Betting News – Page 41

April 29, 2024

Arrest of senator in Minnesota could upend sports betting bill, other business

The fate of any business – including legalising sports betting – getting done in the Minnesota legislature was thrown into jeopardy late last week. Senator Nicole Mitchell was arrested early on Monday (22 April) morning, and has since been removed from her committee and caucus assignments, according to a statement from Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy.

In what could be a blow to the Minnesota sports betting bill, Senator Mitchell was arrested for a burglary that she said is a family situation blown out of proportion. She said in a statement that “I am confident that a different picture will emerge when all the facts are know.”

Mitchell said she wanted to retrieve her deceased father’s ashes and was checking in on a family member with Alzheimer’s, according to media reports. The arrest took place in the early morning hours of 22 April.

However the criminal situation plays out, Mitchell’s arrest has left the Minnesota senate in a quandary. It now has 33 Democrats and 33 Republican..

April 29, 2024

Multiple US states considering new betting restrictions

Six years after legal sports betting became a states' rights issue, legislatures and regulators across the country have upped their focus on consumer and athlete protections. In the last week, bills that would ban using credit cards to fund digital gambling accounts and ban college player prop bets have been filed.

Next week, Wyoming’s regulator will begin its foray into additional athlete protection by exploring the college player prop ban idea.

In Pennsylvania last week, State Senator Wayne Fontana filed senate bill SB 1159, which would prohibit the use of credit cards to fund any kind of online gambling, including casino, lottery and sports betting. Pennsylvania law currently allows consumers to use credit cards to fund accounts, but problem and responsible gambling advocates say the practice is bad for those with addiction issues.

“There is a significant body of evidence that highlights the increased levels of harm if you gamble utilising credit cards,” responsible gambli..

April 29, 2024

Rhode Island sports betting revenue dips in March despite handle increase

Sports betting revenue in Rhode Island fell 22.5% year-on-year to $3.1m (£2.5m/€2.9m) in March despite players spending more money on wagering.

Total handle for the month stood at $44.9m, up 8.2% higher than $41.5m in March last year. It is also 15.7% ahead of the $38.8m bet in Rhode Island in February 2023.

Of this total, $37.0m was wagered online, while the remaining $7.8m was bet at land-based sportsbooks. Twin River processed $5.6m of all retail bets, with Tiverton Casino taking a total of $2.2m.

In terms of revenue, this was higher month-on-month, but only marginally. The March total was 6.9% higher than the $2.9m generated in Rhode Island in February this year.

As to where revenue came from, online betting accounted for $2.5m of the monthly total. In contrast, retail betting generated just $604,093 in monthly revenue.

Twin River posted $386,363 in retail sports betting revenue, while Tiverton Casino reported $217,730.

Players won a total of $41.8m from wagering on sports ..

April 26, 2024

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

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.

Illinois regulator grants DraftKings full mobile licence

On Thursday (25 April), the Illinois Gaming Board unanimously awarded DraftKings a four-year mobile and retail licence. The company has been offering statewide mobile sports betting since 2019. It also opened its sportsbook at historic Wrigley Field last month. DraftKings first entered the Illinois mobile market through a partnership with the Casino Queen in East St Louis in 2019.

The Wrigley Field sportsbook is the second brick-and-mortar book at a professional sports venue in Chicago. FanDuel opened its location at United Center in 2022. Illinois was among the first US jurisdictions to allow sports betting operators to partner with professional sports teams. This also enabled customers to place bets sportsbooks at pro venues. Caesars Sportsbook – th..

April 26, 2024

Kambi pens sportsbook deal with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Kambi Group has entered into a multi-state sportsbook agreement with Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, one of the largest Indian Nations in the US.

Under the deal, Kambi will provide its sports betting technology and services to the Choctaw Nation’s gaming entities. This covers both online and retail sports betting.

The Choctaw Nation operates Choctaw Casinos & Resorts, which owns a network of gaming and hospitality destinations throughout south-eastern Oklahoma. Properties include its flagship casino location near to the Texas border.

The deal comes despite Oklahoma having not yet legalised sports betting and the placing of bets, either in person or online, remains illegal. This is despite the state having more than 130 Native American gaming and casino facilities.

Kambi, however, notes that the new agreement includes scope to expand into other states, both across online and retail, pending regulatory approvals.

“Landmark” sports betting deal for Kambi

Kambi’s CEO and co-founder Krist..

April 25, 2024

NHL Coyotes leave Arizona. What will happen to their event wagering licence?

Salt Lake City welcomed the NHL team that was formerly the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday (24 April) night. When the team boarded a plane headed north, it would seem that it had vacated an event wagering licence in Arizona. But SaharaBets is still live and the situation might not be as clear as it appears.

The Arizona Department of Gaming told iGB via email that neither the team nor SaharaBets had been in contact. The NHL is calling the Coyotes franchise “inactive” and the sale to a Utah-based group is a bit unusual, as current owner Alex Meruelo retained rights to the name, team IP, records and the AHL Roadrunners affiliate franchise.

It appears that unless the Coyotes or SaharaBets makes formal contact with ADOG, the site will remain live. In this situation, ADOG doesn’t appear to have a way to take action. Rather, the state legislature could clarify language saying that a team must be active to have an Arizona event wagering licence.

“The department is aware of the recent reports ..

April 25, 2024

CFL suspends three-time Grey Cup champion Lemon for betting on own team

Shawn Lemon has become the third professional athlete playing for a Canadian team to be suspended for breaking sports betting rules.

