The reels are always spinning in the gambling industry, and “The Double Down” is here every Friday to catch you up on all of the week’s biggest news. Sports Handle’s “Get a Grip” rounds up everything on the sports betting side, and US Bets provides the best of the rest: brick-and-mortar happenings, online casino developments, poker headlines, horse wagering, and more. So pull up a chair, crunch the numbers, and slide forward another stack of chips.
Rhode Island No. 7, who’s No. 8?
If no states are going to actually pass legislation to regulate iCasino, then what are the gambling industry and its related media to do but speculate about which states may someday pass such legislation?
This week, a couple of US Bets writers pursued that question of who’s next, zeroing in on a pair of states near each other on the East Coast, two states that centuries ago fell under the “Southern colonies” heading. Bennett Conlin wrote about North Carolina, where one insider says the state is a “natural fit” for online casino gaming, and Jeff Edelstein explored Maryland, which some see as the most likely state to legalize in 2024.
Sports betting expansion has been explosive over the last five years, especially compared to iCasino expansion. At the outset of 2018, Nevada was the only state with legal single-event sports wagering. Now there are 35 jurisdictions in which you can place a sports bet legally, with a handful more just weeks or months away from launching.
On the iCasino side, meanwhile, there were two states up and running at the beginning of 2018, and now there are a mere six. Rhode Island, which passed legislation this June, will be the seventh to launch, with March 2024 the stated target.
But that’s all for now. Maryland is about a 50/50 shot for next year, Eilers & Krejcic Director of Policy Becca Giden told Edelstein, while New York, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Louisiana all have pondered the possibility of adding iCasino.
With the lack of hard news to report in recent years on this front, the Double Down has no choice but to have a little fun and set some odds:
Over/under 0.5 states legalize iCasino in 2024: Over -150, Under +120
Over/under 1.5 states legalize iCasino in 2024: Over +175, Under -225
Over/under 2.5 states legalize iCasino in 2024: Over +450, Under -750
Readers, place your bets — provided you’re in a state where it’s legal to do so.
This week on Gamble On …
Every Thursday, US Bets drops a new episode of the Gamble On podcast, and this week’s welcomed Matthew Berry, dubbed by the hosts “the forefather of fantasy,” to give his three hottest fantasy takes ahead of the NFL season, tell the story of how he went from Hollywood comedy writer to fantasy sports guru, and offer his perspective on how fantasy and sports betting can co-exist:
“The value proposition to a player of season-long fantasy football is still very different than the value proposition of DFS or sports betting.”
It seems @MatthewBerryTMR, this week’s #GambleOn guest, isn’t too worried about fantasy home leagues going away … https://t.co/ZLhtC0KOX6 pic.twitter.com/9J2bNwtzZK
— US Bets (@US_Bets) August 25, 2023
Elsewhere in the Southern colonies
Richmond Casino Referendum Given Legal Approval For 2023 Vote
New York, New York
Report Details Allegations Of Harassment, Discrimination At New York Gaming Commission
Seneca Nation, New York Negotiators At Impasse Over New Compact
Log in, all in
U.S. Version Of WSOP Online Bracelet Series Begins Sept. 10
Monetary measures
U.S. Online Casino Revenue $481.5 Million For July, Up 23% From 2022
New Jersey Casinos’ $146 Million In Q2 Gross Profit Down From 2022
Michigan Internet Casino Revenue Tops $1 Billion For 2023
The tables have turned
In-Person Table Games Debut In Nebraska’s Grand Island Casino
Raid against the machines
Investigators Seize 50 Gambling Devices From Alleged Flint Storefront Casino
The ageless horseman
Ouzts & Proud: 69-Year-Old Jockey Closes In On Remarkable Record
America runs on gamblin’
This Florida Tribe Plans To Cash In With Slots At Unique Rest Stop
Study: Gaming fraud on the rise
A new study from TransUnion suggests that synthetic identity fraud in retail and digital casino/sports betting and video gaming is on the rise, particularly in the U.S.
According to the study, the suspected fraud attempt rate in the retail gambling industry was at 10.6%, video gaming was at 7%, and online gambling was at 4.7% across the world in the first half of 2023, making gaming the most targeted industry. U.S.-based casino/sports betting transactions had a suspected fraud rate of 10.2% in the first half of 2023, though the number of digital transactions originating in the U.S. was down year over year.
