Online sports betting – Page 19

November 6, 2024

Missouri voters barely approve statewide digital wagering

Missouri voters on Tuesday (5 November) night did what the legislature has failed to do in more than five sessions – legalised statewide digital sports betting.

The margin was thin, about a half a percentage point and a 14,000-vote margin, according to the Missouri Independent. But in the end, Caesars’ short-lived opposition campaign did not kill the proposal. The company, one of two that operates three land-based casinos in the state, pulled $1 million (£775,l64/€919,250) worth of scheduled television advertising in mid-October.

And last weekend, iGB confirmed that the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) said it interprets Amendment 2 to mean that each casino location is entitled to a digital betting licence. Previously, stakeholders believed that the initiative language indicated that each casino company – not location – would get a licence.

Missouri is the only state this year to legalise a statewide gambling expansion. Six of Missouri’s seven border states already have some form..

November 5, 2024

From Virginia to Missouri, voters to decide fate of these gambling proposals Tuesday

The US presidential election on Tuesday (5 November) could result in major changes to how the country is run but, in four states, gambling expansion is also on the ballot. And in Colorado, the amount of gambling tax dollars earmarked for water projects will be decided.

For the gambling industry as a whole, a decision by Missouri voters to allow statewide retail and digital sports betting would be a prize. Should voters approve Amendment 2, Missouri would be the only US state in 2024 to approve a statewide gambling expansion.

The Missouri Gaming Commission last weekend said it interprets the constitutional amendment to mean that each brick-and-mortar casino location will be eligible for a digital betting licence. The interpretation means companies like Caesars and Penn Entertainment will each get up to three licences. Each company operates three brick-and-mortar locations in Missouri.

In Arkansas, Missouri and Virginia, the fate of a casino licence hangs in the balance. In Maryland..

November 4, 2024

Missouri regulator: Casinos will get one betting platform per location

The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) on Saturday (2 November) told iGB that land-based casino operators in the state will get one digital betting platform per location should Amendment 2 pass on Tuesday (5 November).

It’s been widely understood that due to the wording of the proposal, land-based casino companies would get the rights to one digital licence per company instead of one per location. This interpretation of the initiative was not attractive to the state’s existing casino operators. Many operate two or more physical locations in Missouri.

According to the initiative language:
b. The commission shall offer not more than one mobile licence to operate sports wagering in this state to each qualified applicant that is:
(1) an owner of an excursion gambling boat located in this state or a sports wagering operator operating on behalf of each such owner, provided, however, that not more than one sports wagering operator shall be permitted to operate under such mobile licence on..

November 4, 2024

Virginia operators report strong September while fate of fifth casino will be decided Tuesday

Virginia bettors wagered $622.1 million (£481.5 million/€ 574.2 million) in September, the third highest amount this year while operators had double-digit hold for the sixth time in the first nine months of 2024.

According to the Virginia Lottery report released on Friday (1 November), operators paid out $550.2 million in wins and had a combined hold of 11.5%. That was the third highest hold of the year. Betting operators had a combined $65.9 million in adjusted gross revenue, the second highest of 2024.

Operators paid the state a combined $9.9 million in tax revenue. Virginia taxes sports betting operators at 15%.

Handle was up 19.6% over September 2023 when bettors laid down $520.3 million in bets. Compared to August, handle was up $206 million. Virginia does not release individual operator information or a sport-by-sport breakdown. But the start of the NFL season in September annually kicks off the busiest betting season of the year.

Virginia operators wrote off a total of $..

November 1, 2024

State of the Union: ESPN-ESPN Bet now linked, Missouri initiative opposition, 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.

ESPN Bet-ESPN linking now available

On Friday (1 November) Penn Entertainment and ESPN announced that ESPN and ESPN Bet accounts can now be linked. Consumers can “seamlessly track upcoming, live and settled bets within the ESPN app and on ESPN.com.” Connecting accounts will also allow ESPN Bet to offer personalised promotions and bets.

“Bringing this new feature to market is an important step as we work to create a fully interconnected media and betting ecosystem between ESPN and ESPN Bet,” Aaron LaBerge, chief technology officer at Penn Entertainment said via press release. “Account linking allows us to better serve and engage our users by unlocking key personalisation and promotional capabilities. This feature is just the beginning of deeper integrations that will further differentiate the ESPN Bet experi..

November 1, 2024

Ohio sports betting handle reaches year-high $863.0 million in September

Players in Ohio spent $863.0 million (£668.9 million/€794.5 million) betting on sports during September, the highest monthly total so far this year and the largest since November last year.

The September total is 25.0% ahead of the same month last year and 57.5% up from August this year. It is also the third-highest monthly total on record in Ohio, behind $864.2 million in November 2023 and $1.11 billion in the market’s launch in January 2023.

Ohio Casino Control Commission data shows players bet $842.4 million online and a further $20.7 million at retail sportsbooks.

As for taxable revenue, this reached $106.2 million, beating last year by 29.8% and August by 117.6%. Like handle, it is the third-highest total, behind $113.8 million in January this year and $208.5 million in January 2023.

Online sports betting generated $102.9 million in monthly operator revenue, with retail contributing $3.2 million.

In terms of hold, the state-wide figure for September was 11.92%. Ohio players w..

