The Perilous Power Balance Between Regulators, Sportsbooks and Bettors: Protecting the Player

Written by :

C Costigan

Published on :

8 June, 2022

The Perilous Power Balance Between Regulators, Sportsbooks and Bettors: Protecting the Player

Host of the PropsAndHopsPod podcast, Matt Landes, just sat down with Adam Chernoff to discuss his recent Covers.com article on how better to protect sports bettors.

The ambiguity of gaming regulations puts the power back in the hands of the operator and does little to protect the player, Chernoff noted in the piece appearing online last week.

Chernoff, Senior Content Strategist at Covers.com, believes that "the bettor has become an afterthought. Nothing more than a decimal on a balance sheet".

Most big sports betting brands are set up to spend investor money on advertisements, in hope of generating enough customer acquisition to appease majority shareholders. Gaming regulators are supposed to be there to ensure fair play on both sides, but as the spending increases, regulators' main purpose seemingly has shifted to making sure they count every dollar and take the government cut.

Just this week, in fact, DraftKings CEO Jason D. Robins divulged at a conference on leisure and travel held by Goldman Sachs that his company is looking to reduce 'sharp' action, those customers who actually have a chance at winning, while encouraging more losing proposition type parlay bets that entice recreational gamblers.

"What we're not looking to do are things like taking money from people by forcing them into bets they don't wantor trying to direct them there," Robins said with a straight face. "What we are doing is trying to get smart at eliminating the sharp action or limiting at least that we don't want as much and then also making sure that we have a high parlay mix because people do like that."

Chernoff points to a previous statement made by Robins that caused a firestorm last year.

“This is an entertainment activity, people who are doing this for profit are not the players we want.”

Watch Chernoff elaborate further below and be sure to catch future episodes of the PropsandHops podcast here.

140. Protecting the Player with Adam Chernoff https://t.co/4o45iyid4z
— Matt Landes (@MLandes18) June 7, 2022

What You May Have Missed on Gambling911

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher

Knoxville Tennessee is Getting a New Nonstop Flight to Las Vegas

Southwest Airlines has announced it will begin flying nonstop flights between Knoxville, Tennessee and Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturdays and Sundays, which will compliment Allegiant Airlines Monday and Friday nonstop flights.

Rare Albino Alligator Sisters to Make This Marksville Louisiana Casino Their New Home

Native American tribes consider albino alligators extraordinary beings that are often associated with spirituality, renewal and the importance of respecting the natural world.

ISPs in France Ordered to Block Polymarket

France’s gambling regulator said on Friday it had instructed internet service providers to block access to the Polymarket betting website, citing concerns that it ‌could expose users to significant gambling losses and that some wagers offered on the platform could be manipulated.

Jemma McColgan's View On Stake's Financial Position in 2026

As one of the site’s top writers and editors, Jemma has over a decade of experience in this fast-paced industry – meaning she’s witnessed the rise of crypto casinos like Stake from the very beginning.