A bill that would amend the North Dakota constitution to potentially introduce online sports betting has been passed by the state's House and will now be considered by its Senate.
Entitled House Concurrent Resolution No. 3002, the bill outlines an amendment to section 25 of article 11 of North Dakota’s Constitution.
The amendment would allow sports betting to be permitted by, and regulated by, the state of North Dakota.
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Influencer Jake Paul’s microbetting start-up Betr will now begin accepting real-money deposits and withdrawals in Ohio, after a “soft launch” on 1 January.
In August 2022, Paul – alongside SimpleBet founder and CEO Joey Levy – launched Betr, a microbetting offering, designed at allowing players to place bets on fast-resolving markets. Paul is president of Betr, while Levy acts as CEO.
This was followed by the September launch of Betr’s mobile app, which nationwide launched on a free-to-play basis ahead of a real money offering.
The application has a reworked interface that simplifies betting UI by presenting the bet as a multiple choice question, as well as displaying odds as payout multiples.
betr allows users to place same game parlays on sports games
Betr entered Ohio through a 10-year market access agreement with Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company.
State-by-state expansion
Levy said he was “thrilled” to be launching Betr’s real-money betting business in Ohio. “Thi..
Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Kindred, has said that “no item is sacred” in terms of cutting costs on an earnings call addressing Kindred’s Q4 trading update released earlier today (13 January).
Although Kindred’s Q4 revenue is projected to rise 24.5% year-on-year to £305.0m (€343.1m/$372.2m), Kindred said this was not up to expectations and vowed to take “immediate action”.
Addressing this, Tjärnström said that Kindred would review all areas of cost in order to improve spending for 2023, adding that no cost-cutting is off the table.
“We are looking to review all cost items for efficiency purposes and refreshing our channels for spending in 2023,” he said. “We cannot comment on the overall number at this point.
“But we’re clearly looking across the P&L [profit and loss], and no item is sacred in that sense.”
He said this was due to how vastly the Q4 revenue is set to depart from Kindred’s, and the market’s, expectations.
“We take this very seriously, and the deviation that we see fro..
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has voted to approve sports apparel giant Fanatics for a temporary sports betting operator licence, while the regulator also appointed Bruce Band to lead its new sports betting division.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve Fanatics for a Category 3 sports betting operator licence, which will be tethered to Plainridge Park Casino’s Category 1 sports wagering licence.
However, Fanatics will need to undergo a full suitability review by the MGC’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau. After this, Fanatics will also need to obtain an operations certificate and meet additional conditions to begin accepting sports wagers.
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Consumer spending on sports betting in Indiana fell month-on-month and year-on-year in December, although the state reported an increase in revenue.
Wagering handle for the month was $431.4m, down 6.8% from $463.0m in December 2021 and also 4.6% lower than $452.3m in November 2022.
Football was again the most popular sport to bet on, attracting $136.2m in total wagers, just ahead of basketball on $130.0m. Consumers also spent over $46.0m betting on other sports and $119.0m on parlay bets.
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The state of New York has proposed a bill to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, to require all advertisements for gambling and sports betting to include warnings on the potential harm of gambling.
The bill, introduced into the State Senate by Democratic senators Leroy Comrie and Luis R Sepúlveda, has not yet been voted on.
Specifically, the amendment “requires all advertisements for gambling and sports betting to include warnings about the potential harmful and addictive effects of gambling; requires the state gaming commission to cooperate with the commissioner of addiction services and supports to ensure that all advertisements for gaming activity state a problem gambling hotline number”.
The amendment also proposes to include mobile sports wagering licences into the advertisement requirement.
If the motion passes, it will take effect sixteen days after it becomes a law.
Ohio marketing violations
As part of its regulations when it legalised sports bett..
Sports betting marketplace WagerWire has partnered with B2B “bet on anything” platform Sparket, to create a secondary market for bets created through Sparket.
Players will be able to buy and sell Sparket bets both on the websites of operators that partner with Sparket and on the WagerWire mobile app when it launches early this year.
Markets available on Sparket include the next state to legalise sports betting and who will be thanked first in the host intro of Saturday Night Live.
Sparket CEO Aaron Basch noted that the deal would allow for in-play betting for events traded on Sparket for the first time.