On Wednesday (24 April), the Canadian Football League (CFL) announced that it is suspending Lemon – who played on three Grey Cup winning teams during his career – indefinitely.

Lemon, a South Carolina native, unexpectedly announced his retirement on 10 April, which would coincide with the time during which the league was conducting its inquiry.

The CFL suspension comes a week after the NBA banned Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter for sharing confidential information and betting on the league. The Ottawa Senators’ Shane Pinto was also suspended for 41 games for violating league betting rules.

According to a CFL press release, the league found “clear and irrefutable evidence” that Lemon violated league policy, but it says there is no indication of match fixing.

Integrity of the game “of the utmost importance”

The CFL discovered that Lemon bet on league ..

April 25, 2024

IBIA reports 64.7% increase in Q1 suspicious betting alerts

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) received 56 alerts of suspicious betting during Q1, up 64.7% on the final quarter of 2023.

Additionally, the IBIA’s Q1 figure was 12.0% above the revised total of 50 alerts from the same quarter last year. The alerts came from six sports across 21 countries and five continents.

The IBIA looks at suspicious betting activity to establish potential sports corruption. The IBIA’s members include over 50 companies and more than 125 betting brands. This makes it the largest integrity monitor of its type across the globe.

IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali believes the rising number of alerts is another indicator of ongoing match-fixing problems.

“The first quarter saw an increase in reported alerts highlighting the ongoing challenge our members, sports and regulatory authorities face from corrupt activity,” Ali said. “IBIA’s alerts are supported by detailed global customer account data only available to IBIA and its membership, which con..

April 25, 2024

Horse racing growth drives ATG revenue up to SEK1.3bn in Q1

Sweden’s Aktiebolaget Trav och Galopp (ATG) has pointed to growth in its horse racing sector as the key driver in reaching SEK1.3bn (£95.7m/€111.7m/$119.8m) in net gaming revenue (NGR) during Q1.

Revenue is the highest ATG has ever recorded in a Q1, as well as a 9.2% increase on the same quarter last year, when it reported SEK1.19bn in NGR.

That revenue growth was primarily down to increases in ATG’s horse racing sector, which was responsible for SEK968m in NGR, or 74.5% of the company’s Q1 total. That figure was also 13.3% ahead of the SEK854m in NGR accumulated by the horse racing sector in Q1 2023.

Casino also saw an increase of 13.8% year-on-year, with SEK165m in NGR generated from the sector in Q1. The growth in horse racing and casino helped to offset decreases in sports betting, which reported SEK173m in NGR, 10.8% behind last year’s Q1 figure of SEK194m.

ATG attributed poor sports betting performance down to “player-favourable” sports results during the quarter.

Lotta Nil..

April 25, 2024

iGB releases inaugural LatAm gambling market report

Produced in partnership with Sportingtech, our new LatAm Gambling report examines the biggest opportunities in the industry’s latest growth market.

Our goal with our new iGB LatAm report is to offer the industry the most comprehensive source of information for one of the world’s hottest emerging regions.

Home to some 650 million people, and with a total gambling market projected to reach $30bn annually by 2028, all eyes are on LatAm in what will no doubt be this decade’s biggest growth opportunity.

As regular readers of iGB will know, a long and occasionally fraught process to regulate gambling in Brazil came to a close in December 2023. With the signing of Bill 3,626/2023 into law, we’re about to see one of the most hotly anticipated markets come online after more than a decade of parliamentary process.

What’s in the iGB LatAm gambling report?

Of course, Brazil is the big opportunity in the region, but we’re covering far more in our first LatAm report.

BRAZIL, ARGENTINA AND..

April 25, 2024

Time running short for Alabama gambling expansion

Alabama lawmakers told the media earlier this week that a conference committee brokering a deal for an expansion of gambling would meet on Wednesday (24 April) at 2pm local time. But as early as Wednesday morning, the meeting had fallen off the legislative calendar for the day.

A call to the Alabama house of representatives confirmed that the meeting was off for Wednesday (24 April) with no reschedule date. The legislature is now scheduled to close on 5 May. This will leave lawmakers a little more than a week to reach a deal for an Alabama gambling expansion. It will then require approval from the house and senate.

If approved, the decision to approve any gambling expansion would go to the voters. The house version of the bill would put the issue on the November ballot. The senate version would create a special election in September.

Historically with gambling, precious few bills that don’t have consensus relatively early in a session make it to a governor’s desk. Just this year, ..

April 24, 2024

Penn opens first ESPN Bet retail sportsbook in Detroit, ahead of NFL draft

As the NFL prepares to descend on Detroit for its premiere off-season event, on Wednesday (24 April) Penn Entertainment opened its first brick-and-mortar ESPN Bet sportsbook.

The new location at the Hollywood Casino at Greektown is less than a mile from the site of the draft and will host a variety of ESPN programming through the week, according to a press release.

ESPN Bet went live with its first digital platforms in November 2023 after Penn Entertainment cut ties with its previous partner, Barstool Sportsbook. The new platform is live in 18 US states. When Penn launched ESPN Bet, it did not reveal how or when it would rebrand its retail sportsbooks.

“This is an exciting week to debut Penn’s first physical ESPN Bet sportsbook as the city of Detroit hosts the NFL draft and its festivities,” Hollywood Casino at Greektown general manager John Drake said via press release. “Bringing ESPN Bet to Hollywood Greektown combines Penn’s premier sports media and sports betting offerings to ..

February 2025
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28