Industry News of the Day for April 22, 2019

Industry News:

• Legal Sports Report, 4.22.19 – Sports Betting Legislative Lasso: Central States Hurtling Toward Finish Line
  • We had plenty to write about for this week’s lasso, including a handful of hearings across the middle of the country. Let’s begin in the West, though, where a new state joined the list of those considering sports betting legislation.
• Sports Handle, 4.19.19 – Get A Grip: The Week In Sports Betting: Pennsylvania, RI And More
  • Here’s the weekend Sports Handle item, “Get a Grip,” recapping the week’s top stories and rounding up key stories in sports betting, gaming, and the world of sports at large.
• Law 360 (subscription), 4.18.19 – State Lotteries Look To Join Sports Betting Game
  • Commercial casinos and online gambling operators are eager to get a piece of the burgeoning legal sports betting market, but state lotteries may provide the easiest path.

Pennsylvania:

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4.19.19 – Internet Play Is Helping Put The Pennsylvania Lottery On A Record Pace
  • The Pennsylvania Lottery’s use of the internet to expand its sales could be a positive sign for the casinos looking to expand games and revenue through their websites and apps in coming months.
• PA Online Casino, 4.20.19 – Online Sports Betting By May, Online Casinos July 15
  • The most concrete of the two dates is online casino launch. Rather than have sites go as they are ready, there will be one launch date. All casinos ready to go live on July 15 can. That gives the 10 PA casinos with interactive gaming licenses with roughly three months to prepare.
• Play Pennsylvania, 4.20.19 – No One Is Mad About PA Sportsbooks’ Record-Setting March Return
  • After a brutal February, Pennsylvania sportsbooks bounced back in a big way in March. Thanks to the influx of March Madness sports betting, the eight books took in a combined $44.5 million in bets. Unlike Super Bowl betting, which caused big losses across the industry, casinos profited from the basketball betting.
• Pennsylvania Casino News, 4.20.19 – Casinos Post Record Gaming Revenues In March
  • The Keystone State’s 12 licensed casino operators have recently set a brand-new all-time high record for gambling winnings in a single month. According to the revenue figures that were released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board last Monday, the casinos managed to rake in whopping $309.1 million from slot machines and table games – the amount represent a modest but still very significant 2.86 percent year-over-year increase.
• Meadville Tribune, 4.21.19 – March Madness Fuels State’s Biggest Month Of Sports Betting
  • Fueled by March Madness betting, Pennsylvania’s sports wagering revenue jumped more than 40 percent in March.

New Hampshire:

• NHPR, 4.19.19 – Legalizing Sports Betting: A Common-Sense Move Or A Boon For Gambling Interests In N.H.?
  • It’s now legal for all states to allow sports betting, after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and it looks as though New Hampshire is likely to go this route.

West Virginia:

• AP, 4.19.19 – Lawsuit After 2 Casinos Couldn’t Take March Madness Bets
  • A casino operator is suing a tech company after a contract dispute shuttered its sports betting platform at two West Virginia casinos ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
• Sports Handle, 4.19.19 – Delaware North Sues Miomni Over West Virginia Sportsbook Contract
  • Delaware North, owners of the Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras casinos in West Virginia, has filed a lawsuit against Miomni Gaming, with whom it partnered to run its brick-and-mortar and online/mobile sportsbooks in West Virginia.
• Legal Sports Report, 4.19.19 – West Virginia Casino Operator Suing Over Sports Betting Debacle
  • Casino operator Delaware North is suing the company that was providing its sports betting platform in West Virginia, after it was forced to shut down all wagering last month.

Indiana:

• AP, 4.21.19 – School Money, Gambling Decisions Near For Indiana Lawmakers
  • Just how much additional money will go toward Indiana schools is a top unanswered question as the General Assembly nears the end of this year’s legislative session.

Utah:

• The Salt Lake Tribune, 4.21.19 – Commentary: Legal Gambling Would Be Better Than Utah’s Tax ‘Modernization’
  • Utah’s governing and business elites are doing their best to convince Utahns that the state’s tax system must be modernized. However, their solutions are to do more of the same rather than doing something really innovative, such as implementing a lottery and online sports betting.

Massachusetts:

• State House News Service, 4.21.19 – March A Big Money Maker For Massachusetts Casinos
  • March was a good month for the state’s two gambling halls; Plainridge Park Casino and MGM Springfield both pulled in more revenue from gaming last month than during any full month since their first in business.
• AP, 4.20.19 – Some Items Off The Table As House Takes Up State Budget
  • Democratic leaders have barred consideration of amendments dealing with the potential legalization of sports betting in Massachusetts.

