Happy start of the week to everyone, especially to those that praised LSR for its consistent and fair coverage of sports betting news at last week’s SBC Summit North America in New Jersey.
The conference itself did not generate much actual news – panelists tend to stick to PR-approved snippets, after all – but news certainly continued to flow outside of Secaucus.
If you’re one of the unfortunate many to meet me last week then you’ve already heard: check out the LSR Podcast for a quick but detailed recap of all last week’s top stories and follow @LSPReport on Twitter for timely breaking-news updates.
Top sports betting news: No more betting in Florida, for now
Hard Rock Sportsbook confirmed at 11 am Saturday it would shut down its online Florida sportsbook effective immediately after the US Court of Appeals rejected the Seminole Indians‘ request for a stay. ”
Hard Rock tried to make the situation sound a little better in its tweet than it actually is as it thanked bettors for participating in its “early access launch.” Bettors had any wagers on events after 11 am Saturday voided and returned to their wallets.
The Seminoles tried to claim shutting down the online sportsbook would cause irreparable harm as vendors discontinued business with them.
Industry attorney Jeff Ifrah did not expect sports betting in Florida to stop while the issue is being worked out, he told Gaming Today. National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman E. Sequoyah Simermeyer declined to comment on Florida citing active litigation.
Is an Ohio agreement actually coming?
According to multiple outlets, there is finally an agreement to legalize sports betting in Ohio.
Rep. Bill Seitz told Play Ohio the issue came down to sports teams wanting to limit all Type A licensees to just one mobile skin. The current bill limits the teams to one skin but others, like casino operators, to two.
All will get the chance to launch a second skin under the agreement. The conference committee is expected to meet Wednesday to approve the agreement.
Last week’s top sports betting news: DraftKings drama
DraftKings has had better weeks as a publicly traded company. The stock, which was around $63 in early September, continued its trenchlike decline last week and closed at $28.37 on Friday.
Aside from the market itself, there were a few reasons for that:
- On Tuesday, CEO Jason Robins said the quiet part out loud at an investor conference when he said DraftKings Sportsbook does not want customers who are trying to profit from betting.
- Colossus Bets then filed a lawsuit Wednesday against DraftKings for patent infringement over cash-out technology.
- Robins then took to CNBC Friday to swing at short-seller Jim Chanos, saying Chanos’ math “doesn’t add up.”
The stock has rallied a bit to start the week, however.
Nevada breaks $1 billion in handle
The narrative that sports betting in Nevada will die because of US sports betting expansion is falling off just a tad after sportsbooks topped $1 billion in handle for October.
Handle hit $1.1 billion in the Silver State. That was only second to New Jersey sportsbooks and their $1.3 billion bet in October.
October is the latest month to see handle records set nearly across the board. That’s mostly because of the five full weekends contained in October’s calendar.
Other top sports betting stories at LSR
- GAN signed a technology agreement to power a “tier one” US sportsbook for sports betting in Ontario. But which one: BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel?
- Let’s wish an unhappy 60th birthday to the Wire Act.
- Two more Virginia sportsbook apps were approved – Betway and 888‘s SI Sportsbook – leaving just two unknown mobile-only licensees left.
