Betting News – Page 61

April 3, 2024

Ukraine considers ban on online gambling for armed forces

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is to consider restricting online gambling for the armed forces following a petition from a Ukrainian soldier.

The plan for restrictions was announced during the Ukraine president’s evening address to the country’s citizens on 2 April.

The government is now preparing conditions to “tighten control” over the online gambling industry in the country to “help protect the interests of society”.

The announcement follows a petition demanding restrictions on online gambling for Ukrainian soldiers, launched on 29 March.

The petition, published on the website of the president’s office last week, collected a total of 26,041 signatures within hours of it being launched. Any petition with 25,000 signatories automatically requires presidential consideration.

The petition to restrict Ukraine online gambling

The petition, launched by a solider of the 59th brigade, Pavlo Petrychenko, aims to draw attention “to the harm that the gambling business ..

April 3, 2024

Mississippi senate committee keeps online sports betting bill alive

On 2 April, Mississippi's senate gaming committee held a special two-minute meeting in an effort to keep a statewide mobile sports betting bill alive with about a month left in the legislative session.

During the meeting, committee chairman David Blount said that he had been told that “people have been talking” about the Mississippi sports betting bill HB 774 in an effort to reach consensus. He added that “if people are talking, that is a good thing and we want to let them continue to do that.”

The committee adopted a strike-all bill, which in this case updates the bill with codes used in the house. While it does not change any of the text, it does keep the online sports betting bill alive. The state legislature is scheduled to be in session until 5 May and HB 774 passed the house on 1 February. It was transmitted to the senate on 5 February and then assigned to the gaming committee on 27 February.

Tuesday was the final day for a committee to pass out a bill that did not orig..

April 2, 2024

Nearly $200m wagered in first week of North Carolina sports betting

The Tar Heel State has released its first week's sports betting figures, with a total handle already nearing a quarter of a billion dollars.

The North Carolina State Lottery Commission has plenty of reasons to celebrate with over $198m wagered in the first week of sports betting, starting on Monday 11 March.

Detailed numbers have been released by the Commission’s first sports betting report. In total, payouts amounted to $142m from the $198m wagered, with $43m in gross wagering revenue.

A further breakdown revealed that $24m was wagered on the market’s first day. Of that total, $11m was paid out in gross wagering revenue. North Carolina is subject to an 18% tax rate on gross gaming revenue.

Which operators are live in North Carolina?

So far, the North Carolina State Lottery Commission has awarded eight interactive sports wagering licences to operators.

FanDuel, Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, Fanatics, Bet365, BetMGM, ESPN Bet and Underdog have all secured licences.
..

April 2, 2024

Ohio sports betting revenue down by 41.4% despite Super Bowl

Sports betting revenue in Ohio fell by over 40% in February, despite the Super Bowl early in the month.

Sports betting revenue dropped 41.4% to $66.3m (£52.8m/€61.5m) in February from January’s figure of $113.1m. February’s revenue was also 18.5% down year-on-year, with Ohio accumulating $81.3m in the same month last year, which was the second month of its sports betting market launching.

Ohio also saw a 17.2% decrease in handle, from $810.4m in January to $671.1m in February. However, February’s handle amount was 5% more than the $639m in bets received in the same month last year.

$599.7m was paid out in winnings during February, while $28.3m was written off as promotions. Taxable revenue amounted to $67.6m.

Ohio’s online sports betting sector continues to dominate the market. It was responsible for $66.4m in revenue and $657.7m in handle, the latter of which accounts for 98% of the monthly total. Retail actually finished in the red for the month, losing $122,288 during February.
..

April 2, 2024

Virginia wagering revenue report: February handle up 26% over last year

Virginians laid down $545.1m in bets in February, a 25.6% increase over the same period in 2023. Sportsbooks paid the state a total of $6.3m in taxes and had a hold of 9.18%.

Sportsbooks are taxed at 15% of adjust gross revenue (AGR). According to the Virginia Lottery wagering revenue report, 11 operators finished the month with “net positive AGR”.