Colorado:

• The Denver Post, 4.18.19 – Colorado Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Legalize Sports Betting
  • Two lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would ask voters in November whether they want to legalize sports betting throughout the state and tax the new industry’s net proceeds at a rate of 10 percent starting in May 2020.
• CBS 4 Denver, 4.18.19 – State Lawmakers Debate Whether To Allow Sports Betting
  • State lawmakers are debating whether to allow sports betting in Colorado. The Supreme Court recently lifted a ban on sports betting, which clears the way for individual states to legalize it.
• Colorado Public Radio, 4.18.19 – Sports Gambling Bill Finally Lands In Colorado
  • After months of negotiations, a bipartisan deal on sports gambling was introduced in the Colorado House on Thursday afternoon.

Iowa:

• 3 News Now, 4.19.19 – Iowa Casinos Anticipate New Law Allowing Sports Betting
  • Iowa is one step closer to legalizing sports betting and fantasy sports. States began legalizing sports gambling last year after the U.S. Supreme Court ended Nevada’s monopoly.
• AP, 4.19.19 – Iowa Senate Passes Sports Betting Bill, Sends To House
  • A bill that would legalize betting on sporting events and fantasy sports in Iowa has passed the Senate and is expected to be considered as soon as Monday in the House.

Ohio:

• AP, 4.17.19 – Competing Proposals Could Dictate Sports Betting In Ohio
  • While questions remain about whether sports betting can be legalized in Ohio without a statewide vote, competing proposals in the Legislature would do just that.

New Jersey:

• US Gambling Sites, 4.20.19 – Sports Betting Boosts New Jersey Gaming Market
  • Sports betting has been on offer in the state of New Jersey since June of 2018. Over the past few months, the new industry has provided over $150 million in revenues to the Garden State.
• NJ Online Gambling, 4.18.19 – Online Poker Fails To Ride Coattails Of New Jersey’s Gambling Resurgence
  • New Jersey’s gaming industry is booming, but the gains are not being felt for online poker. According to a gaming revenue report released last week by Garden State regulators, the online poker market contracted 3.2% year-over-year in March to $1.9 mm.

Oregon:

• The Oregonian, 4.21.19 – Oregon Lottery’s Game Changer: Big-League Sports Betting
  • That day could be fast approaching as Oregon Lottery officials intend to launch sports wagering in time for football season. The lottery hopes to put the state at the forefront of a national sports betting bonanza after a U.S. Supreme Court decision last May cleared the way for every state to get into the business.

Federal News:

• Play USA, 4.18.19 – Do Stifling DOJ Attempts To Scuttle Case Mean Wire Act Truth Is Coming?
  • Good news for online gambling advocates came last week from a federal judge in New Hampshire. Judge Paul Barbadoro decided the Department of Justice could not dodge a legal challenge to its latest Wire Act interpretation.

Sports League News:

• Chicago Tribune, 4.19.19 – Cubs, White Sox, Bulls And Blackhawks Are All-In On Sports Betting — If Their Leagues Get A Cut
  • Professional sports teams historically have taken an arm’s-length approach to gambling, but after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a prohibition on state-sanctioned sports betting, the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks are ready to embrace it — if their respective leagues get a piece of the action.
• NJ Online Gambling, 4.19.19 – Poll Shows 1 In 5 Fans Would Follow Baseball More Closely If They Could Bet On It
  • A poll released this week by Seton Hall University showed that 19% of respondents said they would follow baseball more closely if they could legally bet on the games — compared to 72% who said they would not.

iDEA Growth Member News:

• Twin Cities Business, 4.20.19 – Sportradar And SportsGrid Launch First Free, 24-hour Betting Network
  • Two big players in sports tech—SportRadar, which has its U.S. headquarters in Minneapolis, and sports betting programmer SportsGrid—are teaming up to launch the first-ever free, 24-hour sports betting network.

Overall Industry News:

• Wall Street Journal, 4.19.19 – Gambling Will Take Over TV Sports
  • Folks in the cable TV business aren’t taking any chances. When the Supreme Court last year struck down a federal law banning sports betting, they knew it was good news for the beleaguered cable bundle, the glue of which is live sports.
• CNBC, 4.20.19 – The Casino Industry Exemplifies Decades Of Radical Transformations In Corporate America
  • As the Massachusetts gaming commission began hearings last week to decide if the Wynn Co will retain its license to operate the first major urban casino on the East Coast, I thought back to my original introduction to the casino industry in 1983.