SportsHandle: the week that was in US sports betting

SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting. New Jersey Budget Makes Horse Racing Purses Whole Again New Jersey’s 2023 fiscal year budget, signed into law last week by Gov. Phil Murphy, includes a record $25 million purse subsidy for the state’s horse racing industry. “There was $15 million in the governor’s proposed budget for horse racing purses,” AJ Sabath, a longtime lobbyist for the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey, explained to NJ Online Gambling. Read the full story here Tribes: Sovereignty At Risk From California Commercial Digital Wagering Initiative Proposition 27, the California initiative backed by commercial operators to legalize digital sports betting, continues to take a beating from many of the state’s tribes. On Thursday, the lobbyist group Californians for Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming held an online press conference during which Chairman Daniel Salgado of the Cahuilla Band of Indians stated that tribal sovereignty and self-determination will be at risk should the proposition pass. Read the full story here FanDuel Makes Promotional Pivot From ‘Risk-Free’ To ‘No Sweat’ Bets On June 11, an article bearing the headline “FanDuel CEO Amy Howe Wants to Help the Sports-Betting Business Grow Up” appeared in the online version of The Wall Street Journal. Here, it was reported that FanDuel was “re-evaluating the use of terms like ‘risk free’ in its advertising promotions targeting new customers.” Shortly thereafter, on Sports Handle and other affiliated websites, the “risk-free” language in FanDuel’s promotions vanished, replaced by the phrase “no sweat.” Hence, rather than a risk-free bet, new customers are now offered a “$1000 No Sweat First Bet” — a shift that’s drawn measured praise from responsible gambling advocates and researchers who’ve long held that labeling such wagers “risk-free” was dangerously misleading, if not plainly inaccurate. Read the full story here Gold Rush Files Lawsuit Against Fellow VGT Operator Accel Entertainment Gold Rush Amusements has filed a lawsuit in Cook County claiming “illegal and tortious conduct” by Accel Entertainment, adding another chapter in the ongoing dispute between two of the three largest operators of video gaming terminals (VGTs) in Illinois. Read the full story here Tech Startup Gives BetPARX The Means To Personalize Betting Options Let’s say you’re an Eagles fan with a proclivity to bet on NFL football more than any other sport, and a proven interest in betting pre-game player props as your favorite type of wager — especially for a televised game you’re planning to watch. What if your mobile sports betting app could factor in all that information and use it to personalize and streamline the betting process? What if the day before the Eagles’ opener against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 11, the first thing showing up on your app’s screen isn’t a long list of different sports, but the option to bet the over/under on DeVonta Smith’s receptions in Sunday’s game? Read the full story here
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SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting. 

New Jersey Budget Makes Horse Racing Purses Whole Again

New Jersey’s 2023 fiscal year budget, signed into law last week by Gov. Phil Murphy, includes a record $25 million purse subsidy for the state’s horse racing industry.

“There was $15 million in the governor’s proposed budget for horse racing purses,” AJ Sabath, a longtime lobbyist for the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey, explained to NJ Online Gambling.

Read the full story here

Tribes: Sovereignty At Risk From California Commercial Digital Wagering Initiative

Proposition 27, the California initiative backed by commercial operators to legalize digital sports betting, continues to take a beating from many of the state’s tribes.

On Thursday, the lobbyist group Californians for Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming held an online press conference during which Chairman Daniel Salgado of the Cahuilla Band of Indians stated that tribal sovereignty and self-determination will be at risk should the proposition pass.

Read the full story here

FanDuel Makes Promotional Pivot From ‘Risk-Free’ To ‘No Sweat’ Bets

On June 11, an article bearing the headline “FanDuel CEO Amy Howe Wants to Help the Sports-Betting Business Grow Up” appeared in the online version of The Wall Street Journal. 

Here, it was reported that FanDuel was “re-evaluating the use of terms like ‘risk free’ in its advertising promotions targeting new customers.”

Shortly thereafter, on Sports Handle and other affiliated websites, the “risk-free” language in FanDuel’s promotions vanished, replaced by the phrase “no sweat.” Hence, rather than a risk-free bet, new customers are now offered a “$1000 No Sweat First Bet” — a shift that’s drawn measured praise from responsible gambling advocates and researchers who’ve long held that labeling such wagers “risk-free” was dangerously misleading, if not plainly inaccurate.

Read the full story here

Gold Rush Files Lawsuit Against Fellow VGT Operator Accel Entertainment

Gold Rush Amusements has filed a lawsuit in Cook County claiming “illegal and tortious conduct” by Accel Entertainment, adding another chapter in the ongoing dispute between two of the three largest operators of video gaming terminals (VGTs) in Illinois.

Read the full story here

Tech Startup Gives BetPARX The Means To Personalize Betting Options

Let’s say you’re an Eagles fan with a proclivity to bet on NFL football more than any other sport, and a proven interest in betting pre-game player props as your favorite type of wager — especially for a televised game you’re planning to watch.

What if your mobile sports betting app could factor in all that information and use it to personalize and streamline the betting process? What if the day before the Eagles’ opener against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 11, the first thing showing up on your app’s screen isn’t a long list of different sports, but the option to bet the over/under on DeVonta Smith’s receptions in Sunday’s game?
Read the full story here