While a very vocal group of bettors will tell you the U.S. sports betting industry is facing a crisis, one Wyoming regulator’s conclusion is that these calls are much ado about nothing.
Sharp and successful bettors claim that a wide swath of users are being drastically limited by the major sports betting operators as soon as they show any sign of being smart about their wagering. They even formed an advocacy group for the cause, American Bettors’ Voice, fronted by noted pro bettors Billy Walters and Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos.
Regulator says Spanky’s alleged epidemic is not real
Kyrollos presented to the Wyoming Gaming Commission last November and, at the time, the organization was keen to hear what he had to say.
“It’s become an epidemic essentially how these operators are treating customers,” Kyrollos told WGC commissioners. “It’s not just smart customers that are being treated this way. It’s customers that do their homework, read more, and are able to analyze more,” Kyrollos said at the time.
However, the investigator within the WGC assigned to look into the issue drew much different conclusions about the subject.
Special Agent Supervisor Michael Steinberg submitted a report on his research to the MGC earlier this month, largely concluding limiting is not an issue the commission should spend time worrying about.
“Spanky, and the bettors association, would like you to believe that the operators are only limitingthe bettors who are doing well and winning consistently. This is not the case,” Steinberg argued.
Limiting bettors largely linked to cheating, per WGC
Steinberg said his research matched what operators told regulators in Massachusetts, with is that less than 1% of bettors are limited. He also added most bettors who are limited are being done so not because they are sharp but because they are cheating.
Steinberg listed examples like courtsiding, group betting and bearding as activities that lead to limiting by a sportsbook. He offered only one scenario that he felt the commission should be concerned about was the limiting of bettors who pounced on inaccurate or stale lines.
“The only reason for limiting a patron that gave us any concern was when an operator limits a patron for finding the errors in making odds and taking advantage of those errors.”
Steinberg also noted that, while Kyrollos complained about the issue during the committee hearing, there has been zero complaints to the commission by bettors in the state regarding the practice of limiting.
While Wyoming appears to be setting the issue aside, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is still compiling and computing data the commission requested from operators to determine how rampant the practice of limiting is. At a recent MGC meeting, staffers requested resources to hire a data analyst to interpret the data.