October 31, 2024

Bettor who stood to win $1 million in Jontay Porter betting scam pleads guilty

On Wednesday (30 October) Mahmud Mollah became the third person in the Jontay Porter sports betting scandal to plead guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.

Mollah is the gambler who placed bets that would have won $1 million (£776,609/€920,850) on the performance of then two-way NBA player Jontay Porter. Porter, who was playing for the Toronto Raptors on a 10-day contract, removed himself early from games on 26 January and 20 March so he and the gamblers could win “under” bets.

Earlier this month, NBA betting partners, including BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel, announced they would stop taking bets on the league’s lowest-paid players, according to The Athletic. No “under” bets will be available on two-way players or players on 10-day contracts. Porter was set to earn $56,000 from his short-term contract with the Raptors and the NBA believes these players are most at risk for being corrupted by bettors.

Mollah pleaded in the the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Port..

October 31, 2024

US September round-up: Sports betting in Colorado, New Hampshire and Rhode Island

Analysing some of the latest monthly sports betting reports in the US, iGB takes a look at how Colorado, New Hampshire and Rhode Island performed in September.

Colorado scores year-on-year growth in September

Starting in Colorado, the Colorado Department of Revenue this week reported total handle across online and retail in September hit $562.9 million (£433.0 million/€518.5 million). This beats last year by 9.8% and also surpasses August’s total by 51.2%, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Of all wagers placed during September, $558.1 million was online and $4.8 million at retail sportsbooks.

Betting volume was helped by the start of the NFL season. Some $173.1 million was bet on American professional football in September, far more than any other sport. Baseball betting topped $69.0 million and college football $42.3 million.

Gross gaming revenue for September was $55.1 million, up 21.6% from last year and 66.0% more than August. Online contributed $54.6 million to..

October 30, 2024

Sweepstakes aren’t “clear cut” and that’s a problem, AGA executive says

Chris Cylke just wants clarity. As the American Gaming Association (AGA) joined Indian Country in a discussion of how to handle an unregulated, untaxed form of gambling, the key is understanding where it sits in a legal sense, he said.

Cylke, the AGA’s SVP for government relations, joined Indian Gaming Association (IGA) conference chair Victor Rocha and IGA executive director Jason Giles on Wednesday (30 October) in another unique moment in the short history of legal sports betting in the US. Rocha is hosting a five-part educational series on what sweepstakes are and how the regulated industry can fight their proliferation.

“If sweepstakes gaming were as clear cut as those involved with it are saying, we probably would be doing it,” Cylke said AGA members have told him. “But it’s not worth putting (their) gaming licences at risk.”

Yes, sweepstakes have a politics problem

Cylke called the status of sweepstakes “murky.” And Giles said it falls into the category of other currently o..

October 30, 2024

Arizona: Sports betting revenue and handle rise in August

Sports betting revenue and handle in Arizona increased year-on-year during August, while the state also saw player spending reach its highest monthly total since May.

Total handle for August hit $496.6 million (£382.8 million/€458.4 million). This is 38.4% ahead of last year and also 21.1% above the amount bet in Arizona in July this year.

Some $473.8 million was spent betting on online, while a further $22.8 million was bet at retail sportsbooks across the state.

Data from the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADoG) also shows adjusted gross revenue for August topped $37.3 million. This beats last year by 17.7% but falls 12.2% short of July.

After deducting $14.9m worth of free bets and promotional credits, adjusted gross revenue (AGR) hit $22.4 million. This surpasses last year’s total by 4.7% but is 22.8% behind July this year.

Online betting accounted for $22.2 million of all AGR after deducting free bets. The remaining $210,108 came from wagering at retail sportsbooks in Arizona…

October 29, 2024

Jontay Porter effect could be just the beginning of banning bets

Major sportsbooks have done away with certain NBA player props and the potential ramifications go far beyond that.

Jontay Porter is unlikely to ever take the court for an NBA team again.

Still, this player with a career average of 11.2 minutes per game is a central figure in one of the league’s biggest storylines of the new season.

A number of national sportsbooks such as BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, ESPN Bet and FanDuel won’t be posting NBA player prop unders for those on 10-day or two-way contracts. The rationale? These players have less financial security than those under contract for the season. Because of that they could be enticed to purposely tank their performances.

Call this the Jontay Porter effect.

Porter did exactly this – exiting games early due to supposed injury or illness, ensuring under bets on his props would win – a season ago as a member of the Toronto Raptors. This scheme led him to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was also banned for life f..

October 29, 2024

Plenty of support for Missouri legal wagering initiative, but fate unclear

While Caesars has backed down on its “no” on Amendment 2 contributions in Missouri, on 24 October FanDuel added another $4.6 million in support of the legal sports betting initiative.

FanDuel’s latest deposit brings the total contributions to the “Winning for Missouri Education” campaign to $40.7 million (£31.2 million/€37.6 million), according to Missouri Ethics Commission records. That total alone would make the campaign the priciest in Missouri history. Before deciding to “focus our efforts on grassroots outreach and community conversations” and pulling $1 million worth of scheduled television advertising earlier this month, Caesars had funded the “no” campaign with more than $14 million.

The two biggest newspapers in Missouri have endorsed Amendment 2. But the Kansas City Star editorial board did so “with some hesitation” on 10 October. In an editorial, the newspaper outlined concerns about addiction.

Whether or not the initiative will pass is unclear. The most recent polling..

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Tag: Online sports betting