Industry News of the Day for March 6, 2019
Industry News:
- Online Poker Report, 3.5.19 – Churchill Downs Warming Up For Online Gambling In New Jersey, Pennsylvania
- Churchill Downs is betting big on New Jersey and Pennsylvania to bolster its gaming empire. Discussing the two neighboring markets to investors last week, CEO Bill Carstanjen expressed his eagerness to expand.
- PA Online Casinos, 3.4.19 – PA Helps Push Other Sports Betting States Ahead of Nevada
- The king of sports betting is facing more competition every month. The latest evidence arrived Friday, in a news release by the American Gaming Association. For the first time ever, wagers in new legal sports betting markets in January exceeded those in Nevada.
New Jersey:
- NJ Gambling Sites, 3.6.19 – New Jersey Sports Betting Has Huge Impact On Total Legal US Handle
- January will go down in the US sports betting history books. Besides it being the first time that six new jurisdictions took legal wagers on NFL playoff games, there is something much bigger to this story.
- NJ Gambling Sites, 3.5.19 – Hold Your Horses: Proposed Garden State Park Standalone Sportsbook In Legal Limbo
- On Friday, details emerged of plans to transform Garden State Park Racetrack (GSP) in Cherry Hill into the state’s first standalone sports betting property.
Pennsylvania:
- Poker Fuse, 3.5.19 – Pennsylvania Online Gaming Delay Attributed to Wire Act
- Gaming regulators in Pennsylvania are now looking to late June or early July as the time period for the launch of the state’s online gaming market.
- WFMZ, 3.5.19 – Hearing for proposed casino draws standing-room-only crowd
- A Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board hearing over a proposed casino in Berks County drew more than 300 people on Monday. Wyomissing-based Penn National Gaming is proposing to build Hollywood Casino Morgantown — a $110-million mini-casino — near the Morgantown interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Caernarvon Township.
Georgia:
- FOX 5 Atlanta, 3.5.19 – Lawmaker wants to tie casino vote to Georgia Lottery
- He has pushed for years to change state law to allow for casinos to come to Georgia, but his latest effort could spell the end of the state’s lottery. Rep. Ron Stephens, R -Savannah, said he plans to offer a floor substitute of his “destination resort” bill that would add the Georgia Lottery to the language of the ballot referendum that would authorize casino gambling in the state.
West Virginia:
- Play WV, 3.5.19 – Online Casino Bill Will Put West Virginia In Elite Company
- HB 2934, the West Virginia Lottery Interactive Wager Act, has the power to put West Virginia at the forefront of the national online gambling scene. Only two states have legalized online sports betting and online casino gambling: New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Indiana:
- Sports Handle, 3.6.19 – Indiana Sports Betting Legalization Up In The Air As Deadlines Approach
- It appears that initial optimism for the prospect of legal sports betting in Indiana in 2019 may have been misplaced, as Mario Kart obstacles and some reticent drivers crowd the path to passage.
Washington:
- K5 News, 3.5.19 – Bill to legalize sports betting gains traction in Olympia
- A bill to legalize sports betting at tribal casinos appears to have momentum in Olympia, according to two sponsors of the proposal, although the bill is unlikely to get a vote this year.
Tennessee:
- WTVF, 3.4.19 – Bill aims to legalize March Madness pools
- With the NCAA Basketball Tournament just weeks away, a lawmaker has introduced the “March Madness and Fantasy Football Freedom Act” into the legislature, which would decriminalize low-level sports entertainment pools.
New Mexico:
- AP, 3.4.19 – New Mexico House halts lottery expansion to sports betting
- The New Mexico House of Representatives has endorsed a bill that would halt plans to create a state lottery game tied to the outcome of sports.
Iowa:
- AP, 3.4.19 – Ponca Tribe fighting to keep new casino open
- Some 150 years after suffering the loss of its homeland at the hands of the U.S. government, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is celebrating a triumph with the opening of a casino intended to secure a stream of revenue for the long-struggling tribe.
New York:
- US Bets, 3.4.19 – New York And Online Sports Betting? It’s Complicated
- The good news for New York State constituents is that the two key proponents for sports betting expansion — Assemblyman Gary Pretlow and state Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr. — attended the event and tackled all sorts of questions from gaming law attorney Daniel Wallach and even members of the audience. Plenty of residents in other states likely wish they could get such feedback.
Rhode Island:
- Sports Handle, 3.5.19 – Rhode Island House Committee Advances Mobile Sports Betting Bill
- Lawmakers moved one step closer to bringing mobile sports betting to the Ocean State on Tuesday after a committee in the Rhode Island House of Representatives approved a measure that would provide for online and mobile sports wagering through authorized hosting facilities across the state.
- WRPI, 3.5.19 – Legalization of mobile sports betting clears another hurdle
- On Tuesday, the House Finance Committee approved a proposal to allow online sports betting from smartphones and computers anywhere within Rhode Island’s borders.
- Providence Journal, 3.5.19 – R.I. House Finance panel OKs mobile betting, more online sales-tax collection
- Mobile-phone sports wagers got one tap closer to reality in Rhode Island Tuesday as the House Finance Committee endorsed that proposition along with legislation to increase sales tax collections from online retailers.
South Dakota:
- AP, 3.5.19 – Sports betting gets new life at Capitol
- A measure proposing that South Dakota voters should decide on legalizing sports betting in Deadwood got new life Monday after earlier failing during a committee hearing.
- SBC Americas, 3.5.19 – South Dakota House u-turns on sports betting legislation
- Following the previous approval of a sports betting bill by South Dakota’s Deadwood last month, the South Dakota House State Affairs Committee have u-turned on the decision, voting 7-3 against the bill.
Federal News:
- Online Poker Report, 3.5.19 – Wire Act Enforcement Postponed Until June; Here’s What You Need To Know
- As first reported by Online Poker Report last week, the Department of Justice has officially extended its non-prosecution period for its revised Wire Act opinion.
- The Heartland Institute, 3.4.19 – Online Gambling And Lottery Sales Banned By ‘Plain Language’ Of Wire Act, DOJ Says
- On January 15, the same day the DOJ announced the new opinion, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein sent a memorandum to U.S. attorneys across the country directing them not to take enforcement actions for 90 days in order to allow businesses “time to bring their operations into compliance with federal law.”
- CardPlayer, 3.4.19 – DOJ To Extend Compliance Window For New Wire Act Opinion By 60 Days
- Now, online gaming analyst Chris Grove is reporting that the window for compliance is being extended another 60 days. This pushes it back from April 15 to June 14. According to Grove, the official announcement of the extension should come later this week from the DOJ.
Sports League News:
- Legal Sports Report, 3.5.19 – MLB Taking Its Eye Off The Ball With Ask For Spring Training Betting Ban
- Recently, Major League Baseball (MLB) has taken to requesting that the gaming regulators across the country take spring training bets off the board.
- Play USA, 3.4.19 – Is MLB’s Request To Ban Spring Training Bets Really About Money?
- Witnessing Major League Baseball try to flex its muscles on the emerging legal US sports betting industry last week smacks of the same type of hypocrisy we’ve seen from major sports leagues before.
iDEA Growth Member News:
- Legal Sports Report, 3.5.19 – 888 Might Have Its US Sports Betting Platform Of The Future After Buying BetBright
- Did 888 Holdings just acquire a sports betting platform that it will use throughout the US? The online gambling company announced on Monday morning that it had acquired the sports betting platform of Irish online bookmaker BetBright for £15 million ($19.8 million).