SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
NFL’s Sports Betting Evolution Near Complete With Broncos-FanDuel Deal: A Timeline
FanDuel’s announcement on Monday that it had signed a promotional agreement with the NFL’s Denver Broncos brings full circle the league’s turnaround on how it treats sports wagering. Or at least how it treats it publicly.
Twenty-eight years ago, Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, banning states, Nevada excluded, from permitting full-fledged sports betting. Two years ago in Murphy v. NCAA, the Supreme Court overturned the 1992 law and that changed everything, giving each state the option to determine if wagering is a good fit.
So far, 21 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have either expressly legalized sports betting or allowed it to go live under existing laws. Another 16 have active sports betting legislation in their state capitols.
Full story here.
Rivers Casino First To Offer Online Sports Betting In Illinois
Rivers Casino in Des Plaines became the first to market for mobile sports betting in Illinois, launching its online sportsbook at BetRivers.com on Thursday.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker accelerated the timeline for mobile sports betting availability June 4 when he issued Executive Order 2020-41, suspending the provision that required in-person registration for bettors to obtain a mobile app. Last Thursday, the Illinois Gaming Board granted Rivers and six other casinos Master Sports Wagering licenses, a requirement for casinos to then ask the board’s approval to operate as an Online Sports Wagering Operator.
“We are excited to make history in bringing the first online sportsbook to sports fans in our home state just in time as American sports are coming back into action,” said Richard Schwartz, president of Rush Street Interactive, in a statement.
Full story here.
California Tribal Leaders Support Sports Betting — On Their Own Terms
Tribal leaders from across California came together in a webinar Wednesday and left no question that they will fight a legislative proposal to legalize sports betting, saying that lawmakers are being opportunistic and don’t have the tribes’ best interests at heart. They also acknowledged that mobile sports betting is coming, but want to be able to control the details.
“I think it’s outrageous how they are using the pandemic to further break promises they have made to tribes and chip away at our sovereignty,” said James Siva, chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which owns the Morongo Casino Resort near Palm Springs.
Full story here.
In The Sports Betting Void, Golf’s Appeal Is Rising
Veteran oddsmaker Johnny Avello was among an unusually large group of U.S. bettors with a rooting interest Sunday in the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
The golf tournament held without spectators in Fort Worth, Texas, marked the return of a regular PGA Tour event for the first time in three months.
With a shrunken slate of traditional sports to contend with, the Schwab Challenge drew unprecedented betting action for a non-major golf tournament.
Avello was among those with a stake, not only professionally as DraftKings Sportsbook director of operations but also personally with a 35/1 wager he placed on Bryson DeChambeau with another sportsbook.
Full story here.
NH Lottery, Interstate Poker Compacts Get Reprieve From Controversial DOJ Opinion
A decision on whether to maintain a controversial reversal by the U.S. Department of Justice of an interpretation of the Wire Act of 1961 may be determined by a new presidential administration.
Last week, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen issued a “Further Update to Memo on the Applicability of the Wire Act to Non-Sports Gambling.”
In 2011, DOJ had clarified that the Wire Act only applied to a prohibition on sports betting across state lines. With that in mind, several states set up online lottery offerings, and New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware forged an interstate online poker compact.
Full story here.
