Industry News of the Day for October 19, 2023

Industry News

• SBC Americas: To Create, Preserve, And Protect: 35 Years Of The ndian Gaming Regulatory Act
  • In October, we celebrate 35 years of the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). This law provides a statutory basis for the operation of gaming by Indian tribes as a means of promoting tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, and strong tribal governments; it also created our agency, the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), for the federal regulation of class II gaming on Indian Lands. Currently, our agency regulates over 500 tribal gaming operations made up of 244 tribes across 29 states. In July Chairman Sequoyah Simermeyer and I announced fiscal year 2022 gross gaming revenue of $40.9 billion, which is a new record high, and continues a nearly 20-year run of year-over-year revenue increases.

• Business Insider: 5 Key Themes Sports-Betting Leaders Were Buzzing About At The Biggest US Gambling Conference And Could Shape The Industry Next Year
  • Artificial intelligence, online-gambling regulation, and cybersecurity were hot topics at this year’s Gambling Gaming Expo, the largest gambling conference in the US, where many of the industry’s top leaders gathered last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event draws industry elite who meet with vendors, partners, and investors — and the conversations there typically set the stage for the year ahead. “Let’s be honest, AI and the many forms of disruptive technologies is an area that we’re all trying to figure out as quickly as possible,” FanDuel CEO Amy Howe said during a keynote with DraftKings CEO Jason Robins last week.

Florida

• Play USA: Feds Respond To Attempt To Delay Florida Sports Betting Pending Supreme Court Petition
  • The US Department of Interior responded Wednesday to an attempt by a commercial Florida gaming company to stop the Seminole Tribe from relaunching Florida sports betting while the US Supreme Court considers hearing the case. The DC Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled June 30 that the Department of Interior acted within its authority in allowing the Seminole compact with the state of Florida to proceed under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). It was the first compact submitted to the DOI to include statewide internet gaming.

Massachusetts

• Legal Sports Report: DraftKings Lead In MA Sports Betting Continues To Grow In September
  • DraftKings accepted the most online MA sports betting dollars for the seventh consecutive month in September. The Boston-based bookmaker’s 58% share of online handle ($290.1 million) is the largest since the Massachusetts sports betting market opened in March. That is compared to 52.7% in August. The latest sports betting figures released Monday by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission showed $499.7 million in total online wagers last month.

New Jersey

• iGB North America: New Jersey Gambling Revenue Up 7.5% In September Despite Land-Based Dip
  • Gambling revenue in New Jersey increased by 7.5% year-on-year to $521.5m in September despite a fall in land-based casino revenue. Total revenue was comfortably higher than $485.0m in September 2022. However, the figure was slightly lower than the $531.6m generated in New Jersey in August this year. Land-based casino gambling remains the main source of revenue in New Jersey despite the yearly decline. Revenue for this segment hit $246.5m, down 2.1% from $251.7m last year.

New York

• Play NY: Experts Agree: Online Casino Legalization Inevitable, NY May Be Next
  • For five years, New York has watched neighboring states launch and benefit from the popularity and big business of online casino gaming. It’s one of the biggest reasons lawmakers have pushed for the legalization of online casinos in NY. At the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last week, Howard Glaser reiterated those points but framed it in a different way. In July 2023, the head of government affairs and legislative counsel for Light & Wonder said, online casinos in six states generated $500 million – the same as sports betting in 36 states. That same month, every commercial casino in the US reported $1 billion in slot revenue.

North Carolina

• NC Sharp: NC Lottery Commission Releases Outline of Sports Betting Rules; Invites Public Comment
  • The groundwork is set for the North Carolina Lottery Commission to begin the painstaking process of drafting rules to regulate online and expanded retail sports betting in the state. This week, the NCLC’s Sports Betting Committee met to announce an outline for rulemaking that adheres to the newly enacted North Carolina sports betting and pari-mutuel wagering law. During Tuesday’s meeting, Sterl Carpenter, the deputy executive director for sports betting, stated that the mandate of the NCLC is to create “a comprehensive regulatory program to open the North Carolina market.”

Ohio

• Play Ohio: Proposed Streaming-Only Ban For OH Colleges Could Affect Sports Betting
  • There was quite the uproar over the college football weekend following Ohio State’s victory over Purdue. A ton of Buckeye fans weren’t able to watch the game. Now, an Ohio lawmaker wants to do something about it. The Ohio State-Purdue game was aired exclusively on NBC’s Peacock streaming platform. If Ohio State fans didn’t pay for the platform, they couldn’t watch it. That frustration reached Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) as well. He wants to sponsor legislation banning Ohio’s public colleges and universities from airing sports events only on streaming platforms.

Pennsylvania

• US Bets: Pennsylvania’s ICasinos Breeze To Record High Revenue In September
  • A record month of online casino play in Pennsylvania propelled the state to $476.3 million in overall commercial gaming revenue in September, a 6.2% increase from a year earlier. The combined digital slots, table games, and poker revenue last month reached $159.5 million, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported Wednesday in its monthly revenue statement. That was well above a prior high of $148.2 million in March, and it was 41.5% higher than in September 2022 and 10% more than August’s iCasino revenue.