Sports Betting Beat - June 17, 2021
This is your sports betting industry news for Tuesday June 15, 2021.
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Ohio
Ohio Senate passes bill that will legalize sports betting in Ohio
Senate Bill 176 passed with a 30-2 vote. Under the proposal, casinos and other businesses could apply for one of up to 58 licenses that will be distributed throughout the state.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission would select who gets a license and oversee how they use it. Applicants would need to pay a $1 million fee.
The measure received a significant last minute overhaul, giving preferential treatment to professional sports teams in Ohio and adding a new license option for bars while limiting their kiosks to two per location.
Changes to the bill made Tuesday would add another type of license: Type C for businesses with a liquor license to sell alcohol. An unlimited number of businesses could apply for these licenses for $6,000 each.
Individuals will be limited to placing no more than $200 a day in bets from the same credit or debit card at the bars and similar venues.
Gambling would be limited to people age 21 and older, said bill sponsor Sen. Nathan Manning, a North Ridgeville Republican.
“Sports provides that intangible in our society,” said Sen. Niraj Antani, a Dayton-area Republican, also a sponsor. “It’s with your friends, watching the Bengals throw that Hail Mary at the end of the game. Watching the Cavaliers drain that buzzer beater, or watching the Reds, one run down at the bottom of the ninth, with a man on third and the batter with a full count. It’s about rooting for the home team in a very, very divisive time in our society.”
G3 Esports
G3 Esports Bolsters Executive Lineup with Addition of Terfloth
Atlantic City, N.J. (June 16, 2021) – G3 Esports (G3) today announced the addition of Lee Terfloth to its executive roster. Terfloth will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer for G3, overseeing day-to-day operations of the company, while developing and implementing long-term business strategies for the brand.
With over two decades of experience in the casino online gaming industry, Terfloth joins G3 from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, where he most recently served as Vice President of Online Gaming Product. Since 2013, Terfloth has established and operated leading online casino sites and gaming divisions for four of the industry’s leading online gaming portals including MGM’s BorgataPoker.com, Resorts Digital Gaming’s ResortsCasino.com, Mohegan Sun’s MoheganSunCasino.com, and most recently Hard Rock Casino’s HardRockOnline.com.
Terfloth has twice been recognized as eGaming Review Magazine’s Operator of the Year. In 2014, Terfloth won for his innovative work at Borgata, and in 2016 he earned the award again for his foundational work and leadership at Resorts Digital Gaming.
“Lee has built an impressive resume of online gaming industry accomplishments and is uniquely qualified to help G3 Esports establish and expand our presence in the igaming space,” said Anthony Gaud, CEO of G3 Esports. “We’re thrilled to add Lee’s breadth of experience to our leadership team and are excited for him to help spearhead our mission of delivering entertaining products that resonate with the gaming community.”
G3 Esports was founded by Anthony Gaud, an Emmy Award-winning entrepreneur and media executive with 25 years of experience working with top-level entertainment, gaming and technology companies and Jim Hammerstedt, a private equity manager with experience raising capital for technology-based companies. Gaud’s professional history is highlighted with significant partnerships with The Walt Disney Company, NBC/Comcast, Microsoft Games, Hasbro, and Nexon South Korea.
Utilizing his wide-ranging experience in interactive games, television programming, technology development and esports, Gaud founded Conference One, a national varsity-level collegiate esports organization featuring competitions with over 65 universities including Penn State, Rutgers, Texas A&M and UC Irvine. In 2019, Gaud secured the first public-private esports partnership in the country with Atlantic City’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority with events that included the 2019 CSL Grand Finals, the Halo Classic and the Esports Travel Summit.
In July 2020, G3 submitted its license application to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Subsequently, G3 helped facilitate the first legal esports betting event in New Jersey in conjunction with Allied Esports. The CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) Legend Series tournament ran September 1 through September 13 and drew 1.7 million unique viewers.
The announcement allowing legal esports betting in the state was made by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) and was facilitated by G3.
About G3 Esports
G3 Esports is a leading developer of esports and igaming products that resonate within the gaming community. Led by a group of industry executives with decades of experience in entertainment, game development and igaming operations, G3 Esports is at the forefront of the upcoming Play, Watch and Wager revolution. Additional information is available at g3esports.gg.
Massachusetts
Survey shows up to 72% of Massachusetts residents support sports betting ahead of Thursday hearing
A poll commissioned by Encore Boston Harbor and the Plainridge Park Casino Commission found that 61% of Massachusetts voters would support sports betting in the state.
That number jumps to 72% if the funds were used to support K-12 education or other welfare programs. The poll of 500 registered voters conducted by David A. Paleologos Associates in early June comes as the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies is set to hold a hearing on a slate of sports betting bills Thursday morning.
MGM
MGM CEO touts iGaming as the secret for success
iGaming is the “secret” and economic opportunity for the casino industry as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s expansion isn’t for companies that are “weak of heart or short of wallet.”
MGM Resorts International President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle said it’s important to diversify and balance revenue between Las Vegas, other US markets, and Asia.
“We need to have less reliance here and potentially more on digital opportunities domestically and internationally through BetMGM and ultimately in Asia in Cotai, Macau and Japan at a future date,” Hornbuckle said.
MGM has estimated the combined markets of iGaming and sports betting will reach $32 billion.
“We’re halfway there already particularly as it relates to sports betting but iGaming has got some more work to do,” Hornbuckle said. “The real value to this business and economic opportunity is in iGaming. Sports betting has created a great deal of momentum, ... but iGaming is the economic secret to this business. Source: Sigma
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