The study also indicated that first-party data breaches across all digital industries were up 5% year over year. TransUnion based the study on numbers generated from its identity and fraud product. TransUnion analyzed data across multiple industries, including auto loans and banking products.
— Jill R. Dorson
Mixed reaction to casinos sponsoring youth sports
The battle to win one of the three coveted New York casino licenses has spilled into youth sports, according to a New York Times feature on the subject.
A basketball camp sponsored by the group seeking to bring a casino to Coney Island and a Las Vegas Sands-sponsored soccer training session with appearances by David Beckham and Carli Lloyd have both popped up this summer, and — as with all things New York casino — opinion was divided.
“Don’t use our kids as pawns in your effort to dump something in our community that a lot of people really don’t want,” Rich Corrao, a father whose kids were invited to the soccer training, said in the article. “It’s not appreciated. It’s not right. They’re not selling bubble gum.”
Other parents were more sanguine about the situation.
“They’re using our children to promote a casino,” said Lakeisha Bowers, whose son is playing in the Coney Island basketball camp. “If all the kids’ parents are aware of that and they’re still OK with it, then it’s fine by me. But let’s not make it a secret.”
There is not expected to be any decision made on which casino proposals get the go-ahead until 2024 at the earliest.
— Jeff Edelstein
Casinos front and center in Vegas Super Bowl festivities
It wasn’t that long ago that the gleaming lights of Las Vegas’ casinos led the NFL to shy away from holding a Super Bowl in Sin City. But PASPA getting struck down changed that equation, and a press conference Wednesday detailing the run-up to the 2024 Super Bowl drove that point home.
Seated onstage at Vū Las Vegas, Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business and major events, revealed that Caesars Palace would serve as the league’s headquarters during Super Bowl week, with Mandalay Bay’s convention center hosting both the media center and the Super Bowl Experience.
Bearing more than a passing resemblance to another Pete, politician Buttigieg, O’Reilly described the latter attraction as the “NFL’s theme park,” a place where fans can record their 40-yard dash time, kick field goals, and get autographs from popular players.
— Mike Seely
Streamlined KYC product introduced
Trulioo, a global identity verification company, announced a new product on Thursday that could streamline the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process for digital casinos and sportsbooks.
According to a company press release, the new “Workflow Studio” will allow customers to eliminate multiple vendors often needed for the KYC process, and bring them all to one place. The studio will also ease the KYC process across borders, meaning, for example, that a gaming platform operating in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. could use a single vendor instead of multiple entities, which would also lessen friction during the sign-up process.
“A piecemeal approach to person-matching through multiple vendors has been a necessary evil in the industry because incomplete products have failed to meet the challenges of diverse demographics and regional limitations,” Trulioo Chief Product Officer Michael Ramsbacker said in a press release. “The Trulioo breakthrough approach … enables organizations to quickly and intelligently onboard customers and gain a competitive advantage.”
Trulioo’s new product leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the company says the product will decrease costs and increase verification rates.
— Jill R. Dorson
More from around the gambling biz
RAIN IN THE DESERT: Wednesday storm causes minor flooding on Strip [Las Vegas Review-Journal]
GIVE-BACK GROWTH: Records show state’s 14 betting parlors saw a 24% increase in one year’s time [Concord Monitor]
A DK NEWS NUGGET: Golden Nugget Online Gaming Debuts Online Casino Product in Pennsylvania [Globe Newswire]
JERSEY STRONG: Atlantic City casinos still profitable, but their bottom line is getting leaner [Associated Press]
Nothing better 😎 pic.twitter.com/48H8V2bD7K
— Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner 🍗 (@FanDuelCasino) August 22, 2023
I’LL BRING THE CHIPS: Fake chips used to defraud major Macau casino of HK$5.7 million [Inside Asian Gaming]
CALI COMMENTARY: Feud between Native American casinos and California card rooms moves to Legislature [Orange County Register]
BAT FOR BUSINESS: Family finds live bat in Strip hotel room, lawsuit alleges [Las Vegas Review-Journal]
Image: Blundell Design
