SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.

Online Accounts For More Than 82 Percent of NJ’s Sports Betting Handle In May

On Wednesday afternoon, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement released casino industry figures from May, including totals for sports betting. According to the figures, the Garden State’s retail and online/mobile sportsbooks collected $318.9 mm in wagers, winning $15.5 mm off of gamblers.

The amount of the handle that came over the internet was $263.5 mm, or 82.6% of the total. That’s the highest it has ever been in the state’s roughly one-year-old sports betting market. Online/mobile accounted for 81% in April. There’s been incremental growth in the online share of the handle.

Full story here.

Q&A: William Hill’s Joe Asher Focused On ‘Deeply Ingrained Black Market’

Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US, has quickly become one of the most powerful voices in the rapidly expanding realm of legal sports wagering in the United States. William Hill just in the past year since PASPA was ruled unconstitutional has:

  • Executed a series of groundbreaking deals with first to market promotional partnerships with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and New Jersey Devils, major arena operators and others.
  • Aligned itself with Penn National Gaming, the country’s largest regional casino operator, in various jurisdictions including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Nevada with plans to expand to other states as new markets become legal.
  • Bolstered William Hill’s role with state lottery run sports wagering outlets in Delaware while becoming risk manager for IGT at the Rhode Island Lottery-run sportsbooks in that state.
  • Negotiated an arrangement to run sportsbooks for Eldorado Resorts, including forging an equity partnership deal with this burgeoning regional operator, said to be a major player in negotiations for Caesars Entertainment.
  • Continued its rapid expansion in Nevada by taking over sportsbook management duties for Golden Entertainment outlets in the state, including the Stratosphere, now renamed The Strat, on the north end Las Vegas Strip.

To shed light on these developments and more, Sports Handle recently caught up with Asher in his Las Vegas office.

Full story here.

Legal Sports Betting Officially Coming To Upstate New York Casinos

The accessibility drawbacks are twofold, but nevertheless, legal sports betting is coming to New York, the fourth most populous state in the U.S.

On Monday, with little conversation, the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) voted 6-0 to approve regulations for legal sports betting — on-premises only — at four Upstate New York casinos. The vote came after a required 60-day comment period on the proposed regulations.

Full story here.

Document Shows MLB Pitch For Sportsbooks To Become ‘Official League Data Licensee’

Earlier this spring, a Major League Baseball executive embarked on a road show out West stopping at several major sportsbooks on or around the Las Vegas Strip.

There, the executive disseminated a pitch deck for the league’s Authorized Gaming Operator (AGO) program, through which prospective sportsbook operators can become an “official league data licensee.” The six-page pamphlet details the benefits of partnering with MLB for gambling purposes, including the crown jewel, access to the league’s official betting data.

Full story here.

Live Free And Sports Bet: NH Sports Betting Bill Headed To Governor

The New Hampshire House on Thursday concurred on minor changes to sports betting bill HB 480, sending it on to Governor Chris Sununu’s desk. It’s likely Sununu will sign the bill after he included sports betting revenue in his budget address earlier this year, and was one of four governors who called for his state to legalize. One of the others, Illinois, legalized earlier this month.

Full story here.