3 million of all adjusted gross event wagering receipts during the month. In contrast, retail sports betting generated just $773,634.

Free bets in November amounted to $26.6 million, meaning adju..

February 26, 2025

Gambling tax increases are all the rage, with New Jersey the latest to consider it

New Jersey governor Phil Murphy has plans to spend $58.1 billion this year and he wants to finance some of that by raising sports betting and igaming taxes among other levies.

The proposal, which Murphy shared on Tuesday (25 February), is the latest gambling and sports betting tax increase proposed in the US in the last year. It feels somewhat ironic, in that Murphy’s name is on the lawsuit that overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018. Since then, 38 states have launched some form of sports betting (Missouri is also set to launch later this year), with two of those hiking their original sports betting tax rates.

Murphy proposes hiking both the sports betting and igaming tax rates to 25%, up from 13% and 15%, respectively.

“This tax increase would be a wrong turn for New Jersey,” industry lobbyist Jeremy Kudon countered in a statement on behalf of the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA). “Since New Jersey first launched regulated sports betting seven..

February 26, 2025

Caesars slips to FY24 net loss, remains confident about digital EBITDA target

Caesars Entertainment reported a net loss during its 2024 financial year after a drop in group revenue, but the gambling giant remains confident of long-term earnings goals for its digital arm after the division reported further growth.

Group revenue for the 12 months through to 31 December 2024 topped $11.2 billion (£8.89 billion/€10.71 billion). This is 2.5% lower than the previous year, according to data published yesterday (25 February) by Caesars.

Caesars attributed this primarily to its Las Vegas and regional segments, with both divisions seeing declines in 2024. Managed and branded revenue was also down, although there was some positive news from the digital segment.

Revenue from the digital business, which comprises igaming and online sports betting, was up 19.5%. This continues an upward trend seen in recent years, but the trajectory was not as high as seen in 2023 (77.6%).

Caesars: Digital EBITDA to reach $500 million in 2025

While digital growth may not have been quite ..

February 26, 2025

PointsBet board approves MIXI acquisition bid amid rival offer from BlueBet

PointsBet has approved a takeover bid from MIXI Australia via a scheme arrangement which will transfer 100% of PointsBet's shareholding to the Australian arm of Japanese digital entertainment and sports group, MIXI Inc.

If the deal is approved PointsBet shareholders will receive cash consideration of $1.06 per share as part of the deal, which represents a significant premium of 27.7% to PointsBet’s closing price on 25 February. This amounts to around AU$353 million.

This amount also equates to an EV/EBITDA multiple of 25.2x – 32.1x based on PointsBet’s FY25 EBITDA guidance range.

The deal has been unanimously recommended by the board, as published in its half-year financial earnings report on 25 February.

A vote to approve the deal will occur in late May, and the ‘scheme’ is expected to pass and be implemented in mid-June.

MIXI’s Japanese parent company operates a number of sports and digital gaming business arms, including the FC Tokyo football team, horse racing betting..

February 25, 2025

Nevada’s Titus is latest to push back on prediction market wave

Longtime Nevada representative Dina Titus has become the latest official to reach out to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding tougher enforcement against prediction markets.

Nevada’s Dina Titus is in her seventh two-year term as an elected official in the house of representatives. As such, she has experience with following proper processes and protocols to get things done.

And in a letter sent last Friday (21 February) to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) acting chairwoman Caroline D Pham, Representative Titus took issue with prediction market operators offering a form of sports betting without going through all the proper processes and protocols.

“This year, platforms have started to offer contracts on sporting events,” Titus wrote about midway through her two-page letter, a copy of which she posted on social media. She was referring to the likes of Kalshi, Crypto.com, Robinhood and others. The platforms permit users to risk money, in a stock market-..

February 25, 2025

Faced with a huge budget deficit, Hong Kong may legalise basketball bets

Hong Kong bettors already wager a huge amount on basketball with illegal sportsbooks. The Chinese SAR is reportedly considering legalising the bets to help plug a budget shortfall.

An “insider” last week told the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong’s 2024-25 budget, to be released tomorrow (26 February), may include a plan for legal wagers on basketball.

Support for legal hoops betting in Hong Kong is apparently on the rise as a way to generate tax revenue and also stamp out black-market operations.

The move would help the Chinese special administrative region (SAR) address a whopping budget deficit of more than HK$100 billion (£101.6 million/€122.5 million/$128.6 million) for the year. That’s more than twice the figure projected at the start of 2024.

PwC Hong Kong reports that the SAR government will have fiscal reserves of HK$639.8 billion at the end of March, enough to cover just 10 months of total government expenditures.

Reaping new revenue

Hong Kong bettors can alread..

February 25, 2025

Michigan igaming momentum continues in new year

Record monthly online gambling revenues lifted Michigan’s combined gross igaming and sports betting receipts to $331.2 million (£262.5m/€316.4m) in January.

The total figure, comprising igaming receipts of $248.2 million and sports betting revenue of $83 million, was up 25.4% over December’s total.

January’s record online gambling figure surpassed the previous record of $244 million set in December. Adjusted monthly igaming gross receipts of $233.1 million represented a year-on-year increase of 42%.

Online gambling growth

Last month, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) reported that igaming revenue reached an all-time high of $2.9 billion in 2024.

The momentum appears to be continuing in the new year, with the market’s three biggest players increasing their monthly receipts.

BetMGM and MGM Grand Detroit, which generated market-leading igaming receipts of $640.1 million in 2024, remained at the top with $66.5 million in January. This figure was up from $65.1 million in Decemb..

February 25, 2025

Hawaii digital sports betting bill heads to house floor

Hawaii's house finance committee moved a legal online sports betting bill forward on Monday (24 February). A companion bill is set for a hearing on Wednesday.

An amended version of HB 1308 received committee approval, but at least six members voted “with reservations”. Finance was the third and final Hawaii house committee to pass the bill, which now moves to the house floor. A companion bill, SB 1569, is set to be heard in the senate ways and means committee on Wednesday.

Just ahead of Monday’s vote, chairman Kyle Yamashita offered amendments to make passage more palatable. He suggested removing the tax rate – originally set for 10% – and the licensing fee pending further review. There was much discussion during the hearing about how many tax dollars the state stands to gain.

In addition, representative Sue L Keohokapu-Lee Loy said the $250,000 (£197,761/€238,712) licence fee “appears rather low for an industry that makes billions of dollars. I would love to see that licenc..