N.J. takes betting push back to Supreme Court; AGA prez continues convo aimed at Trump

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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New Jersey filed legal briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court in its effort to legalize sports betting.

In the briefs, the state argues that the federal government is barred from forcing states to repeal or reinstate their own laws.

New Jersey has fought for years to legalize sports betting at its casinos and racetracks, but the NCAA and four professional sports leagues — the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL — have successfully sued to stop the effort at every turn. Numerous courts have ruled that the state is violating a 1992 federal ban on sports wagering.

In its most recent effort, New Jersey attempted to circumvent the ban by repealing state laws barring sports betting. Instead, the state would allow casinos and racetracks to offer such wagering without regulation.


American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman participated in a conference call with reporters following the memo his organization put out aimed toward the Trump transition team regarding legalizing sports betting.

“A former casino owner was elected as president of the United States” Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA), said this week. “The act of owning casinos was never an issue. The active casino business was never called into question.”


An LA Times feature takes a look at the aging “dinosaur” that is the show bet in horse racing.

“So Felix says, ‘You mean you can bet on a horse and he can lose the race and you can still win money? And you’ve been losing money all these years?’”

Therein lies the magic and mystery of one of the most misunderstood wagers: the show bet.

Lately, this low-risk, low-reward bet is in serious need of a makeover. If it were at a family gathering, it would be the crazy uncle or the hideous Christmas sweater your grandma made for you to wear.

“With today’s mind-set to hit the lottery, the show wager is really something of a dinosaur,” White said.

At Santa Anita last year, only 4.5% of the total handle was bet to show. Compare that to 6.7% for place and 21.0% for win. Single race exotics (exactas, trifectas, etc.) account for 40.1% of the wagers and multi-race bets (doubles, pick-three, etc.) are good for 27.7%.


ESPN Chalk put together a couple end-of-the-year articles related to sports betting.

What were they thinking? 2016’s head-scratching NFL lines

We’re heading into Week 17 of the NFL season and we have several point spreads that look out of whack. However, that’s because oddsmakers (Betting Talk note: not oddsmakers, but the betting market) have overinflated lines for teams in must-win situations while also adjusting for teams that are expected to rest some starters for the playoffs.

Trump and Leicester City among gambling’s biggest upsets of the year

From sports to politics, 2016 defied the odds.

A 5,000-1 underdog won the title in the bet-heavy Barclays Premier League. Lovable losers began erasing 3-1 series deficits while ending decades-long championship droughts. And a candidate initially not considered realistic enough to be listed by some sportsbooks among the odds to win the U.S. presidential election is now headed for the White House.


The Mirror wrote a feature about a man who won about $25,000 on Leicester City winning the Premier League.

Reflecting on the months that followed his big win, he told the Press Association: “To be honest I’ve been doing all right. I’ve had a few football accumulators come in. Not massive wins … a few hundred pounds.”

He added: “I went Christmas shopping and we spent quite a bit on Christmas shopping for everyone, and we came back in time for the football. I put the accumulator on and it won which paid for all the shopping that we did.”

Asked if he thinks he could make a career out of betting, he joked: “I have considered it but I don’t think I could,” adding: “The thing is, I’ve not gone crazy with it, I’ve not been making stupid bets.

“I have been playing it, and I don’t always win, but sometimes I do. But I think I win more than people I know, but I’ve been really, really lucky, to be honest.”


USFantasy, a pari-mutuel fantasy sports betting company in Nevada said they’ve seen growth throughout this NFL season.

Salerno, president of USFantasy and a 38-year veteran of the gaming industry, said handle has grown roughly 10 percent a week through the National Football League season. The company hasn’t publicly reported handle figures.

“Once you get liquidity, it gets better for everybody,” Salerno said from the company’s office south of McCarran International Airport.

And by that, he means there’s room for more types of bets within Nevada and more wagering locations in states that already allow pari-mutuel wagering.


The Las Vegas Weekly analyzes which potential Super Bowl matchups would create the most sports betting interest in Nevada.

Dallas Cowboys vs. New England Patriots (plus-225) This clash of prohibitive favorites could mean record-breaking volume, since both teams have national fan bases that would surely show up in droves. Dallas and New England have been the NFL’s two best teams all season, so action on the game would probably be split somewhat evenly.


Despite some theories from questionable sources, the Indianapolis Colts were knocked out of the playoffs and therefore will not win the Super Bowl this year.

For months, several Las Vegas bookmakers wondered why so many significant futures wagers were showing up on the Colts. Rumors swirled, and mysterious reasons surfaced.

“The Italian mafia claimed the NFL is fixed and the Colts are going to win the Super Bowl,” one bookmaker said last week.

There also was a blog post in August from some sort of amateur astrologer who claimed the numbers and stars lined up to show Indianapolis would defeat Minnesota in Super Bowl 51. Apparently, a lot of naive bettors were buying one story or the other.

“We’ve been getting hit on the Colts since we posted our futures board in February,” South Point sports book director Chris Andrews said. “It has been happening all year. Our first big bet paid $50,000 for the Colts to win the AFC. I remember thinking, that’s curious.

“It was a steady attack. I know they keep showing up with money. It’s unbelievable.”