Happy Monday, everyone. While the sports betting calendar might be slowing down for the summer, news about sports betting is still rolling in like usual.
The LSR Podcast touched on a bunch of the week’s biggest stories. That includes the complaints of BetMGM, which is already calling New York‘s tax rate unsustainable.
Take 10 minutes every weekday for a news update from LSR on SportsGrid‘s NewsWire starting at 2:25 PM. Also, follow @LSPReport on Twitter for all breaking-news updates.
This week’s top sports betting news: MN does not pass
Minnesota‘s legislature failed to agree on a sports betting bill before the session ends today.
The House passed a bill to legalize mobile MN sports betting through the state’s 11 tribal partners. The Senate, however, added horse tracks to the bill, which appears to have thrown all chances of legalization out the window.
Industry sources told LSR throughout the session that the inclusion of horse tracks or pro teams would likely kill the bill.
No Tennessee tax update yet
The mystery of who owes what in terms of 2021 Tennessee sports betting taxes is still not resolved and will not be by Wednesday’s meeting.
“Not quite yet,” Mary Beth Thomas, the executive director of the Sports Wagering Advisory Council, told LSR when asked if there was an update on the tax situation.
Thomas told the SWAC back in February that the tax date received from the old regulator, the Tennessee Education Lottery, did not match the data provided by the state’s four launch operators.
Wednesday’s SWAC meeting will include an introductory presentation on esports.
MA sports betting committee set
Dueling Massachusetts sports betting bills should be under negotiation soon with both sides of the conference committee set.
Those negotiations have been a long time coming. The Senate had plenty of time to consider the proposal that advanced through the House last July but still passed something quite different.
Important topics to tackle include the Senate’s total ban on college betting, the gap between tax rates and proposed ad bans.
Last week’s top sports betting news: Ohio to launch near deadline
An earlier application window in Ohio is not translating to an earlier start date, the state’s regulator confirmed last week.
Ohio sports betting will start on or near the mandatory Jan. 1, 2023 go-live date. The universal start date will be decided at the Casino Control Commission‘s June 1 meeting.
The regulator cited an expected 3,000 applications as a reason why it will need as much time as possible before launch.
Online Maryland sportsbooks unlikely to launch this year?
The long wait for online sports betting in Maryland might extend even longer than originally expected into next year.
A disparity study is ongoing and will be wrapped up over the next few months, regulators told LSR last week. One source suggested a launch by the 2023 Super Bowl could even be a stretch.
Maryland voters approved sports betting in 2020 and saw its first retail sportsbooks open in December 2021.
DraftKings CEO Robins would buy stock if he could
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins says he cannot buy stock on the open market for months because of rules on short-swing profits. If he could, he would, he added.
Robins also said in an exchange on Twitter that he is still buying options. Some argued that does not show the same confidence in a company as buying in the open market at current prices, though.
Fanatics supports California push, will it have access?
Fanatics is one of the seven entities supporting the online California sports betting ballot proposal. Unlike the other six, though, Fanatics does not currently fit the proposal’s rules to launch in California.
Operators either need to be live with sports betting in 10 states or have five states live with 12 retail casinos.
Should the proposal win, Fanatics will have to find a path to meet those requirements. That could include an acquisition, B Global‘s Brendan Bussman said.
Underdog Fantasy fined in PA
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board fined fantasy sports operator Underdog Fantasy $8,000 for unlicensed individuals with more than 1% ownership.
The situation stemmed from two investors converted notes into equity shares in April 2021, a month before the company received its PA fantasy license. Underdog did not tell the PCGB about the conversion or the ownership changes, even though those changes required the individuals to be licensed.
