Author: Casino Connection Staff

Kansas lawmakers last week passed a measure that would authorize retail, online and mobile sports betting. Tax revenue mostly would be dedicated to luring the Kansas City Chiefs football team from Missouri to the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. The bill would allow sportsbooks at the four state-owned casinos and up to 50 other locations selected by the casinos. Betting apps would use geofencing and geolocation to assure bettors are located within Kansas borders.

The Senate approved the bill by a 21-13 margin, sending it to the desk Governor Laura Kelly who is expected to sign it.

House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer said the state budget “is in very strong shape” so sports betting revenue would not have to go to the general fund.

“The consensus estimating group upped the revenue estimates to $760 million over the next two years,” he said, based on a 10 percent tax rate. The bill would direct 80 percent of the revenue to a fund to provide incentives for professional sports teams to come to Kansas. That could include Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals or pro basketball or hockey teams.

Some lawmakers, however, expressed skepticism over proposed special fund. State Senator Jeff Pittman called it a “slush fund” and said sports betting revenue would not be enough to attract a new team.

“Where’s this money going to go?” he asked. “What happens if it’s just a pipe dream? That money is just going to sit there for five years?”

Kansas state Rep. Stephanie Clayton said it was worth a try.

“It remains to be seen if any professional sports team would look at that but again this is not much different than a lot of economic development incentive packages,” Clayton said.

The Royals have a decade left on their lease at Kauffman Stadium. But team officials are said to be considering options including a new stadium in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs and Royals stadiums opened next to each other in Kansas City, Missouri, in the early 1970s.

The proposal to attract professional sports teams came about after Chiefs President Mark Donovan said at a recent National Football League owners’ meeting that the team was considering options for a new stadium in Kansas. The rumor mill said the Chiefs could end up at the Legends, a shopping and entertainment district in Kansas City, Kansas. A NASCAR racetrack, professional soccer’s Sporting KC stadium and a state-owned casino already are located there. State Senator Rob Olson said the Legends area has room for building condominiums and more retail stores. “I think it’s probably one of the best areas to do something like that in,” he said.

Opponents of the legislation included state Rep. Paul Waggoner. He said he was disappointed that fellow Republicans supported the bill. “You’re supposed to be the party that is promoting, you know, family values, or family cohesiveness,” Waggoner said.

At a recent Dallas press conference, Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke showed support for statewide legalization of casino gambling and sports betting in Texas, should he be elected as the state’s governor this November.

The Lone Star State has long been a staunch opponent of the gaming industry, as their state constitution features provisions that prohibit gaming expansion. In order for O’Rourke and others to amend these provisions and get a measure to the ballot, they would need a two-thirds vote of support in the state legislature.

Currently, the Republican-majority legislature has yet to give the issue much attention at all. In fact, the Texas Republican Party has said publicly that they will “oppose and call for a veto of any budget that relies on expansion of legalized gambling as a method of finance.”

When asked about the prospect of bringing large-scale gaming to Texas, O’Rourke said that he would be “inclined” to support it because of the potential economic benefits–he estimated that the state is missing out on “billions of dollars in revenues,” as many Texans go so far as to cross state lines in order to gamble legally.

O’Rourke said that support for legalized gaming in Texas has reached him from “across the state,” and that the influx of revenue would help combat inflation as well as property taxes, which have historically been a big contributor to the state’s economy.

Gaming lobbyists from around the country have long tried to entice Texas lawmakers to expand its gaming industry. Sheldon Adelson, the late Las Vegas casino mogul, donated some $5 million to various GOP representatives before his death in 2021.

The only casinos currently operating in the state are tribal-owned, and therefore not under the purview of state authorities. Multiple states nearby feature legal gambling, including Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico.

With sports betting legislation already in progress, it appears that Minnesota residents are ready for the industry to arrive–according to a recent study by local outlet KSTP with help from SurveyUSA, over 60 percent of respondents said that they support the state’s legalization of sports betting.

Additionally, 17 percent opposed the industry and the remaining 19 percent were neutral or undecided. The poll consisted of 650 total respondents and was conducted earlier this month.

The poll comes as multiple gambling initiatives are making their way through the state legislature, including a sports betting proposal currently being heard in the state Senate. The momentum for legalization has reportedly been strong in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court voted against a previous anti-gaming law in 2018 that affected many states, including Minnesota. .

Steven Schier, an analyst from Carleton College, told KTSP that the recent results “really do suggest that there’s a lot of public momentum for sports betting.”

All of that being said, Minnesotans will eventually have to sort through multiple options as far as rollout and accessibility.

