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.
Will Prohibet Provide One-Stop Shopping For Detection Of Sports Betting Infractions?
Over the last six months, dozens of college and professional athletes have found themselves in hot water for violating league policies by wagering on sports.
The infractions have ensnared athletes at two major Iowa universities, placing their collegiate careers in jeopardy. In the professional ranks, suspensions have cost NFL players millions of dollars.
A cutting-edge tool that provides regulatory and compliance solutions through an encrypted, cross-monitoring platform may help prevent such problems in the future. Launched in April, Prohibet offers “one-stop shopping” for regulators, sportsbook operators, and leagues in detecting gambling activities among athletes.
Read the full story here
What Do Stuffy Noses Have To Do With Responsible Gambling?
Brett Abarbanel has a cold.
She admitted as much Wednesday while participating in an iGB-sponsored panel discussion titled “How Collaboration Can Accelerate Safer Gambling Innovation.” Abarbanel, the executive director of UNLV’s International Gaming Institute, said her sinuses were bothering her and lamented the fact that phenylephrine— a nasal decongestant found in Nyquil, Benadryl, Sudafed, and Mucinex — had just been deemed ineffective at relieving stuffy noses by the Food and Drug Administration.
Phenylephrine has been around for decades, a span in which the efficacy of the drug wasn’t put to the test often enough. Therein lies a lesson for researchers and regulators in the responsible gambling space.
Read the full story here
Five Major Operators Submit Vermont Bids
BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics Betting and Gaming, and PENN Entertainment have submitted bids for the right to offer sports betting in Vermont, where lawmakers earlier this year legalized digital-only betting. The list was published late Monday on the state’s government website after a Request for Proposals was opened in July. The original deadline for bids was Aug. 28, but the deadline was extended to Sept. 6.
The biggest operator not on the list is Caesars Sportsbook. DraftKings is the only operator live in every state that borders Vermont.
Read the full story here
Prime Sportsbook Set To Kick Off In Ohio, Welcomes All Comers
Wednesday is Prime Day.
No, not that Prime Day, on which people order an air fryer for 40% off at Amazon – it’s Prime Day in that Ohio sports bettors can be the first to bet with the new Prime Sportsbook, which planned to soft launch in the afternoon. It’s a sportsbook that is seeking to bring the old-school style of Vegas bookmaking to the world of online sports betting.
Read the full story here
Bettors Know All About Responsible Gambling, But Most Don’t Practice It
Days after the American Gaming Association revealed that 91% of sports bettors and 84% of all gamblers were aware of responsible gambling tools, the organization’s vice president for strategic communications and responsibility, Cait DeBaun, shared some less encouraging news.
“The research we came out with showed that gamblers find [the messaging] to be effective, but they are not engaging with the tools,” DeBaun said Thursday during an iGB-sponsored webinar titled “Elevating responsible gaming: How the industry can sharpen its player protection capabilities.”
Read the full story here
Hard Rock Bet Could Launch As Early As Sept. 19 In Florida
Following a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District Monday, Hard Rock Bet could go live with its sports betting platform in Florida as soon as Sept. 19 if West Flagler and Associates, the plaintiff in the sports betting case, does not take further legal action.
The court late Monday afternoon denied West Flagler’s request for an en banc rehearing of the case. According to the appellate court rules, the decision becomes effective on the eighth day after it is handed down, which would be Sept. 19.
Read the full story here
Recovering Addict: Gambling ‘Made Me A Person That I Was Not’
New York state Sen. Joseph Addabbo, who led the push to legalize sports betting in New York, hosted a virtual discussion Wednesday evening to help educate people on problem gambling in all its forms.
According to the New York Council on Problem Gambling, some 4.3% of adults in New York are experiencing issues due to their gambling activity.
Read the full story here
Exclusion Confusion: May I Enter Your Casino If I’ve Banned Myself From Playing Online?
Britton Reider doesn’t consider himself a compulsive gambler, though he admits to using a dozen or more online casino apps more than he should have in Pennsylvania over the past year.
For that reason, on June 29 the 37-year-old mechanical engineer from a small town near Reading placed himself for one year on the state’s voluntary self-exclusion list to block his access to iGaming.
Read the full story here
