SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
Massachusetts Regulators To Public: Slow Your Roll! Betting Still Months Away
With a legal sports betting bill sitting on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday did what it has been doing for months … getting ahead of the curve.
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Unpacking Massachusetts’ Bill: College Ban, Data Mandate, Extra Fees, And More
Massachusetts lawmakers went into overtime Monday to pass a statewide mobile sports betting bill that would prohibit wagering on local college teams but would allow for up to 15 digital platforms. H 5164 was lauded by politicians and bettors, but has a few hidden items that may raise an eyebrow for stakeholders, including an official league data mandate and what appears to be an additional $1 million-per-year payment from stand-alone digital operators into the state’s problem and responsible gaming fund.
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California’s Proposition 27 Launches New Ad Called ‘Shameful’ By Opposition
The backers of California’s Proposition 27 on Monday released their latest ad supporting the sports betting initiative, and within hours a coalition of tribes opposed to the measure and led by the powerful Pechanga Band of Mission Indians pushed back, calling the ad “shameful and despicable.”
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How FanDuel Plans To Encourage More Women To Place Sports Wagers
With competition in Ontario’s sports betting industry growing fiercer by the day as more operators launch in the province, FanDuel is one company that says it is focusing on how to acquire more female bettors.
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Country’s Last Remaining Jai Alai League Cuts Deal With ESPN
The last remaining purveyor of jai alai action in the United States has a deal with ESPN to give the sport more exposure.
Magic City Jai Alai and ESPN announced on Monday that ESPN2 will air a one-hour special on Magic City’s reimagined version of the world’s fastest ball sport at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday. ESPN then will stream the casino’s Battle Court season on ESPN3 starting with the first games in late September.
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It’s PENN Entertainment Now, Not Penn National Gaming
Pennsylvania’s oldest gaming company is now, in a sense, its newest.
What for 50 years has been known as Penn National Gaming is now PENN Entertainment Inc., the broad company based in Wyomissing, Berks County, announced to lead off its second-quarter earnings call Thursday morning.
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Ohio Sports Wagering To Debut When Times Square New Year’s Ball Drops
For weeks, Ohio stakeholders have targeted New Year’s Day for the historic launch of legal sports betting in the Buckeye State.
The launch date became apparent in June when the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) designated Jan. 1, 2023, as the universal start date for Ohio legal sports wagering.
Still, there had been some ambiguity in recent weeks on the exact time when Ohio sportsbook operators could begin accepting legal wagers. On Wednesday, OCCC Executive Director Matthew Schuler clarified any lingering questions.
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U.S. Regulators Split On Allowing Wagers On Saudi LIV Golf
There was a men’s professional golf event held over the weekend in New Jersey featuring 11 participants who had won a total of 21 of the “majors” — the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship — during impressive careers.
The PGA Tour held its own weekend event, the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, that also had 11 major winners, but only Jason Day, Adam Scott, and perhaps Zach Johnson would qualify as household names among them. The field compared to a lesser extent with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Patrick Reed.
The latter were among golfers playing in the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Tour event held at Trump National Bedminster Golf Club in northern New Jersey. Despite their arguably superior status, however, legal LIV betting was off-limits to gamblers in the Garden State, New York and Pennsylvania, and in many other states.
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