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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Ray Lesniak, New Jersey state senator and sports betting supporter, has ended his campaign to replace Chris Christie as the governor of New Jersey. Instead, he will seek another term as senator, which would be good news for the pro-legalization crowd.
The longtime state politician, who has fought for gambling expansion perhaps more than any other state lawmaker in the country, said his opponent has too much money already in place. Phil Murphy (D), the former US ambassador to Germany and Goldman Sachs executive, is the frontrunner for the Democratic ticket.
An article in Legal Sports Report suggests the “nuclear option” for legal sports betting needs to be forgotten.
To think that New Jersey will actually do a full repeal of its sports betting law is a great idea in theory. But putting it into practice ignores the political and logistical reality of what such a move entails.
Yes, the state is willing to do just about anything to help its casino industry and racetracks compete in an increasingly saturated market in the region, with competition in the likes of New York and Pennsylvania hurting the bottom line of Atlantic City. That’s what the sports betting effort has been about from the beginning.
The potential William Hill-Amaya merger has hit a snag as the largest shareholder came out and opposed the idea.
In a serious setback to the talks, Parvus Asset Management, which owns 14.3 per cent of William Hill, criticised the move, saying the combination had “limited strategic logic and would destroy shareholder value”.
The hedge fund said William Hill should instead consider putting itself up for sale.
An article published by Las Vegas Weekly looks at Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and Heisman odds at Nevada sportsbooks.
But the state changed its rules five years ago and began allowing sports books to propose event wagering or non-traditional betting types to the gaming commission, which could then approve or deny. Station Casinos went through the process with Heisman futures last year, and got approved to post them in early October.
Heisman odds became widespread this offseason, as nearly every sports book in the state offered them as part of a standard college football betting menu.
David Purdum explains early college football line movement in an article about this weekend’s Alabama-Tennessee matchup.
“They put them out there as kind of a publicity thing, but they might take only a couple hundred dollar’s worth of bets,” Purdum said. “Those early numbers are not really indicative.”
Of the domestic sports books listed on VegasInsider.com, only CG Technology set Alabama as an 8-point favorite with its opening line. But since it was first at 10:56 a.m., that was the number that went up as the opening line. The 8-point spread lived exactly five minutes as it went to 9.5 at 11:01 a.m. By 12:26, CG Technology had it at 10 points.
None of the other Vegas books opened with Alabama favored by less than 10.
Still, the there’s a big difference between a 10-point spread and 13.
“That is a pretty significant move,” Purdum said, “especially for this time of year when we feel like teams or the power rankings should have adjusted to have a good feel for the teams.”
The Las Vegas Sun interviewed gaming enforcement officials about how they will approach e-sports, daily fantasy sports and skills-based gaming.
Bennison: We had to make a determination when daily fantasy sports got really big, and we were getting a lot of questions on the legality of it. … We have to determine what our position is, and so with that example we … looked at it and, at the direction of our chairman, made the determination that it was required to have a license to do it here.
The e-sports thing is new: You have the skins wagering (when players bet using items inside the game instead of cash) and then just e-sports wagering on it in general. That’s been looked at also, and part of that is going to be answered or we’ll get some direction from the Gaming Policy Committee.
They’re meeting (about that), for, I think, the fourth time in this round, where they’re considering e-sports, skill gaming and daily fantasy sports issues or policies and recommendations. So probably next month we’ll get some kind of feedback on e-sports from them.