Happy Monday, everyone. It’s that time of year where sports betting news ran the full gamut last week including revenue reports, legislative updates and litigation.
The LSR Podcast covered a bit of all three, including a breakdown of the details behind last week’s top story.
Continue to follow @LSPReport on Twitter for breaking-news updates including the unpredictable situation in Tennessee.
Top sports betting news: Action 24/7 wins injunction
The decision to award Action 24/7 an emergency injunction read more like a loss for the Tennessee Education Lottery than a win for the TN sportsbook.
The payday lender turned local sportsbook won the injunction after the Davidson County Chancery Court found the TEL did not follow proper procedures when suspending Action 24/7.
The quick-moving situation started March 18, the night of the First Four March Madness games. Action 24/7 claimed it was down for maintenance when in reality its license was suspended by TEL Chair Susan Lanigan. The suspension came after Action 24/7 turned over 23 incidents of suspected credit card fraud and money laundering that started on its platform more than a week earlier.
The full TEL Board met Friday to ratify that suspension and continue Action’s suspension indefinitely, which led to the lawsuit. That went against the formal steps the board should have taken, the court ruled.
TEL said it would continue to work with Action to “implement appropriate minimum internal control standards.” Whether TEL will take the appropriate steps to again suspend Action 24/7 is unknown at this time. Its investigation into Action’s internal-control failures continues.
Bally’s keeps buying
The spending spree at Bally’s clearly is not over after the company offered $2.8 billion for Gamesys Group.
Gamesys is one of the leading online bingo and casino operators in the UK, where it is publicly listed. The company owns its own gaming technology, which Bally’s said would help build out its US iGaming offering.
The planned purchase follows Bally’s buying the Bet.Works sports betting platform, daily fantasy sports platform Monkey Knife Fight, and free-to-play game operator SportCaller.
Legislative sports betting roundup: CT, MD, WV, WY
Sports betting continues to be a hot topic in multiple state legislatures:
- Connecticut sports betting continues to inch closer as a bill that approves the expanded gaming agreement with the state’s two tribal partners was voted out of committee.
- Hopeful Maryland sportsbook operators want to see more licenses added and more businesses guaranteed betting licenses, many said at the first MD sports betting hearing in the Senate this year.
- West Virginia sports betting likely will not see more licenses added this year. The sponsor of SB 603 told LSR his bill “doesn’t have a chance.”
- Sports betting in Wyoming continues to thrive off its second chance. The bill, which only passed the House after a reconsideration motion, is now on the Senate floor.
PointsBet gets PA access; Barstool Sportsbook continues expanding
PointsBet is joining the still growing Pennsylvania sports betting and iGaming market through an agreement with Penn National.
The deal also includes access to Mississippi sports betting and iGaming pending regulatory approval. Mississippi currently only allows retail sports betting and casino gaming.
That was not the only sports betting news concerning Penn National, though. Its own sports betting app, Barstool Sportsbook, will next launch in Indiana and New Jersey.
Nevada, Tennessee see dips
Both Nevada and Tennessee were added to the list of states that saw a decline in betting activity last month.
NV sports betting handle dropped to $554.1 million with $31.8 million in revenue for a 5.7% hold.
Handle in Tennessee dipped to $176.3 million with $13 million in revenue. That’s just a 7.4% hold, though, which does not hit the minimum 10% required by Tennessee’s sports betting law.
