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.
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The New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association has also filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow sports betting in the state.
The petitions have come from the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and Gov. Chris Christie. Christie, of course, is actually named in the case, since he signed the law.
The requests for SCOTUS to hear the case center around the idea that PASPA is unconstitutional, as it usurps the Tenth Amendment. Here is the crux of the argument from the petition filed by Christie, according to North Jersey.com’s John Brennan, who broke the news.
David Stern says repealing PASPA isn’t enough for legal sports betting in the United States. The country also needs federal oversight, and that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
Stern went so far as to say a simple repeal of PASPA — which the American Gaming Association is pushing for — is not tenable. A PASPA repeal would tacitly leave the issue up to the states as to whether they want to legalize it; Stern said he thinks (paraphrasing) that states regulating sports betting would be a mess.
However, the scenario Stern described — Congress amending PASPA to create a federal framework to oversee sports wagering across the US — is terribly unlikely.
News broke over the weekend that William Hill and Amaya are in talks of a potential merger.
Initial merger discussions between the FTSE 250 UK betting company and Canada’s Amaya have been confirmed by William Hill. If the deal were to complete the merger its value would eclipse any of the online operator mergers the industry has seen previously, including GVC-bwin.party and the to-be-completed Ladbrokes-Coral deal.
The potential merger business would also be the largest global online gamin operator by EBITDA and second largest by revenue.
“The potential merger would be consistent with the strategic objectives of both William Hill and Amaya and would create a clear international leader across online sports betting, poker and casino,” William Hill said.
Nevada lawmakers began discussing Sheldon Adelson’s proposal for a Las Vegas stadium that could host an NFL team during a special session that started yesterday.
Yet, the domed-stadium proposal remains controversial and unlikely to sail through the legislature, political observers say. Critics, which include the main casino-workers union, say, among other things, there are other priorities that new public funding could be used for instead of a billionaire’s project.
The stadium is part of what may be the biggest-ever push by Nevada’s wealthiest resident to shape politics, business and community in the state.
An AP article breaks down key points of the Las Vegas stadium deal.
Nevada lawmakers convene Monday to consider raising taxes in the Las Vegas area to help fund a $1.9 billion football stadium, a $1.4 billion convention center expansion and more police officers to protect the additional tourists. Here are things to know about the deal.
UK sportsbooks and television networks oppose a potential ban on betting advertisements during daytime TV.
The two industries voiced their criticism as figures revealed that gambling firms’ spend on TV advertising has more than doubled since 2012, reaching £162m already this year.
The government is understood to be planning to include gambling adverts in an imminent review of the industry that will also investigate the spread of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) – dubbed the “crack cocaine” of gambling by campaigners.