Betting News – Page 20 – FairOdds Network

January 8, 2025

India GST enforcement agency given blocking powers for tax-avoiding gaming sites

The ministry of finance in India has granted new powers to the directorate general of GST Intelligence (DGGI) to begin blocking online gaming websites and mobile applications that are illegally avoiding goods and services tax (GST) in the country.

Confirmed this week in the Gazette of India, the new regulation – SO 95(E) – is effective immediately. The ministry said this intends to address fraudulent activities under both the Information Technology Act 2000 and GST Act 2017.

The DGGI is an agency tasked with mitigating tax evasion on behalf of the GST Council which enforces the tax requirement.

Online real money gaming companies operating in India are required to pay a 28% turnover tax for skill games. This was first enforced in October 2023 and was reiterated on 10 September last year, following a performance review of the tax measure.

Operators must be registered under the Simplified Registration Scheme of the IGST Act and appoint a person based in India to pay their GST contri..

January 8, 2025

Sportsbook+ could be DraftKings’ tax saviour. But in the era of subscriptions, will consumers add one more?

On 28 December, DraftKings quietly launched a new subscription service, dubbed DraftKings Sportsbook+, for select customers located in New York. The new service, which allows for odds boosts on parlays, is the first of its kind – and it could be the company's tax saviour. But will bettors actually subscribe?

Essentially, Sportsbook+ allows subscribers to get better odds on parlays. Each applicable parlay must be at least two legs and each leg must have odds of -500 or narrower. For each leg added to the parlay, the odds would be improved by 10%. In other words, a two-leg parlay would be boosted 10%, a three-leg bet would be boosted 20% and so on. Parlays with 11 or more legs would be boosted by 100%, or double the original payout. The maximum applicable bet is $25.

The news of the launch was first reported by Sportico on 3 January.

DraftKings said the service would be available to “select, eligible customers” in New York, but didn’t elaborate on specific criteria. The fact t..

January 7, 2025

What will it take to return UK retail betting to growth?

UK retail betting is in decline. Can the sector take inspiration from a high street betting stalwart and Serbia’s thriving social scene to turn the channel’s luck around?

UK retail betting continued its slow long-term decline in Q3 2024 with the channel’s gross gambling yield (GGY) falling 1% to £533 million in the UK, according to UK Gambling Commission data. Entain reported a drop of 2% in retail betting revenue in the market, while Evoke observed a 9% fall in revenue across its international retail portfolio.

Meanwhile online gambling is surging in popularity due to ease of access and improving technology. The Gambling Commission reported an overall Q3 GGY of £1.32 billion (€1.6 billion/$1.7 billion), with online real event betting GGY rising by 6% year-on-year to £453 million.

In its Q3 results, Evoke said it had hired a new retail managing director in September who had identified and actioned a series of measures to improve trading in the short term. This included the rollout ..

January 6, 2025

Maryland, Virginia lawmakers to consider online casino legalisation

State legislatures across the US will consider legalising online casino in 2025, including Maryland and Virginia, where bills have been filed.

Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary, chair of the Maryland house ways and means committee, will again try to move an online casino bill in Maryland. HB 17 would allow for igaming regulated by the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Commission (MSLGCC). It was pre-filed in December and it will officially be filed on 8 January, when the legislative session opens.

The bill is similar to one she filed last year that passed the house but didn’t get to the senate floor. Concerns about how digital gambling would cannibalise retail casinos became a sticking point. A senate bill suffered the same fate.

Atterbeary’s latest version would allow for existing video lottery operators and sports betting facilities to apply for icasino licences. The MSLGCC would also be able to issue five licences for applicants who “meet the requirements for an internet gamin..

January 6, 2025

Weekend Report: SL Green CEO set for Times Square casino bonus, computer game addiction links to gambling warning

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB looks at the news that you may have missed across Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This week: SL Green CEO £10 million bonus hinges on Times Square casino, expert warns computer game addiction drives teens to gambling and OBE for GambleAware CEO.

SL Green CEO set for £10 million Times Square casino bonus

Up first, Marc Holliday, the CEO of the real estate investment trust, will receive a $10 million (£8 million/€9.7 million) bonus if he can secure a land-based casino at New York’s iconic Times Square.

According to Crain’s New York Business, SL Green confirmed the bonus last week. The trust is hoping to gain permission from the state to convert a 54-storey tower into a casino and hotel.

SL Green is working in partnership with Caesars Entertainment and Roc Nation on the bid for a New York casino. However, the project faces competition from a host of other interested parties.

The Related Cos, Silverstein Properties, Bally’s, Miriam Adelson’s Las V..

January 3, 2025

State of the Union: Missouri sports betting update, California tribes sue, more

Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.

MO wagering coming online sooner than expected?

Legal Missouri sports betting could be available sooner than mandated. The new law, passed by voters on 5 November, requires the state gaming commission to launch operators by 1 December 2025. But on 2 January, Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) chairman Jan Zimmerman told Sports Betting Dime, “Depending on how quickly the process goes with getting the rules to the governor’s office, getting them signed, getting everything to the attorney general’s office, we could be looking at earlier in the summer than we anticipated.”

The emergency rules process is moving more quickly than expected, said Zimmerman. She is hopeful that the emergency regulations will reach the governor and attorney general for approval by the end of January. Should that happen, the MGC could op..

