Betting News

State of the Union: UNLV QB, G2E headliners and 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.
Circa tries to remedy UNLV QB mess
A Circa vice-president reportedly offered to pay UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka $100,000 (£74,730/€89,550) that Sluka said he was promised by an assistant coach at the school. But by the time the offer came, Sluka had already redshirted. He said he was leaving the Rebels, who have started the season 3-0.

Per the Action Network, Circa Sports VP of Operations Mike Palm contacted the school midweek after having a conversation with Circa CEO and owner Derek Stevens. Palm told the outlet that he talked with Stevens “about assisting the school in keeping its starting quarterback”.

“I told Derek, ‘Why don’t we take a run at it?’” Palm told Action Network. “’The kid’s claiming he’s owed $100,000. Are you willing to make a call to UNLV to help out?’”

But Sluka and UNLV had already ..

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ESPN Bet now live in New York

Penn Entertainment launched ESPN Bet in its biggest market yet on Friday (27 September) when it went live in New York state. The platform is now available in 19 US jurisdictions.
The platform, a partnership between the casino company and ESPN, went live in 17 US jurisdictions in November 2023. Prior to Friday’s New York launch, Pennsylvania was the biggest state in which the platform was live.

The New York launch was later than Penn executives had pointed to, as CEO Jay Snowden said he was hoping for a late August launch during the company’s second-quarter earnings call in early August. But the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) didn’t have a meeting at which to approve the application until 23 September.

Penn was able to get into New York because WynnBet left earlier this year. The state has a cap of nine platforms, and all licences were accounted for at the beginning of the year. But Wynn Resorts has been unwinding its digital betting business and exited New York over the ..

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Nevada August betting revenue jumps 39.7% while slots hit total GGR

Rounding up some of the latest monthly state results in the US, iGB takes a closer look at how a drop in slots activity saw overall gambling revenue fall in Nevada in August, while Mississippi reported growth within its retail sports betting market.
Mobile sports betting in Nevada was up 13% on 2023 to $14.8m, data from the Nevada Gaming Control Board shows.

Baseball reaped the highest revenue of all sports during the month, making up $9.7m of the vertical’s revenue in August, while American football betting hit $8.7m. However, hockey and basketball betting activity both generated losses for operators.

Betting across other sports generated $7.6m in additional revenue, with the Control Board noting that $14.8m of all wagering revenue came from mobile.

Meanwhile revenue from sports betting pools, which is counted under table games, jumped 38.9% year-on-year to $25m in August.

The Control Board does not disclose handle details for sports betting.

Nevada revenue down again in August
..

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Brazil’s IBJR members agree to expedite credit card ban to October

The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL) and the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR) have both advised their members to bring forward their ban on gambling with credit cards. All of the IBJR's members have agreed to expedite the ban.
Published in April, Normative Ordinance No 615 banned the use of credit cards, crypto, cash, payment slips or cheques for betting when the legal Brazil online betting market goes live on 1 January 2025.

However only companies already active in Brazil that have applied for a betting licence will be able to continue operating from 1 October.

Both the ANJL and IBJR have urged their respective members to voluntarily bring forward the prohibition of credit cards after discussions with the ministry of finance. For the IBJR, which claims its members account for around 70% of the betting market in Brazil, the move is aligned with its wider objective to secure a safe betting market in the country.

Notably, the ANJL said almost a..

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Study shows gambling ads increased threefold on Premier League opening weekend

Almost 30,000 gambling adverts featured across television, radio and social media during the opening weekend of this season’s English Premier League, according to a report by the University of Bristol.
Funded by a GambleAware grant, the research found gambling adverts almost trebled since last year. The 2024-25 Premier League season kicked off on 16 August, with games taking place until 19 August.

During the opening round of games, the university recorded 29,145 adverts, compared to 10,999 the previous year. This includes pitch-side hoardings and shirt logos featuring on live televised matches and news coverage of games.

Televised gambling messages rocket 240%
Television appeared to be the main area of concern for researchers. The report found that the number of gambling messages that appeared during the six televised games across the opening weekend totalled 23,690, up 240% from last year.

The worst-hit match, the report said, was West Ham United against Aston Villa. This game feat..

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Massachusetts regulator gives Penn green light for ESPN Bet retail rebrand; removes betting on college awards from menu

As Penn Entertainment and ESPN Bet prepare to launch in New York, Penn got approval on Thursday (26 September) to rebrand its Massachusetts brick-and-mortar sportsbook. The company has rebranded and opened two others in the last two weeks.
Late last week, ESPN Bet openeda retail sportsbook at L’Auberge Casino Resort in Louisiana and it opened a venue at the Margaritaville Resort Casino on 14 September. For its Massachusetts location, at Plainridge Park, Penn was doing its due diligence by asking the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) to sign off on the change. Commission staff said it saw no “substantive issues” with the rebrand and the Massachusetts regulator gave Penn its blessing. No date was announced for the rebranding.

ESPN Bet went live digitally in 17 US jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, last November. On Monday (23 September) the company got approval from the New York State Gaming Commission to launch in that state. On Monday a Penn executive pointed to a go-live a..

