Each Friday, 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.
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In a USA Today profile of a sports betting tout, several professional athletes including Odell Beckham Jr. were accused of betting on sports.
The Giants receiver, who is still recovering from season-ending ankle surgery, allegedly expressed interest in betting $20,000 on a baseball game, a high-stakes gambler told USA Today as part of an in-depth story.
Rob Gorodetsky told USA Today Beckham expressed interest in placing the wager, but the prospect ultimately fell through.
The NFL’s gambling policy states no member of the league is allowed to bet on any professional, collegiate or Olympic sporting event, including but not limited to wagers related to game outcome, statistics, score, or performance of any individual participant.
Beckham denied the allegations through his agent, Zeke Sandhu, as well as denying even knowing Gorodetsky.
Delaware could become the second U.S. state to offer single-game sports betting if PASPA gets repealed.
At the moment, Delaware’s offerings are limited to parlays or multi-game betting on football.
“If we can get to market faster than some of our neighbors there could be some real upside,” Geisenberger said, according to the news outlet. “We’re working to roll it out as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, state lottery director Vernon Kirk said the tentative plan of the Delaware Gov. John Carney’s administration is to initially confine betting on NFL, NBA, NHL, major league baseball and out-of-state college sports teams to the state’s three casinos.
Unlike New Jersey, Delaware doesn’t need legislative action to begin offering sports betting since the state is one of the four states exempted from the 1992 nationwide ban on sports gambling.
Texas, however, doesn’t seem poised to legalize sports betting.
Texans are unlikely to be able to plunk down Super Bowl or Final Four wagers with legal neighborhood bookies for the foreseeable future, even though the U.S. Supreme Court could open the door for sports betting nationwide as early as this spring by overturning the federal law that bans it in most states.
Observers consider it a long shot that Gov. Greg Abbott or the Legislature would support legalization of sports betting in Texas if given the opportunity – despite a jackpot, in terms of economic impact, that’s potentially large.
Indiana would have to weigh its options as the state is home to one of the most vocal opponents of sports betting — the NCAA.
“I understand where they’ll be coming from,” Morrison said. “But it’s also important for the NCAA to understand that the landscape of gaming is changing throughout our country. I think they would hopefully have some understanding that Indiana would have rights just like the other states.
“Obviously one of biggest events for sports wagering is March Madness (the NCAA basketball tournament). If they open it up to all 50 states, there will be gaming facilities in Ohio, in Michigan, in Illinois that are all doing it.”
Restricting college bets in Indiana, Morrison said, “would be a pretty big burden to put on our facilities.”
The NCAA declined an interview request for this story. But it has some big chips to play in any negotiation. Indianapolis has been a regular host to NCAA basketball tournament events. Indy is scheduled as host of a men’s regional in 2020 and the men’s Final Four in 2021. Fort Wayne is site of a women’s regional in 2020.
Nevada sportsbooks had their biggest monthly loss on baseball in November when the Houston Astros won the World Series.
Nevada sportsbooks lost $11.4 million on baseball in November — the largest baseball loss in a month for the state’s regulated books, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
The Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Game 7 on Nov. 1, sending bettors to the cashier. In addition to any winning wagers on Game 7, futures bets on the Astros to win the World Series that were placed throughout the year and cashed in November added up to the record monthly baseball loss.
The previous largest loss on baseball came in November 1999, after the New York Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves to win the World Series. The books lost $6.2 million on baseball that November. The 2017 World Series was nearly twice as costly for the books and will be talked about for years in Las Vegas.