January 3, 2025

Ohio sports betting handle surpasses $1 billion in November

Ohio fell just short of setting a new monthly sports betting handle record in November as players in the state wagered a total of $1.02 billion ($826.0 million/€993.0 million) during the month.

The November total is the second highest monthly amount on record. The amount is second to January 2023, when online betting became legal in Ohio, saw the highest ever state-wide handle at $1.11 million.

The November handle also surpasses the $864.2 million wagered in the same month in 2023 by 18.5%. It is also 13.6% ahead of the $901.4 million bet in Ohio in October of 2024.

Of the total amount wagered in November, $1.02 billion was bet online and $20.9 million at retail sportsbooks inside land-based casinos. This is according to data published this week by the Ohio Casino Control Commission.

Consumers in Ohio won $901.9 million during the month while $5.6 million in wagers were voided and $32.3 million processed as promotional bets. This resulted in $117 million in taxable revenue.

The r..

January 3, 2025

Portugal topples online gambling revenue record again in Q3

Online gambling revenue in Portugal hit an all-time-high for the eighth consecutive quarter in Q3, driven by a record performance from the nation's internet casino market.

Gross online gambling revenue in Portugal hit €266.3 million (£220.9 million/$273.8 million) during Q3. This surpasses Q3 of 2023 by 23.7% and the previous quarterly record, set in Q2 2024, by 1.7%.

Online casino revenue hits record €175.1 million

Data from regulator Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) shows this growth was driven by the online casino segment. Here, gross revenue hiked 31.2% year-on-year to an all-time high of €175.1 million. This also surpassed Q2 revenue by 10.5%.

Spending on internet-based casino games hit €4.87 billion in Q3, another new record and a 33.7% increase from 2023, as well as 11.6% higher than Q2.

As has been the case for some time, slots remain by far the online casino game of choice in Portugal. Slots drew 80.4% of all wagers during Q3, ahead of French roulette ..

January 2, 2025

Virginia sets sports betting revenue and handle records in November

Virginia reported record adjusted sports betting gross revenue for the month of November, while handle in Old Dominion also reached an all-time high for the second consecutive month.

Data published this week by the Virginia Lottery shows gross revenue in November 2024 hit $80.6 million (£64.3 million/€77.7 million). This is 121.4% ahead of the same month in 2023 and 64.5% more than October 2024.

The total also surpassed the state’s existing adjusted gross revenue (AGR) record of $67.5 million – set in January 2024 – by 19.4%.

Almost all AGR came from online. During the month, some $79.9 million of all revenue was attributed to online betting, compared to $666,689 in retail revenue.

Player spending in Virginia up to $761.0 million

In terms of how much players spent on sports betting, the monthly handle for November across both online and land-based hit $761 million. This surpasses last year by 19.1%.

November also marks the first time Virginia has surpassed $700 million in betting..

December 31, 2024

DraftKings, Fanatics settle Hermalyn suit

The settlement allows Michael Hermalyn to continue working as VIP president for Fanatics.

A high-profile legal battle between DraftKings and Fanatics Sportsbook is coming to a close. Just before Christmas, the companies reached a settlement in their dispute over executive Michael Hermalyn’s transition from DraftKings to Fanatics.

Reuters reported that the settlement effectively ends the litigation between the parties. It was announced on 22 December and finalised in a filing with the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The court dismissed the case with prejudice, which means the issue cannot be legally revisited.

The conflict began earlier this year when Hermalyn, a former senior executive at DraftKings, accepted a position at Fanatics Sportsbook. DraftKings accused Hermalyn of breaching his employment agreement and potentially sharing confidential business strategies and trade secrets with his future employer.

Hermalyn hired to build out VIP base

Fanatics, an eme..

December 31, 2024

Try, try again: 11 US states don’t have legal wagering; at least four are contenders in 2025

It would be fair to say that the gambling industry would consider 2024 an epic fail in regards to legalisation. No US state expanded gambling of any kind, marking the first year since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act fell in 2018 that that happened.

With 2025 on the horizon, hope springs. Seven years after sports betting became a states’ rights issue, eleven US states have not legalised. It seems likely that at least one – Utah – never will. But what about the rest?

Below is a look at prospects in the 10 other states without legal wagering.

Alabama

In 2024, Alabama lawmakers tried a big lift – the legalisation of everything from lottery to casino to sports betting. All in a state with no gambling, other than electronic bingo on Indian land and historic horse racings at pari-mutuel facilities. The state legislature ultimately gutted and then failed to pass any proposals.

So far, no bills have been pre-filed for the legislative session, which is set to run from..

December 24, 2024

Crypto.com launches sports prediction platform in US

The potentially game-changing platform immediately drew a mixed reaction.

Crypto.com has unveiled a groundbreaking – and potentially controversial – product, marking a new era in sports and cryptocurrency integration. The company announced today (23 December) the launch of a sports event trading platform. It is exclusively available to US users through the Crypto.com app.

This offering allows participants to trade predictions on sports event outcomes. At time of launch, the only trading option available on the platform was for the upcoming Super Bowl.

Crypto.com users can make a prediction on which team they think will win the NFL’s championship game. In the app, various teams are listed with their probabilities, giving users easy access to select.

The product’s release aligns with Crypto.com’s commitment of expanding its portfolio of regulated trading products. It is also focused on solidifying its presence in the burgeoning event-driven trading market.

🏈 Predicting the outcome o..

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