SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
NFL Suspends Colts DB Isaiah Rodgers, Three Others For Violating Sports Betting Policy
The NFL announced Thursday that Indianapolis Colts defensive back Isaiah Rodgers Sr. and three other players have been suspended for violating the league’s sports betting policy.
Rodgers and Colts teammate Rashod Berry are suspended through at least the conclusion of the 2023 season for betting on NFL games in the 2022 season. The Colts waived both players after the suspensions were handed down.
“We have made the … roster moves as a consequence of the determination that these players violated the league’s gambling policy,” said Colts General Manager Chris Ballard in a statement posted on the team’s website.
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Ohio Regulator To Operators: No Promotional Offers During Non-Sportsbook Transactions
Ohio regulators continued their clamp down on gambling advertising Wednesday when they announced that gaming operators would no longer be able to offer promotions on “unrelated consumer transactions.” The move means that companies like Fanatics, which previously offered retail customers promotional opportunities to draw them into sports betting, will no longer be able to do so.
All operators in the state are required to show that they do not offer, or have stopped offering, “any directed consumer promotions, based on non-gaming consumer transactions” by 5 p.m. July 7, according to an Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) letter sent to stakeholders Wednesday.
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Sportsbooks Missing Opportunity To Convert Key Demographics Into Players
The world of sports betting is dominated by men. But a new study suggests that sportsbook operators are missing an opportunity by not marketing to women and baby boomers.
Those two population segments, according to a study by customer-experience company Disqo, are among the most underserved and disregarded by wagering operators.
“We want to paint a picture that there are a still a lot of holdouts and an opportunity to get them in,” Patrick Egan, Disqo’s director of research and insights, told Sports Handle.
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NCAA Adopts More Lenient Policies For Sports Betting Violators
After a spring season that featured sports betting controversies at numerous colleges — including the University of Alabama, the University of Iowa, and Iowa State University — the NCAA on Wednesday announced a series of updated penalties for future wagering violations.
Previously, the NCAA viewed betting violations on a case-by-case basis, but says previous guidance crafted prior to widespread legalization of mobile sports betting would often result in players who wagered on sports at any level to lose one full season of collegiate eligibility. The new guidelines, which aren’t as strict, went into effect for any violations reported on or after May 2.
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Ryan’s Resurrection: Ex-Pitcher Rises From The Depths Of Gambling Addiction
Ryan Tatusko had Tommy John surgery when he was 17, but that didn’t scare Indiana State University’s baseball coaches away from the talented teenage pitcher. Tatusko arrived on campus unable to play right away. Instead, he started to gamble to stave off boredom.
The games were Mario Kart or five-card draw poker, and the stakes were small. If someone lost, they’d have to spring for “lunch at Chick-fil-A in the Commons,” Tatusko recalled.
But things quickly escalated. One night, Tatusko and his roommate played in an all-night online poker tournament. His roommate won. Tatusko didn’t.
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Betr Raises $35 Million In Funding, Plans To Enhance Sportsbook
Betr, a sports betting and media startup co-founded by Jake Paul and Joey Levy, announced Tuesday that it raised $35 million in Series A2 funding. The funding comes from Roger Ehrenberg (via IA Sports Ventures and Eberg Capital), Fuel Venture Capital, Levy, Paul, and others.
The funding round comes as Betr’s relatively new online sports betting product is making headway across the U.S. Betr is operational in Ohio and Massachusetts, and the product is licensed in Virginia with a launch expected soon. Betr also holds market access in Indiana, and it expects to expand into other states in the near future.
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New Jersey Lawmaker Seeks To Further Limit Some Gambling Ads
New Jersey state Sen. Joseph Cryan (D-Union) introduced legislation last week that would “narrowly” target sports betting and casino advertisements that are deemed to be fraudulent, tailored to people on the state’s self-exclusion lists, or that directly appeal to underage persons.
The bill, S4021, was introduced late last week and won’t be heard, in committee or otherwise, until autumn at the earliest, as the state legislature is set to begin its unofficial summer break Friday.
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Deloitte Study On Sports Fandom A Mixed Bag For Betting Interests
With varying degrees of truthfulness, it has become commonplace for every president to begin his annual State of the Union address with “the State of the Union is strong.” Similarly, in its 2023 report on the state of sports fandom in America, Deloitte proclaims that “the current state of sports fandom is strong … for now.”
Why the hint of concern? In its survey of more than 3,000 U.S. sports fans aged 14 and older, 68% said they currently participated in sports or had in the past — with about one-third of respondents chalking the single biggest reason for their fandom up to participation in youth sports.
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Bill To Add 10 Years To New Jersey Online Casino Law Gets Cut To Two
A bipartisan bill in New Jersey to renew the state’s internet gaming laws for another 10 years came out of an Assembly committee on Monday with the language of the bill changed so that it would only be a two-year renewal.
The committee’s decision, according to an Associated Press article, was not made public during the hearing.
The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey immediately sent out a press release denouncing the change.
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