It’s Friday on SBC Americas so once more our colleagues over at SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
Regulators Grapple With Potential Problem Gambling Impact Of ICasino Expansion
The potential expansion of online casino gambling in the United States is top of mind for state regulators, especially as it relates to problem gambling measures.
Despite minimal iCasino legalization across states in 2023, industry experts still anticipate iGaming expansion in the coming years.
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Ohio Continues Slide In Betting Activity, Revenue In June
Ohio’s sportsbooks continued an expected decline in activity and revenue in June, from a combination of a reduced sports calendar and shrinking promotional offers from operators.
The monthly report from the Ohio Casino Control Commission for 18 online sportsbooks and 14 retail venues showed $362.1 million in total statewide handle in June and $32.6 million in combined revenue. Those are both the lowest monthly figures since legal sports betting began in the state Jan. 1, with the handle down 18.9% from May’s $446.2 million and revenue off 43.7% from May’s $57.8 million.
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Breaking Down Illinois’ Online-Only Sports Wagering Applications
Though it may no longer get you a franchise NFL quarterback or front-end MLB starter these days, $20 million is still a significant sum of money. And it is the entry price point for one of three online-only sports wagering licenses in Illinois.
Illinois is the nation’s No. 2 market in terms of legal sports betting handle this year, behind only New York, and home to the country’s third-largest city in Chicago (plus St. Louis bordering Illinois to the west in Missouri, which repeatedly fails to legalize). But the state is still capable of growth in handle, with only seven mobile operators currently serving a population with more than 8.6 million residents of legal betting age.
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Criminal Charges Around Wagering Filed Against Iowa State Starting QB
Iowa State starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers could be facing the end of his college football career after the Story County Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint charging him with “tampering with records related to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s” inquiry into sports wagering, according to a local media report Tuesday night.
Dekkers is one of three Iowa State athletes charged — sophomore wrestler Paniro Johnson and sophomore offensive lineman Dodge Sauser are also accused of betting on Iowa State sports. Johnson, a Big 12 wrestling champion last season, allegedly bet more than $45,600 across nearly 1,300 wagers.
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Have We Seen The Last Major Wave Of NFL Betting Suspensions?
From May 14, 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned PASPA and sports betting legalization began to spread beyond Nevada, through the end of 2022, two NFL players received suspensions for violating the league’s gambling policy.
From April through July of 2023, 10 NFL players received suspensions for violating the league’s gambling policy
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The Future Of Sports Betting Is Horse Racing
When the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for fixed-odds sports betting to sweep the nation in 2018, horse racing insiders may have felt as though the industry was the thoroughbred Sham, leading early in the 1973 Belmont Stakes with Secretariat breathing down his neck.
We all know how that race turned out.
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