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Flutter claims 11% Brazil market share following NSX acquisition

Flutter is among the top three betting companies in Brazil with an 11% market share, thanks to its acquisition of a 56% stake in Betnacional parent NSX Group. Its position in Brazil was outlined in some detail during the group's Capital Markets Day presentation.
Flutter said the NSX Group acquisition would provide the group with necessary local expertise in the Brazilian market. The deal is expected to close by Q2 2025 and will help establish a new ‘Flutter Brazil’ business, which will include its existing Betfair brand. NSX Group’s Pagbet, MrJack.bet and Betpix brands will also fall under the new business arm.

According to Regulus Partners and internal estimates, NSX holds 9% of the total online market in Brazil. It estimates Brazil’s net gaming revenue (NGR) for 2023 was $2.8bn. Of that figure, Flutter claims its Betfair brands, alongside those it acquired in the NSX deal, came third in revenue terms with over a tenth of the market.

Flutter’s revenue from Betfair and NSX comb..

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Former police officer jailed over £44m horse racing betting fraud

A former UK police officer has been sentenced to six years in jail for his role in a horse racing betting syndicate scam that defrauded thousands of people out of £44m (€53m/$59m).
Michael Stanley, 67, of Chatham in Kent pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to a series of fraud offences on 24 September. He admitted to operating the ‘Layzey Racing Syndicate’, a Ponzi-style scheme disguised as a horse racing betting syndicate.

The scam ran from 2013 to February 2019, claiming to be a lay betting horse racing gambling scheme. Members were invited to invest funds supposedly for collective gambling controlled by Stanley.

However, Stanley instead used new investments to pay earlier members, creating a Ponzi-type scheme. He also lied about the amount of successful gambling that took place, falsely inflated the value of investments and paid money from the scheme into his own accounts.

At its peak, the scheme had over 6,000 members, including friends and family of Stanley.

Estimated £10…

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Flutter touts global success and future growth at annual investor conference

Wednesday (25 September) was a tour de force for global wagering giant Flutter, as the company's executives touted its worldwide success to investors and detailed plans for future growth.
The company held its annual investor day presentation in New York on Wednesday. Several executives presented details in an extensive breakdown about Flutter’s tentacles around the globe. Investors heard from group CEO Peter Jackson, FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, Flutter’s UK & Ireland and international CEOs Ian Brown and Dan Taylor and more.

Overall, the executives heralded the “Flutter Edge”. This, they said, is the formula that has vaulted the company into “gold-medal positions” in several large markets, such as the US, UK, Italy and Australia. It consists of four main tenets: product, technology, expertise and scale.

This quartet was referenced ubiquitously as the key driver for the company’s success. Throughout the presentation, the company’s widespread dominance of odds pricing and parlay produ..

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Study suggests Canadian regulators should pace themselves when crafting RG rules

Within a year of launching legal online gambling in Canada, complaints about frequency and content of advertising were common. A new study suggests regulators are moving too quickly to appropriately address the issue.
The Canadian Gaming Association on Wednesday (25 September) released an academic and policy study. It posits that new gambling regulations in Canada are “evolving at a faster rate than the accompanying evidence base”. This could ultimately mean that regulations don’t tackle targeted issues and could be “insufficiently nuanced”.

The study – a “rapid review” – is designed to be informational for regulators and other stakeholders. GP Consulting conducted the study using a US-based team. The team included policy specialists from from Eilers & Krejcik and academics from UNLV’s International Gaming Institute and Washington State University.

The authors studied academic literature related to online sports betting and casino advertising and how it might inform responsible gamb..

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Dutch operators face player losses lawsuit dating back to 2021

Dutch advocacy organisation Gokverliesterug has initiated a class action lawsuit against a group of licensed online gambling operators in relation to their activities before being licensed in the country.
The Gokverliesterug lawsuit is seeking reimbursement on behalf of Dutch consumers for losses made prior to October 2021. The Netherlands launched its legal online gambling market on 1 October 2021 but several operators – which are now licensed – were active prior to this.

Specifically, the lawsuit names major operators such as Unibet, Bwin, PokerStars and Bet365. However, Bet365 has contacted iGB to clarify it was not active in the Netherlands prior to regulation.

Gokverliesterug states operators allowed hundreds of thousands of Dutch people to gamble prior to the legal market opening, which left many consumers without sufficient supervision and protection against problem gambling behaviours.

Gokverliesterug said it has chosen to act now following several recent rulings from Dutc..

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Stats Perform snaps up betting video rights to Scottish football

Sports data and live streaming provider Stats Perform has secured exclusive betting video rights for the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL).
Under the long-term agreement, Stats Perform will distribute live video streams to licensed international sportsbooks outside the UK. The deal marks the first time the provider will offer Scottish football video content.

The partnership covers the top-tier men’s Premiership and Women’s Premier League. It also includes games across the Championship and League One, as well as the Scottish League Cup, SPFL Trust Trophy and the SWPL Cup.

Content will be available via the Stats Perform Bet LiveStreams video service. The provider did not disclose the length of the new deal.

“Innovative” step for Scottish football
SPFL group chief executive Neil Doncaster welcomed the partnership. He said it will allow fans to “tap into a wealth of innovation” within the sports betting sector.

“Stats Perform’s team..

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