The sticking point right now is how and where existing state horse tracks and Native American casinos will get involved, as the same survey mentioned above also showed that respondents are split in terms of where gaming will be permitted.

According to the survey, over 50 percent of those polled are in favor of allowing sports betting at both tracks and tribal casinos, while 9 percent and 7 percent only want it at either tracks and casinos, respectively. One-fifth of respondents are still unsure.

Tribal casinos have shown an interest in the expansion of the gaming industry so long as they are prominently featured, and Minnesota Indian Gaming Association director Andy Platto told a House committee in March that state tribes are the “gaming experts best positioned to operate Minnesota’s sports betting market.”

Meanwhile, state Republicans, such as Sen. Roger Chamberlain, are keen to include state horse tracks in any gaming expansion in order to keep the industry afloat and help the state economy overall.

When Chamberlain introduced his sports betting bill to the state Senate, he touted it as being good for everyone–good for tracks, tribes and most importantly, “good for the consumers.”

Because of a contract dispute between the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association and Churchill Downs Inc., bettors have not been able to wager on the Kentucky Derby for two years. But officials from the association, which represents 90 Nevada racebooks, and the historic racetrack confirmed contract negotiations are proceeding and could be finalized ahead of the Run for the Roses on May 7.

The dispute, dating back to October 27, 2019, concerns how much Nevada casinos should pay for the Churchill Downs simulcast signal. That has kept racebooks from taking bets on races from the Louisville racetrack−with one exception. Nevada regulators approved a workaround allowing racebooks to take wagers on “nationally televised races” from Churchill Downs, which specifically allows betting on the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. Last year, that was expanded to include the other graded stakes on the cards included in the NBC broadcast.

However, since the racebooks cannot co-mingle wagers with the Churchill Downs parimutuel pool, they are responsible for any losses they might incur. As a result, the racebooks that chose to offer betting on the Oaks and Derby have had to improvise their own wagering menus.

Last December, a breakthrough in the negotiations allowed racebooks to resume taking previously withheld races from other Churchill Downs Inc. properties, including Fair Grounds and Turfway Park, and Oaklawn Park, which has a contract with Churchill Downs to distribute its simulcast signal.

The year-end action has led caused an outbreak of optimism regarding the contract talks. Nevada Gaming and Control Board spokesman Michael Lawton said, “The board is hopeful that the negotiations are successful. However, if they are not, we could consider any waiver requests submitted pursuant to Reg. 22.080 as we have done previously,” referring to the

workaround the board approved two years ago.

In Louisiana, lawmakers are debating Senate Bill 290, sponsored by Senate President Page Cortez, which would require mobile sports betting operators to adopt a program similar to one that bans gambling addicts from casinos. The bill would require the state to report self-excluded individuals to mobile sports betting app operators.

The move comes as former state Senator Karen Carter Peterson faces federal investigation related to her gambling addiction and finances. She resigned from the Senate on August 8. Peterson’s addiction was revealed in March 2019 when she received a summons for violating her self-imposed ban from casinos, which made it illegal for her to enter a casino. She said her gambling addiction was “shameful and embarrassing.”

A recent WalletHub study indicated Louisiana ranks as the sixth-most gambling-addicted state, due to legalizing retail and online sports betting in October 2021 in 55 parishes where it was approved by voters. This represented the largest gambling expansion in the state in three decades.

Five years earlier, a 2016 study commissioned by the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Behavioral Health estimated up to 280,000 adults may be problem gamblers. It revealed 5.4 percent of Louisiana’s adult population is at risk for addiction and about 2.9 percent are pathological gamblers. Last month, in a talk during Problem Gambling Awareness Month, Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Courtney Phillips said, “Problem gambling touches the lives of all it affects, not just those with a gambling problem, but also their family and friends who want to help them conquer their disorder.”

Louisiana Gaming Commission Chairman Ronnie Johns said in the first five months of legal sports betting, gamblers wagered $628.3 million, generating $7.4 million in tax revenue. He said about 500,000 signed up for mobile betting.

Officials at Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis, Arkansas announced the state’s first online mobile sportsbook, Betly.com, recently went live. The mobile app can be downloaded for iPhone devices through

the Apple App Store. The app allows wagerers anywhere in Arkansas to place a bet.

Luisa Woods, vice president of marketing for Southland owner Delaware North’s gaming division, said, “It took a little time to work through the respective app store processes, but now the Betly.com app is readily available for download, so everyone in Arkansas who wants to can have fun with ongoing pro basketball playoffs and other wagering opportunities.”

