Sports Betting Beat - May 22, 2021
This is your sports betting industry news for Saturday May 22, 2021.
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Action 24/7
Action 24/7, Tennessee's home grown online sportsbook, is back in business after having their license yanked back in March. It was suspected of engaging in credit card fraud. The owners of Action 27/7 also operate a pay day loan business with some believing the sports gambling operation was used as a sort of front.
The incident prompted an investigator to say he had little belief that the operator could prevent future criminal activity.
But Wednesday's letter, signed by Tennessee Education Lottery Executive Vice President Alonda McCutcheon, states the temporary suspension and any disciplinary action against Action 24/7 related to those allegations are now "null and void."
Action 24/7's internal controls meet TEL's minimum standards and the sportsbook is "in good standing with TEL" as of Wednesday, according to the letter.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts is still lagging when it comes to legalzing sports betting. States all around them have begun to do so with Connecticut the latest to approve sports gambling, at least in the House (the Senate is all but certain to approve the measure). Previous attempts in Massachusetts failed getting beyond the state House as the Senate failed to draft its own bill.
“Obviously, we’ve got to get it right,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said in a radio interview Thursday, “but I have a lot of faith that we’ll figure that part out.”
Nebraska
Nebraska lawmakers on Thursday became the latest to develop a framework around sports betting after voters approved an expansion of gaming. The bill heads to Gov. Pete Ricketts desk for signature. There won't be any mobile or betting on the state's beloved Huskers (or any games that feature them) however.
Multiple states have chosen to ban wagering on local college sports, but none in areas where college football is as much a part of the state’s identity as Nebraska, writes Jill R. Dorson of Sports Handle.
Mobile sports betting is still available with offshore books as well as local bookies. Of course, those living in Omaha have had the pleasure of Trekking across the bridge into Council Bluffs, Iowa where a full service retail sportsbook operates.
Washington State
More Washington Tribes are looking to incorporate sports betting into their casinos. There are now tentative compact agreements the state has reached with 15 tribes.
Some Republicans in the state are voicing concern over the ability to place bets in parking lots of these casinos, per amendments to the compacts. You can forget mobile betting statewide for now.
“As I study this, it’s not just the casino — it’s land under control or amenities. Can you do a mobile bet? Drive into the parking lot and bet, or the parking garage? How do you come to a geofence on where online gambling is allowed and where online betting is allowed?” asked Republican Senator Mark Schoesler, referring to the virtual perimeter tribes plan to erect around the areas where online sports betting can occur.
"Premises of the gaming facility means the gaming facility, so the gaming floor and any adjacent or joining amenities. If you think about the walls that have the building that the casino is located, things like hotels, restaurants, entertainment spaces, parking garages, those types of things are all, in some cases, within those walls. So a mobile bet could be placed within that space,” explained Julie Lies, the state Gambling Commission’s tribal liaison, adding that specific carve-outs had been added barring any such activities at convenience stores and golf courses.
“As I recall, the legislation from a year ago, we all knew that it would legalize sports books within the gaming facility, that was commonly agreed upon,” Schoesler argued. “Kiosks in the facility and the premises, this expansion of mobile within premises and a geofence seems to be an expansion or change from the legislation.”
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