Mobile betting accounted for $540m of the total while bettors wagered a combined $4.9m at retail locations. Promotions and deductions continued to decrease. After one senator proposed a cap on allowing operators to write off deductions in 2023, Virginia’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, went a step further and included a 12-month sunset on promotional deductions in his budget.

In total, four new operators also went live in 2023 in Virginia: Bet365 on 31 January 2023; Betfred on 1 February 2023; Betr on 6 September 2023 and SuperBook on 19 October 2023.

Betr, SuperBook only operators that can deduct promos

Bet365 and Betfred have passed th..

April 2, 2024

Nevada gambling revenue climbs again to $1.34bn in February

Gambling revenue in Nevada increased 8.5% year-on-year to $1.34bn (£1.07bn/€1.25bn) in February, driven by growth within the baccarat segment.

Revenue was clear of $1.24bn in February last year. It was also 4.7% higher than $1.28bn in January this year – the strongest opening month to a calendar year in Nevada history.

Slots drew the most revenue at $827.6m for the month, an increase of 0.6% from 2023. Of this total, $536.6m came from multi-denomination slot games and $207.6m penny slot machines.

However, only multi-denomination slot games reported growth in February. Revenue was lower across all other game types within this segment.

Baccarat was the highest area of growth during February. Revenue here was 75.5% higher at $180.1m. Blackjack revenue was also up 15.6% to $132.5m with craps revenue rising 22.0% to $44.7m.

Other areas of growth include Ultimate Texas Hold’em, where revenue edged up 4.4% to $18.0m, and pai gow poker 4.7% to $10.4m.

Sportsbook revenue rises as Nevada ..

April 1, 2024

Pari-mutuels to SCOTUS: Florida court decision in conflict with federal opinion

West Flagler and Associates (WFA), the pari-mutuel suing the US Department of the Interior over the validity of the 2021 Florida-Seminole tribe compact, filed a brief in US Supreme Court on 29 March arguing a state court opinion is in conflict with a lower federal court.

Should SCOTUS take the case – the court takes 100-150 of about 7,000 filed per year – it could change the state of wagering in Florida.

The Seminoles launched their Hard Rock Bet platform last November despite awaiting action on court cases in the Florida and US Supreme Courts. In Florida, WFA was suing Governor Ron DeSantis and the legislature saying they were out of bounds when they approved the compact. The Florida Supreme Court denied the petition on 21 March, saying that WFA chose the wrong “vehicle” to file.

Late last week, WFA filed a supplemental brief in its writ of certiorari that is pending at SCOTUS. In the filing, WFA lawyers wrote that the Florida Supreme Court denial leaned on the idea that the cas..

March 29, 2024

State of the Union: A look back at the week that was in North America

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

NJ senator proposes online gaming tax hike

New Jersey Senator John McKeon has filed a bill that would increase the tax on online casino and digital sports betting platforms to 30%. Online casinos currently pay a 15% state tax, while sports betting platforms pay 13% of gross gaming revenue. The bill is one line and does not include an effective date or argument for the proposed change.

New Jersey law requires that online casinos and sportsbooks be tethered to brick-and-mortar locations, including casinos and horse racetracks. There are currently 30 online casinos and 18 digital sportsbooks.

In general, sportsbook operators are most comfortable with a tax rate of 10% or less. A 30% tax on sports betting would move New Jersey from one of the most favourable places to do business to one of the least.

Of the nearly 40 US j..

March 29, 2024

Georgia lawmakers fail (again) to legalise sports betting

Georgia's General Assembly went to the brink on Thursday night (28 March) and still it didn't legalise sports betting.

In fact, the package of bills that got through the senate in less than three weeks never even got in front of the full house for consideration.

Two amended legal sports betting bills – a constitutional amendment and enabling legislation – got out of the House Higher Education Committee early Thursday morning, although sources say the committee had the votes to move the package the previous night. That left about 15 hours to negotiate a deal before the session ended, but the Rules Committee – which met at least three times on Thursday – declined to consider the bills.

This was the fourth consecutive session during which Georgia lawmakers could not come to a consensus and the second time legal wagering became a political football.

In 2021, state Democrats pulled their support after Republicans passed a controversial voting rights bill. This year, the Repu..