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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CG Technology CEO Lee Amaitis announced his retirement as part of a settlement with the Nevada Gaming Control. The sportsbook operator will also have to pay a $1.5 million fine in connection with an underpayment of approximately $700,000 between August 2011 and March 2015.
“The Board will not tolerate improper or incorrect payments to patrons by gaming licensees, and therefore takes this matter extremely seriously,” Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett told the Las Vegas Sun, which first reported the settlement. “This settlement contains several harsh punishments and requirements for remediation that reflect those concerns.”
Amaitis has resigned, effective Aug. 31, 2016, according to the settlement, ending a tenuous tenure in the Nevada gaming industry. A former executive for brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, Amaitis has been a controversial figure since arriving in Las Vegas in 2008. He came under scrutiny after a vice president in charge of the sportsbook operations was indicted in 2012 and pleaded guilty to federal charges that he knowingly accepted wagers from an illegal sports betting ring that made an estimated $34 million in bets with then Cantor Gaming.
A new app set to launch before football season intends to offer Americans a legal way to bet on sports against their friends.
Bait, which is currently in beta and aiming to launch in the coming weeks in advance of the NFL season, syncs with a user’s phone contacts and lets you bet head-to-head against people you know. Pulling in the betting lines from Vegas, users can bet their friends on the spread, the over/under, or who’s going to win. Players can chat in the app while the game is going on, and Bait automatically notifies the winner and loser once the game ends. The loser then clicks the “pay” button, and they’re taken to the winner’s Venmo page.
Bait gets around the illegal sports gambling label in a couple of ways. First, the loser doesn’thave to pay up. The app doesn’t deduct anything from your account, and there’s no financial penalty for failing to pay. Much like a verbal agreement between friends, it’s up to the parties involved to follow through on payment (but users are rated–like Uber–and your rating will be negatively affected if you don’t pay).
Second, Bait doesn’t take a percentage of the money that’s exchanged. The startup plans to make money through sponsored ads, founder Ian Peacock said, so its goal will be to acquire as many users as it can–a tall task for a small startup competing for similar users as Draft Kings and Fan Duel.
BetOnline offered a list of prop bets for Donald Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention last night.
Yesterday, two South Korean professional baseball players were indicted for match fixing.
Prosecutors in Changwon city on Thursday said they believe pitcher Lee Tae Yang, a starter for NC Dinos in the Korea Baseball Organization, deliberately allowed first-inning walks and runs in two games last season after receiving 20 million won ($17,600) from a gambling broker, who has been arrested.
Moon Woo-ram, an outfielder with South Korea’s military baseball team in the KBO’s second-tier competition, was indicted for allegedly receiving 10 million won ($8,800) in cash and gifts from the broker for connecting him with Lee, according to a statement from the prosecution office.
Charges were dropped against four members of an alleged sports betting ring in Michigan City, Indiana.
It was alleged Biela, the owner of a printing company, printed parlay cards listing the odds for upcoming college and pro football games. According to authorities, the cards were picked up from Biela by others who then distributed to bars and restaurants for customers to place bets. The men returned the following week to give out more cards and to collect the payouts, authorities alleged.
However, LaPorte Superior Court 1 Judge Michael Bergerson has ruled it’s not against the law to have parlay cards and there were no specific allegations in the charging information that showed the cards were used specifically for gambling or any other crime.
Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Matt Youmans spoke with Las Vegas sportsbook operators about Jimmy Garappolo’s role as starting Patriots starting quarterback during Tom Brady’s suspension.
“The Patriots will be just fine,” William Hill sports book director Nick Bogdanovich said. “Even if they come back 2-2 or 1-3, Brady will find a way to get them to the playoffs.”