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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Gaming and sports law attorney Daniel Wallach wrote at length about what needs to happen for sports betting to become legal in the United States.
In the absence of a successful court challenge, we are likely on a much slower train to expanded legal sports betting. Most seasoned observers believe that a Congressional repeal of or amendment to PASPA to allow state-sponsored sports betting is at least three to five years away. Some are even more pessimistic, and believe the timeline is considerably longer. This timeline could be shortened considerably through additional litigation pressure—either through one state succeeding in court or by a group of states mounting legal challenges. The pendency of multiple cases could be enough to achieve the desired effect, e.g., the sports leagues urging Congress to act. It’s one thing for the leagues to litigate against a single state (as they successfully did with New Jersey), but it’s an entirely different animal to have to confront multiple legal challenges by pockets of insurgent states.
An article published by the Off Shore Gaming Association says states need to work together to legalize sports betting.
So the obvious question then was whether New Jersey made a mistake challenging the law alone and whether they should have waited for other states to enter the foray before initiating their constitutional challenge. On the contrary, Wallach suggested that New Jersey should actually be commended for their actions and has set a path for other states to join the sports betting lobby without having to spend an inordinate amount of money in the process:
Dustin Gouker suggests daily fantasy sports is the answer to challenging the sports betting ban.
If NJ still has the appetite for trying to get around the federal US sports betting ban — PASPA — there is an entirely different route it could take. It involves using daily fantasy sports language to offer prop bets on players.
An Omaha World-Herald reporter looked into the data and suggested that home field advantage no longer exists in college football.
Across the five major conferences, from 1996 through 2013, home teams won 56.5 percent of league games. There were a few ups and downs, but the rate was pretty steady.
Now look at 2014 and 2015, the two most balanced seasons in the 20-year span. Power Five home teams won just 50.8 percent. Their total record: 267-259.
Gaming Today published an article about DraftKings and FanDuel’s failed pitch sent to Nevada lawmakers to legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports in the state.
Sadly their proposal did not consider the standards Nevada currently operates under and missed the mark of finding something the state could realistically consider by multiples of the proverbial “country mile.” They missed the target so badly it was almost a waste of Station Casinos VP of Race and Sports Book Operations Art Manteris’ time to speak against the DFS operators. I also suspect Vic Salerno, founder of US Fantasy, saw their effort as so weak he held back from aggressively expounding the deficiencies in the proposed legislative language.
The Minnesota Vikings lost Teddy Bridgewater for the season after he tore his ACL during practice earlier this week. His injury hurt his team’s odds for success.
Minnesota’s odds to win the Super Bowl were adjusted from 14-1 to 35-1 at Station Casinos sports books. The Vikings were posted as 3½-point favorites at Tennessee in Week 1 before Bridgewater’s fall, and the line moved to pick’em.
ESPN’s David Purdum provided some nuggets leading into the college football season.
The worst-case national champion for Las Vegas sportsbook operator CG Technology to start the season? The plucky Iowa Hawkeyes.
Opening as 100-1 longshots, the Hawkeyes are now 20-1, after a customer backed Iowa with a series of notable four-figure futures bets at 75-1 and at 60-1. Iowa’s odds to win the Big Ten also have shortened, improving from 7-1 to 3-1 at CG Technology. The Westgate SuperBook also took a four-figure bet on the Hawkeyes to win the national title at 80-1.
Matt Youmans of the Las Vegas Review-Journal spoke with oddsmakers about college football as the 2016 season kicked off.
Andrews opened the Hurricanes’ win total at 6½. Bettors have raised the stakes by pushing the number to eight, mostly because of the hyped hiring of Richt.
“I don’t like a new coach coming in,” Andrews said, “but I think Richt has a very good team and he’s got a good quarterback in Kaaya.”