Wide World Of Gambling: Record Political Betting Handle, Soccer Bets Paid, Controversial GVC Comments

This week: DGE sides with bettors, record betting at PredictIt, record DraftKings golf bet, Trump and Adelson at odds, and GVC controversy.
Read more about author

Brian served as a senior reporter and online content manager for Card Player Magazine for nearly a decade before joining USBets in October 2018. He is currently focused on legal and regulated sports betting and online gaming. He's an avid jiu-jitsu practitioner in his free time.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

It was another news-filled week in the world of gambling.

In this installment of a weekly roundup from US Bets, we’re giving you a rundown of some of the more interesting new nuggets from the world of sports betting and beyond.

Also be sure to check out Sports Handle for its weekly news recap, “Get a Grip.”

Soccer bettors score win in New Jersey

Regulators in the Garden State sided with gamblers who received erroneous and overly generous lines on June soccer matches. FanDuel originally held up payment on the winning wagers while the state looked into it. The sportsbook was on the hook for more than $200,000 in payouts, per ESPN.

It was a win for bettors, and the DGE decision was applauded by many, but is it an ominous development for the regulated sportsbooks? Could it set a precedent that’s bad for books in the long term? At least one industry insider believes an obvious error shouldn’t be held against a sportsbook.

In contrast to New Jersey, Indiana allows sportsbooks to cancel wagers “in the event of obvious error, at the certificate holder’s or vendor’s discretion.” Clearly some states are regulating sports betting very differently from others.

Record gambling on political trading platform

The market for the Democratic nomination for vice president came to a close this week when former Vice President Joe Biden selected California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Gambling on politics has never been bigger, at least at PredictIt, which is allowed to offer stock-market-style betting on politics under an exemption from the federal government. No regulated U.S. sportsbook is allowed to offer gambling on elections, but that could one day change.

For now, U.S. punters have few options, resulting in a new single-day record for PredictIt.

DraftKings takes largest ever golf bet

One gambler on DraftKings felt Dustin Johnson had tons of value at +275 to win this past weekend’s PGA Championship. The book accepted a massive $350,000 bet. Fortunately for DraftKings, it didn’t cash.

Relationship between Trump, Adelson souring?

Leading up to the 2016 election some people thought Donald Trump, a former Atlantic City casino owner who sometimes ran prominent poker events, would be good for the online poker industry.

That obviously hasn’t panned out, as Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson, a Trump/GOP megadonor, was able to sway the Trump Department of Justice to reverse a 2011 legal opinion on the Wire Act that was favorable to the regulated online gaming industry. That reversal has created some uncertainty, especially for states sharing online poker liquidity. State lotteries were also spooked and challenged the reversal in court.

Enforcement of that new legal interpretation that aligns with Adelson, long an opponent of online gambling, hasn’t come yet. Recently, reports have stated that Adelson and Trump are at odds these days. Could this reduce the chances of further meddling in regulated online gaming by a Trump Administration? Time will tell, but if Adelson is no longer in Trump’s good graces, it seems unlikely his DOJ would do him a solid.

 

Controversial comments by BetMGM partner

Isle of Man-based online gambling firm GVC, which offers online gambling in the U.S. in tandem with MGM Resorts International, raised a lot of eyebrows this week with comments on the future of the industry.

According to GVC, competition among sportsbooks for the best odds (prices) won’t be a theme of the industry in the long run, prompting many industry insiders to recoil at the suggestion that sports bettors won’t be price sensitive. Don’t even recreational players like value?

Many of the sports betting industry’s sharpest minds chimed in with criticism of GVC’s prognostication about the American sports bettor, a customer that is still evolving. It’s only been a little over two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 1992 federal sports wagering prohibition, so the industry is very nascent.

Below is just one of the reactions.

 

Facebook
Twitter
Email
LinkedIn

Related Posts