SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
Will Everyone Please Stop Calling ‘Mattress Mack’ A Sports Bettor?
Houston-based furniture magnate Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale is as much a sports bettor as WWE is a true athletic competition. The spectacle and choreography may be entertaining, but it ain’t real, and the way McIngvale has spun the script, he wins either way.
McIngvale deserves credit for that: He knows how to capture the spotlight and run a promotion. The serial self- and furniture promoter has figured out how to hijack the media to drive sales. Over and over again.
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Wagering On Women
Brett Abarbanel says that in her household growing up, “spectatorship of sports was always very matriarchal.”
“I grew up watching sports with my mom,” said Abarbanel, the director of research at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute. “My dad had no interest.”
Dave Sharapan has three daughters, aged 18, 16, and 8. The oldest plays softball on scholarship at the College of Southern Nevada and recently wrote a paper wondering why women’s sports aren’t on TV as often as men’s sports.
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Charlie Blackmon Deal Could Be First Of Many For MLB Players
Evan Kaplan said he gets at least two calls a week from agents looking to clarify what major league players can and can’t do as brand ambassadors for legal sportsbooks, deals that have the potential to broaden their clients’ portfolios.
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Fixed Odds To Arrive At Monmouth Park
After two years without a Media Day due to COVID-19 concerns, officials at Monmouth Park were pleased on Thursday to welcome back dozens of familiar faces who have long frequented New Jersey’s lone thoroughbred racetrack.
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Yankees Ink Deal To Make FanDuel Their Official Sportsbook
The Yankees and FanDuel announced a multi-year deal Monday to make FanDuel the official sportsbook partner of the 27-time World Series champs.
The deal will give the sportsbook VIP hospitality accommodations at Yankee Stadium and use of the Yankees’ marks as well as advertising space in right field and, on a rotating basis, behind home plate during TV broadcasts. It also could open the door for FanDuel betting kiosks in the not-too-distant future and, possibly, a FanDuel sportsbook at the South Bronx venue, although a press release did not allude to those.
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Filibuster Kills Missouri Sports Betting Bills
Missouri Senator Denny Hoskins had long been promising a filibuster if the sports betting bill that moved in his chamber wasn’t to his liking. Wednesday night, he made good on his promise.
In a filibuster that went on for nearly four hours, often to a nearly empty Senate chamber, Hoskins cajoled and shamed one of his peers while making nice with others before Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz adjourned the chamber “under the rules” at 9:30 p.m. local time, killing the two sports betting bills up for debate.
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Massachusetts Sports Betting Bill Moves, But Bumpy Road Ahead
With little fanfare late Friday afternoon, the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee agreed to new language for a sports betting bill allowing for statewide mobile wagering.
The bill, S.2844, is now headed to the Senate floor and debate is expected Thursday, according to MassLive. The bill is at odds with a version that was approved by the House last summer.
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