SportsHandle: the week that was in US sports betting

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

No B.S.: Simmons’ Ringer Podcasts Slow Down Problematic FanDuel Ad Reads

Even before the first legal sports wager was accepted in Ohio in the wee hours of Jan. 1, the state’s gambling regulator got busy issuing six-figure fines to sportsbooks like DraftKingsBetMGMCaesars, and PENN/Barstool for violating specific advertising regulations — something that left Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) Executive Director Matthew T. Schuler in a foul mood when he fired a memo off to the state’s gambling operators and service providers shortly before launch.

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Read The Fine Print: A Proposed Federal Rule Could Change Everything For Indian Gaming

Within a massive packet of proposed updates to federal regulation of Class III tribal-state gaming compacts lie several sentences that could dramatically change the face of digital gaming across the U.S.

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It Won’t Be Easy For Sportsbooks To Make Money In Massachusetts

While there’s plenty of anticipation about Massachusetts’ digital version of sports betting arriving Friday, operators could find the route to profitability more challenging there than in other states.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s advertising and responsible gambling guardrails are far more strict than in other states and the cost to get up and running is high. While stakeholders believe that Massachusetts will outperform its population size, the Bay State is the 16th biggest in the U.S. and will become the 10th largest with live digital wagering. Its population is about one-third the size of New York’s and about half of Pennsylvania’s, the two biggest states in the U.S. with legal digital wagering.

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Colorado Denies Report Stating That It’s Considering WWE Wagering

Pro wrestling is scripted. The winner and loser are predetermined. While the action is “real” in the ring, the results are, quite literally, fake.

But that’s not stopping the WWE from reportedly sitting down with state gambling regulators in Michigan and Colorado in an attempt to let bettors wager on big matches. If the WWE gets its way, people will be able to bet on Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes for the Universal Title at WrestleMania.

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Four States, Four Ways To Look At Changing Sports Betting Advertising

The biggest story in the legalized sports betting industry right now isn’t the upcoming NFL Draft, it isn’t the Nikola Jokic potential MVP three-peat, and it isn’t which team is best positioned to win the World Series.

Nope. The biggest story in sports betting right now, at least for those inside the industry, is the way legislators and regulators have started questioning how much leeway the operators should have when it comes to advertising their legal product.

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Is New York Governor Kathy Hochul Losing Interest In Gambling Expansion?

On his company’s fourth-quarter earnings call last month, Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg shared that while he believes his group has the best proposal to build a New York City-area casino, the company isn’t going to sell out just to gain a foothold in the heart of the Big Apple.

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Politicians Poke At Sports Betting Ads But Pander To Lotteries And Their Cute Groundhogs

No, sports betting industry, you’re not paranoid. That New York Times series from last November has indeed lit a fire, despite the fact the main story — to my 25-plus years journalistic eye — was a slam job.

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Michigan Attorney Becomes Voice For State’s Most Desperate Gambling Addicts

The night before she died in 2015, Jane Ann Burke made her husband promise he would continue the work she had suggested he embark upon 11 years earlier. That work, inspired in the days he was released from a Michigan state prison after three years served for embezzlement, became the foundation for the rest of his life.

“I’ve spent 20 years working with gambling addicts,” Michael Burke said. “It is my life.”

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