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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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the sports betting case in December.
The Supreme Court decided to hear the case, Christie v. NCAA, in June. “Christie” refers to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and the case is an attempt by that state to overturn a lower court’s ruling that blocked an attempt to legalize sports betting in the Garden State.
The case involves the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), passed in 1992, which prohibits sports betting nationwide except for four states: Nevada, Montana, Delaware and New Jersey.
Betting on the Vegas Golden Knights will be available at every sports book in Las Vegas.
In a July interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman expressed a desire to have betting options on Golden Knights’ home games removed from sportsbooks at the casinos adjacent to T-Mobile Arena, which are the MGM properties New York New York and Monte Carlo. Bettman indicated that he planned to call MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren to make the request.
The NHL ultimately elected not to request any betting prohibition with Nevada Gaming Control.
“We had discussions both with the club and MGM, with respect to betting around the arena,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN in September. “There may be some steps done in respect to that, but we didn’t feel like it was an appropriate time to make the global request.”
Sports betting could return to Maryland General Assembly’s agenda in 2018.
Joe Weinberg, head of the company that operates Maryland Live Casino & Hotel in Anne Arundel County, said Tuesday that he is “all in” for an effort to legalize sports betting at Maryland’s six casinos.
Weinberg, chief executive of Cordish Global Gaming, urged members of the Joint Committee on Gaming Oversight to take up the issue in 2018 so that a constitutional amendment may be put on next year’s general election ballot.
Maryland’s gambling laws permitting casinos take the form of constitutional amendments, which are put to voters, who ultimately decide.
It’s not clear that Maryland lawmakers share the industry’s sense of urgency. Del. Frank Turner, the gaming committee’s House co-chair, said legislation to allow sports betting will likely find a sponsor, but he’s not sure it will pass next year.
“If we don’t move on it in ’18, we can move on it in ’20,” the Howard County Democrat said.
Weinberg warned that Maryland’s competitors for casino tax dollars already are lining up to change their laws in case the Supreme Court rules on a pending case to allow more states to offer sports betting.
“If we wait for 100 percent clarity on federal law, we will be two to three years behind the surrounding states,” he said. Weinberg said it is important that Maryland’s casinos can continue to offer what he called “a full suite of gaming services.”
It took five weeks, but the New York Giants now have the same odds to win the Super Bowl as the New York Jets.
By mid-August at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, only three teams — the Oakland Raiders, Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys — had attracted more bets to win the Super Bowl than the Giants. At 12-1, New York began the season with better Super Bowl odds than the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons.
One month later, the Giants find themselves with the same odds of winning the Super Bowl as the New York Jets at 300-1.