SportsHandle: That was the week that was in US sports betting

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

The Provincial Rollout: What’s Next For Single-Event Sports Betting In Canada

When the Senate of Canada approved a bill on single-event sports betting last month in a historic 11th hour vote, the Canadian Parliament laid the groundwork for the rollout of wagering on single-game athletic events north of the border.

Now comes the heavy lifting. A key provision in C-218, the signed legislation, decriminalizes wagering on single games such as last week’s Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, when the Tampa Bay Lightning clinched the cup with a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. The language amends a section in the Canadian Criminal Code that will make it lawful for the government of a province to conduct and manage a provincial lottery scheme for contests that involve single-game sporting events.

Full story here.

Rural Washington State Tribe Raring To Go As Sportsbooks Prepare To Open

Drive a few bay-straddling miles along U.S. 101 from 7 Cedars Casino on Washington state’s majestic Olympic peninsula and you’ll arrive at a funky burger joint called Fat Smitty’s, a shrine to double-decker patties and patriotic freedom that features dollar bills dripping from its ceiling and walls.

Which is to say, if your casino is anywhere remotely close to a burger joint like Fat Smitty’s, you’re in the sticks, bubba, where the stop signs say, “Whoa!”

Full story here.

Casino Payment Processor Urges Folks To Go Nuts Gambling On ‘All or Nothing Day’

July 26 is National All or Nothing Day, and much like virtually every other “national day” (see: National Crouton Day, National Rat Catcher’s Day, National Talk Like a Pirate Day), this one is made up out of whole cloth and means nothing and exists almost solely for lazy talk show radio hosts and newspaper columnists to use as fodder. (I speak from experience.)

But despite the utter and complete lack of provenance for National All or Nothing Day, it isn’t stopping VIP Preferred from blasting out an email encouraging would-be bettors to max bet their slot play and to bet a parade of longshots at the racetrack.

Full story here.

Florida PAC Receives $20 Million Contribution From DraftKings, FanDuel For Sports Betting Ballot Initiative

A prominent Florida political action committee received a contribution of $20 million from DraftKings and FanDuel, the PAC reported Monday, as the companies continue to drum up support to place a statewide mobile sports betting measure on the November 2022 ballot.

Florida Education Champions, a newly established PAC, indicated that DraftKings and FanDuel made a contribution of $10 million each to the committee’s coffers. The contributions were made during last month’s filing period that expired on June 30, according to the Florida Division of Elections campaign finance records.

Full story here.

Record Olympic Betting Handle Expected Post-PASPA, But What’s That Really Mean?

Looking for a surefire bet on the Tokyo Olympics? Here’s one, courtesy of Sam Panayotovich, sports betting analyst for FOX Sports:

“It’ll be the largest handle for the Olympics we’ve ever seen.”

That’s because, for the first time, bettors will be able to place wagers on the Games outside of the state of Nevada, thanks to the 2018 repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But let’s not get carried away here: The Summer Games are no Super Bowl, not from a sports betting standpoint.

Full story here.

Maryland Regulator Approves Draft Sports Betting Rules That Raise Some Questions

The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission on Thursday unanimously approved its draft sports betting rules — rules that could raise some eyebrows among operators. The proposal appears to include the mandatory use of official league data even to settle bets on the outcome of the game, and imposes limits around promotional play following the first year of operation.

The rules must now be opened for a 30-day public comment period before they can be finalized. In most states, regulators amend the rules following the public comment period and before finalizing them. A spokesperson for the MLGC said timelines for the public comment period, final rule approval, and the opening of the application process would be available on its website in the near future.

Full story here.

New York Assemblyman Pretlow Warns Of Pitfalls With Cuomo’s Mobile Betting Model

As the sportsbook industry continues to digest a mammoth 130-page Request For Applications that will determine the landscape of mobile sports betting in New York, Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow is warning the industry of a potential pitfall associated with the limited operator model.

When the New England Patriots edged the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII, Rhode Island sportsbooks took a bath, losing $2.35 million as the Pats covered a 2.5-point spread. Unlike a reinsurer that may incur millions of dollars in losses from a Category 5 hurricane, New York State is not taking on any risk if the Buffalo Bills win the Super Bowl. But under the model outlined in the RFA released by the New York Gaming Commission on July 8, a dominant victory by a New York-area team could cause the state to fall short of annual revenue estimates projected for mobile sports betting.

Full story here.