For the second time in three years, a sports betting measure was introduced in the South Carolina legislature. House Bill 5277, sponsored by Republican state Rep. William Herbkersman and Democratic state Rep. Todd Rutherford, would legalize online and retail sports wagering. It was referred to the state Committee on Judiciary.

One unique feature of the bill is that it states cash and cash equivalents—cryptocurrency, digital and foreign currency—could be used for account funding and as ways winner bettors could be paid. In addition to allowing betting on professional and college sports, a provision would permit wagering on eSports, which analysts expect will outpace all traditional sports except professional football in television viewership within the next few years.

The bill would allow eight to 12 online sportsbooks to operate in South Carolina. It would tax adjusted gross sports betting revenue at 10 percent. License applicants would pay $500,000 annual fee and non-refundable application fee. The measure directs 80 percent of revenue from sports betting go toward the education lottery, 15 percent to the general fund for transportation, roads and public buildings and 5 percent to problem and responsible gaming programs.

The measure would establish a nine-member Lottery Commission Sports Wagering Advisory Council to advise on best practices and assist the lottery.

Official league data would be required if a sports governing body requests it. However, observers said as the bill advances, operators are likely to request that the data requirement be dropped.

In 2020, Rutherford introduced HB 3395, which would have legalized sports betting through a constitutional amendment. That bill did not pass.

When the Las Vegas Golden Knights kicks off its 2022-23 season next fall, the players will don patches on their jerseys with corporate sponsor logos, in this case for Circa Sports. Such sponsorships could bring in a minimum of one or two million dollars maybe even as high as $10 million a year, according to Lineups.

The NHL saw revenue as well as viewers plunge during the Covid-19 pandemic. The jersey patch ads offered a chance to improve the financial picture. The league’s teams together could rake in $100 million or more each year, according to Keith Wachtel, the NHL’s senior executive vice president and chief business officer.

The Washington Capitals was the first club to take advantage in September 2021 with a Caesars Sportsbook patch. The patch highlighted the opening of the Caesars Sportsbook at the Capital One Arena in May. Caesars pays some $6 million a year for the rights, according to reports.

Circa operates the largest sportsbook in Las Vegas, if not the world. It includes three floors, an on-site studio for broadcasts and other features.

The agreement between Circa Sports and the Golden Knights runs for five years, and only affects home jerseys. The team can sign up another sponsor for the away games.

Credit One Bank has its logo on the helmets.

Kerry Bubolz, president of the Golden Knights, said the franchise and the sportsbook “recognize the tradition within our historic community while also contributing an integral role in the growth of our beloved sports and entertainment industry.”

Pro sports leagues quickly reversed course and aligned themselves with sportsbooks after the Supreme Court struck down the ban on sports betting in 2018. Colleges have been much slower to accept the new realities and for some conferences, ambiguity is the order of the day. The NCAA has not helped clarify the situation.

With that in mind, the Mid-American Conference has asked the NCAA for clarity on sports betting restrictions. There is no set timetable for a formal response, or an announcement, should the rules need tweaking, according to Sportico.

The conference focused on Section 10.3 of the NCAA’s Division I manual, which prohibits athletes, staff members, conference employees and university leaders from gambling on sports. The section also bars providing information to anyone associated with sports betting, which could prevent conferences from signing data distribution deals.

Those deals have become a cornerstone for producing income streams for pro leagues. In March, MAC signed a data and sponsorship agreement with Genius Sports. Depending on the ruling from the NCAA, that could mean another revenue stream vis the sale of data to sportsbooks in the future.

The NCAA receives hundreds of interpretation requests each year from conferences and schools—anything from individual athlete eligibility to larger division-wide bylaws. Most are filed through an online database, at which point the NCAA decides which staffers or committee can best review the request. Some are returned fairly quickly; others can take months.

Should the NCAA allow members to sell data, look for major moneymaking deals with conferences like the Big Ten and SEC.

There is no official sports betting partner of the NCAA, and its current data deal with Genius Sports only covers media.

More recently, Colorado, LSU and Maryland have begun inked partnerships with sportsbooks. Colorado’s deal, with PointsBet, pays the Buffaloes at least $1.625 million over the five-year term, plus a $30 referral fee for every new customer the school directs to PointsBet, according to the contract.

The Cleveland Browns made its selection and…the team selected Bally’s Interactive. If you thought this was a rehash of the NFL draft, you were mistaken. Bally’s Interactive, a division of Bally’s Corp., signed an April 26 agreement as the Brown’s official sports wagering partner. The long-term agreement includes a Bally’s branded lounge at the Brown’s home, FirstEnergy Stadium. The lounge, in a location to be decided, will be open for those 21 and older on game days, according to the Associated Press.

