SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
Underdog Fantasy Sportsbook Coming Soon, Promises To Be Different
While the American sports betting landscape isn’t exactly Pure Polly Purebred being held hostage by Riff Raff, it is also fair to say there have been plenty of bumps in the road.
Perhaps Underdog Fantasy, then, will be here to save the day.
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A ‘Madoff’-Like Sports Betting Scheme Leads To Arrest Of WSOP Bracelet Winner
In a move that one industry watcher compares to the Bernie Madoff scandal, former World Series of Poker bracelet winner Cory Zeidman was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering conspiracy in connection with a sports betting fraud scheme he operated from Long Island and Florida, according to a press release issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
The two-count indictment was unsealed Wednesday, and Zeidman, a 2012 WSOP bracelet winner, was arrested later that morning in Florida.
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Kambi Official Pulls Back Curtain On Process Of Setting Odds
Kambi is one of the largest global bookmakers and supplies odds to six Pennsylvania online sportsbooks, but occasionally it makes mistakes creating lines, as do its competitors.
They just don’t generally admit it publicly, as a Kambi representative was willing to do Thursday in describing how the company’s traders assessed the impact of an injury to Villanova basketball star Justin Moore during this year’s NCAA Tournament. Moore, who had averaged 15 points while playing 34 minutes per game, suffered a torn Achilles late in the Wildcats’ Elite Eight win over Houston. The injury prevented him from stepping onto the court for Villanova’s Final Four contest against Kansas, a No. 1 seed.
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Here’s How FanDuel Is Navigating Ontario’s Unique Landscape
When wagering first began in Ontario, FanDuel ran responsible gaming ads for the first five days. Why? It was a way to build brand recognition in a market that has stringent advertising and marketing regulations that are markedly different from those in most U.S. states.
Those rules have already resulted in fines for both BetMGM and PointsBet. Now there’s new competition and advertisements from DraftKings, which went live last week nearly seven weeks behind the pack.
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New Jersey Tries To Put DraftKings Proxy Betting Case In Rearview Mirror
Several months have passed since DraftKings’ settlement with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office in a case where regulators determined that the sportsbook operator failed to prevent a series of out-of-state proxy bets, headlined by a mammoth $3 million parlay placed in Florida.
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Chicago City Council Approves Bally’s As Applicant For Downtown Casino
Mayor Lori Lightfoot recorded a historic victory Wednesday when the Chicago City Council voted to approve Bally’s as its chosen operator to apply to the Illinois Gaming Board for a downtown casino license.
Lightfoot, who has all but formally announced her intentions to run for reelection next year, was able to navigate Bally’s $1.7 billion proposal for a casino in the River West neighborhood through city government with a speed that many aldermen — including those who voted for the casino — expressed concern about. She tabbed Bally’s as the city’s preferred operator on May 5, setting off a sprint capped with Wednesday’s 41-7 vote. The
Special Committee on the Chicago Casino, created by Lightfoot in March, met just three times before moving the proposal forward Monday by a 27-3 vote.
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