Casinos prepare for legal betting possibility; Eagles will be playoff underdogs again

Each Friday, we’ll comb through as many articles, tweets and podcasts as we can find related to the world of sports betting and daily fantasy sports, and publish the good stuff here. 

Stumble upon something you think we should include? Email info@bettingtalk.com.

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Casinos are preparing for the possibility of legal sports betting expanding across the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide by June on a case brought by New Jersey that seeks to overturn a ban on sports betting in all but four states: Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon.

States and private companies abroad and in the U.S., including Las Vegas-based casino operators, are working to position themselves for a favorable ruling, Grove said.

“I think any casino with any sort of regional footprint in the U.S. is looking at this issue seriously,” he said.


The Philadelphia Eagles will be home playoff underdogs for the second week in a row.

According to Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, they will be 3.5 home underdogs to the Minnesota Vikings in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game at Lincoln Financial Field.

Three-point underdogs to the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional round, the Eagles were the first No. 1 seed in NFL history to not be favored in its first game of the postseason. The organization pounced on this angle, playing up the idea that they were not getting their due. They even hung up copies of analyst predictions to show how many people were siding with the Falcons.


Legalized sports betting could be a mixed bag for daily fantasy sports operators.

Even on a state-by-state basis, any expansion of legal sports betting poses new hope and new peril for daily fantasy sports. For many players, the games have served as a licit substitute for outright gambling. Given the change to place bets legally, they may decide to do that instead.

At the same time, DraftKings and FanDuel have an early lead in identifying and serving a population of likely bettors. Both say they would welcome the change. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins told Bloomberg in November that it would consider all its options, including becoming a sports book, if the legal restrictions were lifted. “We’re interested to see what that looks like,” says Christian Genetski, who serves as both chief legal and chief commercial officer at FanDuel, “but our sense is it opening up is a good thing for us.”


Two Mississippi lawmakers introduced a bill to prohibit sports betting in the state.

Rep. Roun McNeal, R-Leakesville, elected in 2016 to represent George, Greene and Perry counties, and Rep. Nick Bain, D-Corinth, introduced HB 1113. It calls for amending the Mississippi Gaming Control Act so that “no wagering shall be allowed on the outcome of any athletic event” or any event that takes place outside of a legal casino.

It exempts fantasy sports from the regulation.


An Iowan gubernatorial candidate conducted a poll that found 70 percent of Iowans support legalizing sports betting.

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ron Corbett says he’s not the only one who wants to legalize — and reap revenue from — sports betting, and he has a poll to back up his claim.

Corbett, the immediate past mayor of Cedar Rapids, has released results of an online poll showing 70 percent of Iowans back legalized sports betting. Another 24 percent were opposed and 6 percent weren’t sure.

His campaign said 850 people completed the poll, and it was shared thousands of times through social media.