The deal may be a bit premature as the first wagers won’t be legal until 2023, depending on licensing and local approvals. But the Browns want to have all its I’s dotted and T’s crossed when the time comes. When that happens the Browns and Bally’s Interactive will also deliver a mobile sports app.

Dave Jenkins, executive vice president and CEO of Brown’s owner Haslam Sports Group, said the deal with Bally’s provides fans with “fully integrated sports betting experiences. As we continue to work closely with sports betting regulators in our state to ensure a responsible and timely launch, we are excited and confident that our partnership with Bally’s will ultimately offer industry-leading benefits to fans throughout Cleveland and Ohio,”

The latest partnership gives Bally’s a sports betting presence in 18 states.

The New York Yankees and FanDuel have history together. On April 25, they cemented more of their history with a multi-year expansion that will keep them joined together for a long time, according to Covers.

“There is no more globally recognized sports brand than the New York Yankees, and as a New York-based company, we’re delighted to remain partners with our hometown team,” said Mike Raffensperger, FanDuel’s chief marketing officer, in a press release. He added that there is no fanbase more passionate about their team than Yankees fans.

The agreement gives FanDuel VIP hospitality accommodations at Yankee Stadium, brand signage in right field, and rotating advertisement space behind home plate for televised broadcasts. FanDuel will also get to use the Yankees’ logo.

“We are very excited to be continuing our relationship with FanDuel, our partner since 2020,” said Michael Tusiani, senior vice president of partnerships for the Yankees, in a press release. “We hope that FanDuel’s Yankee Stadium presence and customer engagement will continue to strengthen its brand as a sports betting operator within the tri-state area.”

Earlier in April, Caesars Entertainment agreed to a partnership with the crosstown rival, New York Mets. Caesars has the rights to open a 13,000 square-foot sportsbook lounge on the Excelsior Level at Citi Field as part of that deal.

Last year, BetMGM became an official sports betting partner of Madison Square Garden Sports, which owns the Knicks and Rangers. The agreement includes BetMGM promotions inside the Garden and on digital platforms. The BetMGM brand will be part of broadcasts by MSG networks.

DraftKings Inc. last week announced the signing of former Notre Dame Football player and television personality Mike Golic Jr. as a brand partner.

In his first project with DraftKings, Golic Jr. and former teammate and friend Brandon Newman will host “GoJo,” a new daily sports podcast starting May 2.

“When I look at the future of sports media, joining DraftKings was an easy decision for me,” said Golic. “As someone who is passionate about creating content, having the freedom to develop original programming is the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. I’m excited to partner with Brandon as we take our individual and shared experiences as former teammates to the airwaves.”

The hour-long video podcast will air five days a week and be available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are available. Monday through Friday, the duo will break down the biggest games of the week while hosting regular guests and personalities across sports and media.

“Mike’s addition to the media family is another example of DraftKings partnering with high-profile talent and trusted personalities across sports media,” said Stacie McCollum, vice president of programming at DraftKings. “Leveraging his strong social currency, he and Brandon will tackle subjects that represent the broader interests and hobbies of today’s sports fan.”

A sports betting measure made it farther than ever before in the most recent session of the Kentucky legislature.

HB 606 passed the House and was discussed in the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Labor, but there it died despite several efforts to move it to the floor for a vote. The bill would have legalized mobile and retail sports wagering, plus online poker and daily fantasy sports.

The measure passed the House in a 58-30 vote on March 18. Then on the last day of the session, Senate Floor Majority Leader Damon Thayer moved it the committee “to give it a chance.” He said it would not move to the floor unless it had enough votes to pass. A frustrated Thayer said, “I just told them I’m tired of being the spokesman for the people who don’t support it. I support the sports betting bill. It would be a natural extension of our history and tradition of betting on horses in Kentucky.”

He added, “I’m personally disappointed that we were unable to pass sports betting. We just don’t have the votes. I think that will change by next year. I will continue to advocate for us adding this to our betting menu. I think we should allow the people of Kentucky to make a choice of their own free will, like all of our surrounding states do, to be able to make a legal wager on sports.”

Governor Andy Beshear has supported sports betting in Kentucky. Earlier, he said, “My thought is, if Damon Thayer wanted sports betting to pass, he’d get it passed. It’s time. The people of Kentucky absolutely want this.” In response, Thayer said Beshear was “out of touch” and “hyper partisan,” among other things. In the last week, a lot of the undecideds went to no votes. We don’t waste our time voting on bills that don’t have the votes to pass. Time is a precious commodity. We’re not like the U.S. Congress or legislatures in other states that meet year-round. We have 60 days every other year. That’s it.”

