SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
PA Dumpster Fire? Try Using Facts, Mr. Christie
Pennsylvania has “really screwed it up,” he said. “A rolling dumpster fire is sports gaming in Pennsylvania,” he said. “People are driving from Pennsylvania into New Jersey and sitting at our rest stops on their mobile phone and making bets,” he said. Those were but a few of the inflammatory, chest-beating assertions from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in a keynote address last week at the American Gaming Association’s annual Global Gaming Expo event in Las Vegas.
Full story here.
Missouri Hears Testimony On How To Proceed With Sports Betting Regulation
On Thursday, the Special Interim Committee on Gaming in the Missouri House of Representatives heard testimony and discussed the sports betting, fantasy sports and video lottery terminals.
The three-hour affair was packed with testimony from industry experts and stakeholders representing land-based casino properties and groups that operate primarily online. The tone of the hearing was one of optimism for Missouri’s effort to find to meet pent-up demand in a state touched by four other states to have legalized sports betting at least in some capacity (Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee). Representatives who weighed in mostly showed support and a couple of them forthrightly stated their desire to see it legalized.
Full story here.
The Many Ways NBA Has Embraced Legal Sports Betting
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver advocated in favor of expanded, regulated sports betting in the U.S. almost four years before a Supreme Court ruling in May 2018 made the new landscape a reality. Legal sports betting is now live in 15 states and growing.
All the while up until the ruling, the NBA alongside Major League Baseball and the NCAA, among others, repeatedly sought judicial enforcement of the federal law (PASPA) that had banned full-fledged sports wagering outside Nevada. And a U.S. Senator who co-sponsored PASPA? Former New York Knicks guard/forward Bill Bradley, who later decried the 2018 ruling; “Having been an athlete, I don’t like being considered a roulette chip,” Bradley said.
Full story here.
‘Don’t Shake Hands’ And Other Advice For Sports Bettors
If author Rob Miech learned anything while writing his latest book, it was this: Do not touch anyone in a sportsbook. Ever.
Why? Well, let’s let Miech tell you himself.
“I’ve got three rules for anyone entering a sportsbook: 1. Never, ever put money down on the counter that you are going to miss, it better be disposable; 2. If you’re going to walk into a sportsbook, you’d better be wearing waders, because there is so much BS; and 3. This might be the most important — in any sportsbook anywhere, anytime, don’t ever shake anybody’s hand. Don’t even fist bump, and if you must, do it glancingly. I have done an unofficial tally of, let’s face it, it’s mostly men, and they use the gents and let’s just say about 70 percent of them don’t wash their hands. And that’s just gross.”
Full story here.
FanDuel Launches Mobile Sports Betting In Indiana
The competition just got a lot stiffer. On Tuesday at around noon local time, FanDuel’s online/mobile sportsbook opened its virtual doors. It followed two FanDuel retail sportsbook openings last month. FanDuel’s launch gives Hoosiers three platforms to gamble on. On Oct. 3, Rush Street Interactive launched its BetRivers platform. DraftKings did as well later that same day. The Indiana Gaming Commission gave FanDuel its launch authorization just a few days ago.
Full story here.
Casino Industry’s Image Better Than Ever — How Much Is That Due To Legal Sports Betting?
A study released by the American Gaming Association last week revealed that 49% of American adults have a favorable view of the casino gaming industry, the highest that number has ever been. And this isn’t some modest incremental gain. A year ago, that number was a full four percentage points lower. What has changed? Well, a lot. The gaming industry is constantly evolving and expanding. But most notably? Sports betting.
Full story here.
