Betting News – Page 4

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 5, 2024

DSWV stands up for regulated European peers after documentary’s amateur sports betting claims

The German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) has hit back after a documentary implied Germans were able to bet on amateur football matches with licensed operators in other EU countries.

German television broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk recently released a documentary entitled “Attack on amateur soccer – the greed of betting providers”.

The DSWV said the programme misled viewers into believing Germans could circumvent a ban on betting on domestic amateur sports, and place wagers with licensed betting providers in other European Union (EU) countries.

The documentary concealed “important facts” from the audience, the DSWV continued. It pointed out international providers use geolocation to prevent cross-border betting. The film includes a German customer deliberately working around those measures, although the DSWV claimed that wasn’t made clear, thus implying it was easy to circumvent such restrictions.

Additionally, the film didn’t make clear the customer would not be able to clai..

November 4, 2024

Online growth fails to halt Denmark gambling revenue decline in September

Gambling revenue in Denmark fell 2.8% year-on-year in September as growth within the country’s online sector failed to offset declines elsewhere in the market.

Revenue for September was DKK533 million (£62 million/€74 million/$81 million), data from Denmark regulator Spillemyndigheden shows. This falls short of DKK569 million last year and is also 3.2% less than August’s total.

Online casino gaming remains the primary source of revenue in Denmark by some distance. For September, revenue topped DKK288 million, up 12.1% from the previous year but short of DKK299 million in August.

Some 77.1% of all online casino revenue came from slot machines. Blackjack and roulette each accounted for 6.7% of revenue in this sector, poker 3.6%, bingo 3.1% and other games 2.7%.

Sports betting revenue down 21.7% in Denmark

However, as was the case in August, revenue fell across all other verticals and channels in Denmark. Sports betting saw the biggest decline, with September’s DKK144 million haul 21..

November 4, 2024

Rush to the polls, bet from anywhere: Prediction markets abound ahead of US elections

On 5 November, US voters will elect a new president and decide a litany of other political issues. What makes this election different from past ones is that investors – and bettors – have pounced on the rise of political prediction markets such as Kalshi.

Prediction markets, or derivatives exchanges that offer “yes/no” event futures contracts on current events like politics and pop culture, have been around for several years in relative grey-area obscurity. But a recent US federal court ruling appears to have opened the floodgates, at least for now.

On 2 October, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favour of Kalshi, a New York-based exchange whose senate- and house-related contracts had been delisted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in June 2023. The CFTC argued unsuccessfully that the contracts involved gaming due to their speculative nature.

Kalshi, meanwhile, leaned into arguments that have similarities to those used for legalised sp..

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..