IOC hires gambling watchdog; Oklahoma Indian tribes working to get sports betting

Twice weekly, 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 [email protected].

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The International Olympic Committee hired a firm to watch for suspicious gambling on the Games. Nevada sportsbooks will be able to take action on the Olympics for the first time since 2001.

Genius Sports’s Sports Integrity Monitor service will use data from regulated and unregulated betting markets, looking for anything unusual, which might suggest match-fixing. It will report trends in real time to sport governing bodies, leaving them to decide whether anything is amiss.

Betting on the Rio Olympics will draw about $1 billion in legal and illegal bets globally, according to Chris Eaton, the former head of security at FIFA and an expert in match fixing. That would be 50 times less than what’s wagered on the World Cup, eight times less than what’s bet on the final alone.

That estimate includes Nevada sports books, which will take bets on the Olympics for the first time since 2001, when it was banned during Senator John McCain’s push to prohibit betting on all amateur sports. Nevada’s regulations changed last year, allowing for bets on the Games.

Several Oklahoma Indian tribes are hoping to offer sports betting options at their casinos. Tulsa’s Channel 8 conducted an informal poll this week to see what citizens thought.

While some people just didn’t care about the issue, most were in favor of legalizing sports betting. We didn’t find a single person who was opposed.

On the west side of downtown at the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association Convention, members of several tribes told us they’d like to pursue the issue in the next few years.

While some of the tribes would like to give participants the option to bet on pro and college sports, making that change requires a lot of complex political work on the state and federal levels. In Oklahoma, it would require working with the legislature and the governor. It might also require a public vote.


Brandon Marshall challenged Antonio Brown to a high stakes bet on their 2016-2017 seasons.

Marshall issued Brown a challenge on Wednesday night via Instagram. If Brown has more yards than Marshall, he’ll give him his custom Jets-themed Porsche. If Marshall has more than Brown, he’ll acquire No. 84’s Rolls Royce — given that Brown agrees, of course.


Hillary Clinton gave her speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last night. Like last week for Donald Trump’s speech, BetOnline offered a list of prop bets on the length of her speech, what phrases she would or wouldn’t say and whether or not she would show cleavage.

hillarydncprops


More than 100 FBI agents and San Diego police detectives raided a small casino this week, arrested nine of 14 defendants for their participation in an illegal online sports betting ring.

In three federal grand jury indictments unsealed Wednesday afternoon, authorities allege the Lucky Lady Casino and Card Room in El Cerrito was used as a legitimate front for the illicit bookmaking operation, which generated nearly $1 million.

Segal’s Lucky Lady Sports Book connected bookmakers and betters with sports gambling websites outside of the U.S., some of which were owned or controlled by members of the gambling ring, authorities said. Sanders Segal led the gambling ring, alongside his son Sydney Bruce Segal and Lucky Lady casino owner Stanley Samuel Penn, according to the indictments.


USPoker.com’s Dustin Gouker listed a summary of online gambling and daily fantasy sports bills that are still alive in 2016.

With online poker and gambling legislation, we’re often left with a common refrain: “Wait until next year.”

And while that’s still a sentiment that will likely be trotted out a number of times in states considering regulation, the online gambling watch is not entirely dead for 2016.


Missouri is moving forward with its daily fantasy sports regulations which could take effect as early as September.

In action Wednesday, Missouri gambling regulators signed off on a set of emergency rules laying out how the newly legalized fantasy gambling market will work in the state.

Among the provisions unanimously approved by the Missouri Gaming Commission are a prohibition on betting on college, high school or youth sports and a tax and fee structure designed to raise money for education.

Under the plan, fantasy sports websites would pay an annual registration fee of $10,000 or 10 percent of entry fees to the state, as well as an annual administration fee of 11.5 percent of revenue.