Betting News Archives

September 27, 2022

Best perspective: emerging sports and integrity

Integrity has long been a major issue in sports betting. While this is a problem for even the most established of sports, emerging sports can be blindsided by the scale of the problem. Marese O’Hagan speaks to Steve Hall, commissioner of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), about how emerging sports are approaching the issue of integrity.

In its second quarter 2022 report, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) received a total of 88 suspicious alerts pertaining to sports betting worldwide. Football was the subject of 32 of these, while tennis and horseracing followed at 27 and 12 respectively.

But virtually every sport has been touched by match-fixing and betting corruption. Routinely, headlines appear that detail a variety of penalties across a number of sports for engaging in the practice.

For sports in their infancy, the issue of betting corruption can be difficult to grapple with. Time and resources are needed to tackle the problem, both of which some emerg..

September 26, 2022

World Series of Politics: The NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil

It's a busy episode this week, with Brendan Bussmann and Brandt Iden looking at the NFL, the Wire Act and Brazil's election.

The dynamic duo kick off by discussing sports betting activity around the National Football League’s kickoff on 8 September. This season is set to be the biggest ever for sports betting; 46.6 million Americans plan to place a bet during the season.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

However, there are some issues emerging on where bets can be placed – the league is trying to prevent betting on match days.

There’s also some intrigue around the Wire Act, in the wake of a Rhode Island District Court judge ruling that the Department of Justice must formally state that it only applies to sports betting. Could this provide much-needed clarity after an attempt to enforce the act across all forms of gambling?

Does this mean the issue is dead and buried? Brandt is confident, but Brendan is not so sure.

Further afield, Brazil is preparing to go to the polls in a ..

September 26, 2022

Maryland aims to speed up online betting licensing with rolling approvals

The Maryland Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC) has agreed to award licenses for mobile sports betting on a rolling basis, in an effort to launch the vertical this year.

SWARC opened applications for mobile sports betting licences on 7 September. The application period will end on 21 October at 5pm.

The application fee is $500,000.

Read the full story on iGB North America

September 26, 2022

FSB secures licence approval in Nevada

B2B sports betting service provider FSB has secured licensing approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB).

The new manufacturers and information service provider licence will enable FSB to work with sports betting operators that are also approved to offer wagering in the US state.

The NGCB unanimously recommended FSB for a licence earlier this month, with the licence being finalised and formally awarded late last week.

The latest approval comes after FSB was also recently given the green light to launch in South Dakota and the Canadian province of Ontario.

“Receiving our licence in this crucial, critical jurisdiction clearly captures the momentum we’re experiencing as a business at this moment,” FSB chief executive Dave McDowell said.

“We aspire to be part of the long-term sports betting story in Nevada and look forward to embracing this market opportunity and, in the long term, aspiring to disrupt the North America region generally with our tier-one tech stack.”

September 23, 2022

Sweden to open applications for B2B licences on 1 March

Sweden will open its application process for B2B supplier licences on 1 March 2023, regulator Spelinspektionen has announced, despite the fact the bill to implement these licences has not yet passed the legislature.

Currently, the bill to implement gambling software licences has not yet become law. The measure was proposed by the government in an effort to increase the level of channelisation in the Swedish market, but has not yet gone to a vote in the Riksdag.

While the results of Sweden’s recent election mean that the government that introduced the bill no longer holds a majority, Spelinspektionen said it was still working to ensure the bill could come into effect as planned if it is passed. The text of the bill says that the new licence regime will come into force on 1 July 2023.

In order to do this, it has now said that it will open applications for licences from 1 March 2023 and encouraged suppliers to prepare applications to be submitted from this date.

The regulator said the..

September 23, 2022

DC sports betting bounces back in August as handle reaches $13.1m

Washington DC recorded its first month-on-month rise in sports wagering handle for two months in August, while gross gaming revenue also increased.

Player spending for the month amounted to $13.1m (£11.9m/€13.4m), which was 15.9% higher than $11.3m in July and also 5.7% up from $12.4m in August of last year.

Gross gaming revenue from sports betting during the month reached $1.8m, comfortably surpassing the $1.2m generated in July this year by 50.0%, while this was also 20.0% higher than $1.5m in August 2021.

In terms of individual operator performances, Caesars once again claimed top spot in the DC market with $683,326 off a handle of $5.7m.

Gambet, which is operated by the DC Lottery and powered by Intralot, ranked second with $557,987 in revenue from $3.4m in player spending. BetMGM, which operates in DC in partnership with MLB team the Washington Nationals, was next with revenue of $362,462 from a $2.5m handle.

Next, Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel, which opened a FanDuel-brand..

September 23, 2022

PointsBet launches in Louisiana with Penn National Gaming

Online gambling operator PointsBet Holdings has launched online sports betting in the US state of Louisiana via its partnership with Penn National Gaming (PNG).

PointsBet’s online sportsbook is now active in the state and taking bets after the operator secured approval from the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.

The roll-out marks the fourth state launch under the partnership with PNG, which was announced in August 2019 and extended in March 2021 to include Pennsylvania and Mississippi.

The launch represents PointsBet’s 12th online sportsbook operation in total in the US, with the operator also active in New Jersey, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and Kansas.

“The PointsBet team is excited to share that we are now officially live in the pelican state and that Louisiana is our 12th state of online operations,” PointsBet US chief executive Johnny Aitken said.

“The sports community of Louisiana, one that our very own brand amb..

September 23, 2022

Fitzdares partners with Fulham FC

Fulham FC has named bookmaker Fitzdares as the club’s official betting partner.

Under the terms of the agreement the new partners intend to launch a messaging campaign that “will bring a sense of fun into the game”.

Fitzdares allows players to place bets in numerous ways, including online, through text and by phone. It also operates a private club in Mayfair, where members can watch live sport.

“This partnership has its roots in the 19th century and we are bursting with excitement to finally join up with London’s original football club, said Fitzdares CEO William Woodhams.

“Dare I say, the only place better to watch football than The Fitzdares Club is at the Cottage. We will be adding a Craven Cottage Pie to our menu immediately to bring a taste of West London royalty to Mayfair.”

Fulham sales director Jon Don-Carolis added: “We are delighted to welcome Fitzdares as Fulham FC’s official UK betting partner.

“Our organisations are proud of our heritage and embrace innovation while ..

September 23, 2022

English football must distance itself from the Pogos

iGB op-ed: Zak Thomas-Akoo argues that in the wake of criminal scandals regarding offshore operators based in the Philippines, the continued association by English football clubs with the sector could be a ticking time-bomb for scandal.

Most fans of Premier League clubs probably couldn’t tell you much about the Pogo sector, but it has become deeply embedded in top-flight English football.

A Philippines Offshore Gambling Operation (Pogo) is a Philippines-based gambling site that broadcasts games of chance to other jurisdictions – usually elsewhere in Asia. Almost by definition, this comes without approval by local authorities in the operator’s target markets. While China has been the highest-profile target, a number of Pogos also specialise in the Korean or Vietnamese markets.

The sector is also widely believed to be infiltrated by criminal organisations and has been linked to crimes such as human trafficking, slavery and prostitution, with the situation getting so bad that a senator..