“Combining forces with WagerWire creates powerful possibilities for our users,” he said. “The ability to flip in and out of bets gives our users more power and freedom over their wagers. For the first time in history, pari-mutuel markets will now become tradable after the event begins and the windows are closed.
“This enhanced user experience takes Sparket to the next level and is..
Betting education platform Gaming Society and the International Gaming Institute (IGI), a nonprofit academic centre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) have partnered to conduct research into female sports and betting as well as collaborate on educational development.
The aim of the research is to better understand female sports bettors, women’s sports fans’ attitudes on betting and industry investment in sponsorship of women’s sports.
IGI and Gaming Society will focus on collecting and analysing wide ranges of data in the sports betting, technology and media sector.
“Market research and data on fan behaviour is critical in driving future innovation within the sports betting industry,” Gaming Society co-founder Jaymee Messler said. “Over the past year, Gaming Society has partnered with leading leagues and brands to make sports betting more inclusive and deepen fan engagement, with particular focus on women bettors and women’s sport.”
Additional collaboration between th..
Betway parent company Super Group announced that its board of directors has approved a $25m (£20.5m/€23.2m) share repurchase scheme.
Super Group said the scheme is set to run until 31 December 2023, though the board reserved the right to extend or shorten the timeframe at their discretion.
The operator also emphasised that the announcement did not legally bind it in any way – noting that Super Group was “not obligated” to repurchase any shares, and that repurchases if any would be made from time to time on the open market at prevailing prices or “in negotiated transactions off the market”.
“Our debt-free balance sheet is strong and we actively consider using cash to drive long-term shareholder value through investment and through returning cash to shareholders,” said CFO Alinda van Wyk. “We believe a modest share repurchase programme is an efficient potential use of cash depending on market circumstances.”
The share repurchase scheme happens after a fraught Q3, in which declines in..
UK-based global betting brand Bet365 has partnered with Ohio-based MLB team the Cleveland Guardians.
Ohio – where sports betting launched on 1 January – is the third US state in which Bet365 is live, following New Jersey and Colorado.
The partnership lands as the Guardians bid to retain the American League (AL) Central title, which was the franchise’s first since 2018.
Ted Baugh, the Guardians’ vice-president of corporate and premium partnerships, said: “We’re very excited to work with Bet365 as our exclusive mobile sports betting partner and welcome them to the State of Ohio.
“There is a tremendous bond between our organisation and Bet365. With nearly 90 million customers registered worldwide, Bet365 is one of the world’s leaders in online gambling and will provide our fans a trusted source to complement our organisation’s success on and off the field.”
The Guardians annual “Guards Fest”, which runs on 21 January for the first time after a two-year pause, will mark the beginn..
Catena Media said it recorded its strongest-ever start for a US state launch of licensed online sports betting.
The Malta-based affiliate revealed that according to its preliminary data, new registrations in Ohio have led to engagement levels that surpass its launch in New York in 2022.
“This is without doubt our strongest state sports betting launch period to date,” said Ryan Harper, vice-president of Catena Media North America.
“We’re delighted to see strong traffic on our websites in relation to the Ohio launch. Player engagement in licensed sports betting has been very solid.”
Catena operates in Ohio through its national brands including Legalsportsreport.com, Gamingtoday.com, Thelines.com and Lineups.com, as well as through strong regional websites such as Playohio.com.
Operating in over 20 regulated states and provinces in North America, Catena recorded revenue of €80m (£71m/$86m) in the 12 months to September 2022, representing a growth of 33% from 2021.
Ohio launches spor..
Entain has completed the €450m (£398.1m/$484.2m) acquisition of Dutch operator BetCity from Sports Entertainment Media.
The deal grants Entain access to the Dutch regulated market, where BetCity was one of the initial 10 licensees and quickly became a market leader after the market launched on 1 October 2021, holding a 20% market share in Q4 of 2021.
Entain’s brands had not been able to launch in the Nertherlands as part of the initial batch of licensees due to the country’s “cooling-off” period for operators that accepted Dutch customers before the market opened.
While this period ended last year, and Entain had initially expected its legacy brands to receive licences in 2022, this has not yet happened.
“We are pleased to have completed the acquisition of BetCity,” Entain chief executive Jette Nygaar-Andersen said. “The combination of BetCity’s local expertise and strong brand, alongside Entain’s global scale and market-leading platform provides customers with an enriched and broa..