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 info@bettingtalk.com.
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The Toronto Star published a feature on match-fixing in a semi-professional Canadian soccer league.
You are supposed to be honest people,” Kee, a Chinese-Malaysian bookie who runs an illegal gambling site in Kuala Lumpur, said last year. “How can you be honest when so many fixed soccer games are going on in your country?”
These accusations of Canadian sports corruption are not about TFC but rather a small, obscure soccer league based in southern Ontario — the Canadian Soccer League, a little league that punches above its weight when it comes to controversy.
Largely based on suspected corruption in the CSL, Canada has been featured in reports of companies that monitor suspicious game activity, including in 2016 when three countries were specifically mentioned in one company’s report for high levels of corruption: Albania, Malta and Canada.
According to that company, Belgian-based Federbet, in 2015 European betting houses removed “en bloc matches from leagues like Albania, Cyprus, Malta, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Indonesia and Canada — the 10th least corrupt country in the world — because they clearly reflect signs of being fixed.”
MGM’s CEO changed his tune and spoke in favor of sports betting being legal on a national level.
Murren touched on the changing opinion on the proliferation of sports betting both within his industry and in the public:
“Our view on this is, look, we’ve changed. This idea that sports betting somehow needs to be regulated in one state and illegal everywhere else really doesn’t reflect what’s happening today.
I built a beautiful new arena and we got the first professional sports team, it’s moving to Las Vegas… in 2017. How cool is that? Professional sports in Las Vegas, that would have been unheard of five or ten years ago. And there will be other sports teams over time. And people love to bet on sports and they love their daily fantasy sports.”
The result of New Jersey’s bid to repeal PASPA could have implications beyond sports betting.
If the federal government gets away with what it has done in this case, the consequences could extend far beyond sports gambling. Many efforts to reform unpopular policies begin at the state level, where there is a greater willingness and ability to experiment with new approaches to vexing problems. The recent wave of states legalizing medical or recreational marijuana, including seven more states this week, is just one example of this important phenomenon. However, all of this experimentation, and its potential to spur further reform, could be stopped in its tracks if federal politicians are allowed to dictate to states what their own laws must be.
The Las Vegas Sun presented Sports Betting Awards for a second year.
Overachievement Award: Wyoming Cowboys
The Cowboys notched eight victories for only the second time since 1998.
for the team that furthest eclipsed its over/under season win total
The Cowboys opened 60-to-1 to win the Mountain West Conference but fell just short of becoming one of the longest shots ever to win a league title (San Diego State edged Wyoming, 27-24, in the conference championship game). They still made this a season to remember, more than doubling the 3.5 wins sports books slotted for them in the preseason.
Sharp bettors have been losing money on the Cleveland Browns all season.
“Every week, it’s the same thing,” Ed Salmons, assistant manager at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said Sunday afternoon. “We’ll write a limit bet [on the Browns] by a wiseguy right at the gun.”
It may be time to question the wisdom of the wiseguys.
Cleveland fell to 0-13 on the season with Sunday’s 23-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Browns are now a league-worst 2-11 against the spread. The 2008 Detroit Lions, the only team to go 0-16 in a season, went 7-9 ATS during their winless campaign. No team has covered the spread in fewer than three games in a season in the past 20 years.
“It’s hard to be that bad and not cover,” Salmons said of the Browns. “Because the spreads get so inflated, it’s really hard not to cover.”
The Browns are managing to pull it off, and the betting public has rejoiced. “Who is playing Cleveland” has become a “free bingo spot” on parlay cards, bookmakers said.