State Rep. Adam Koenig, sponsor of HB 606, noted another bill he introduced, which would have created a $50 million fund for problem gaming services, also did not make to a floor vote. Koenig said, “If we don’t approve sports betting, we still have, from last year, $6 billion in parimutuel wagering, $1.5 billion in lottery and God knows what in charitable gaming. We need to fund problem gaming programs.”

Koenig vowed to “outlast his opponents.” He noted, “Elections can change outlooks. For four years I’ve been working on sports betting in the House, and I finally got it passed, and the Senate had it for four weeks. I’m frustrated, but it’s not a complete surprise, given they only had four weeks to focus on it.”

Regarding 2023, Koenig said, “We’ll figure that out later. “The opposition is not the details of the bill. It’s not about constitutionality. If it was a secret ballot, it would pass 28-10. It’s about willingness. It’s postponing the inevitable. It’s going to happen soon. I wish it was today, but it wasn’t.”

He added, “Here’s how we go forward. You gotta show up and vote, find out where the candidates are on this issue and express how you feel about it. That’s how we change it.”

In response to the outcry from voters who expected legalized sports betting this year, Thayer said, “I support sports betting, but my god, the absolute offense that people take at this is the ultimate first-world problem. Nobody’s life is getting worse because we didn’t pass sports betting. We pass bills on all kinds of serious issues, and I’m for sports betting, and I’m more energized than ever, but my god, people, take a chill pill. My only advice to the advocates for sports betting is to tell them that shaming their opponents on Twitter is not the way to get sports betting passed.”

Thayer stated he’s hopeful a sports betting bill may pass in 2023 because it’s not an election year, a few new state senators will join the legislature and more time will have passed since last year’s vote on historical horseracing machines. “I think the advocates should be optimistic. Sports betting got further in the Kentucky General Assembly than ever. It’s always going to be very difficult because of the religious concerns, in rural areas especially, but we just have to keep trying.”

More are choosing sides in the rival campaigns to legalize sports betting in California.

In dueling press releases Monday, April 18, opposing groups announced their positions the day before the National Indian Gaming Association’s annual convention commence at Anaheim Convention Center.

There are two active measures in contention in the Golden State. One tribal initiative would allow tribes and racetracks to offer sports betting, with no option for mobile sportsbooks. Another, supported by out-of-state operators, would allow mobile sports betting to piggy-back onto the first measure. A third position opposes the tribal only measure.

Some supporters of sports betting worry that multiple proposals will so confuse the voters that they will turn thumbs down to all of them.

Currently, only one measure, pushed by a coalition of gaming tribes, has qualified for the ballot. That one would allow any tribal casino and any of the state’s four racetracks to offer retail sportsbooks. It would also expand on the types of games casinos can offer, allowing craps and roulette.

However, the measure proposed by seven commercial operators, such as FanDuel and BetMGM, are busy collecting signatures for their measure that would also allow mobile sports betting. They have pledged to spend $200 million to promote their measure. The main selling point of the “California Solutions to Homelessness and Mental Health Act” is that it would earmark revenues to fight homelessness and treat mental health problems. It has until May to achieve its signature threshold.

California’s card clubs and the cities that host them proposed an initiative last year that would have allowed a wider group to operate sports books, including card clubs. However, that effort seems to be defunct. That group is now fighting the tribal initiative.

Opposing that measure, and supporting the tribal initiative that has already qualified for the November election is the Coalition for Safe, Responsible Gaming. Its members include business, tribes, civil rights advocates churches and public safety groups. It argues that mobile sports betting risks harm to minors and vulnerable groups by ramping up the gambling landscape in California.

An ad released this week by this group declares, “The in-person, Tribal Sports Wagering Act will allow Indian tribes to build on [the] legacy as the responsible stewards of gaming in California,” and adds, “On the other hand, the Corporate Online Gambling Proposition was written for the sole benefit of out-of-state online gambling corporations.”

The card club cities have released a broadside claiming that the tribal retail-only measure would “harm local communities,” cause a decline in economic activity and cut state tax revenue by $500 million annually. The add declares: “Did you know there’s only one sports betting ballot measure in California that will harm public services in communities like yours? Get the facts.”

The group claims the tribal initiative will force some card clubs to close. And gaming tribes probably wouldn’t mind that result since for years they have argued that card clubs are operating outside of the law and infringing on tribal exclusivity.