Indiana became the 10th state to legalize sports betting earlier this week.
Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday signed a controversial gaming bill that legalizes mobile sports wagering and allows for a new Terre Haute casino.
In a late-afternoon statement announcing his decision, Holcomb called gaming a “highly regulated industry” that faces competition from surrounding states and through new technology.
“By modernizing our laws, this legislation will spur positive economic growth for our state and for an industry that employs over 11,000 Hoosiers. Additionally, it will bring in new revenue and create hundreds of new jobs – both permanent and in construction,” Holcomb said. “I will direct the Indiana Gaming Commission to monitor for potential effects of this bill so that we can make necessary changes in future legislative sessions.”
Longshot Country House won the Kentucky Derby following a disqualification of Maximum Security. One bettor in Las Vegas won big on two superfectas.
The shocking disqualification in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby left one man $78,000 richer after a measly $8 bet – nothing short of “a miracle,” according to a Las Vegas sportsbook manager.
The unidentified gambler – a regular at The Mirage who watched the big race with his mother – won in a big way with two identical $4 superfectas that paid $51,400 each, or $39,065 minus taxes, after 65-1 longshot Country House was moved up to first place when Maximum Security was disqualified for interference some 22 minutes after crossing the finish line, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
“It was a miracle,” Scott Shelton, a sportsbook shift manager at the Race & Sports Book at The Mirage, told the newspaper. “He must’ve been a saint in a previous life running into buildings to get babies or something for everything to happen for him to cash those tickets.”
The victory was just the second win in seven career starts for Country House, a chestnut colt whose improbable finish led to the second-highest payout in the Derby’s 145-year history at $132.40. The record is still held by Donerail, a 91-1 extreme longshot that won in 1913 with a $2 win payoff of $184.90.
Pro sports bettor Billy Walters has appealed to the Supreme Court for his 2017 insider trading conviction.
In the wake of a federal appeals court having upheld his conviction and five-year prison sentence, Walters’ attorneys took the last-ditch legal option on May 3 of asking the Supreme Court to order the lower court to send up the record of the case for review. The court typically only takes up cases of national significance or those of precedential value. Even then, officials acknowledge the court accepts a mere 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year.
Walters, who in his prime had the financial muscle and acumen to move betting lines worldwide, was convicted in 2017 on conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges after prosecutors said he illegally made $40 million while trading Dean Foods Co. stock from 2008 to 2015. Walters, 72, was accused of using nonpublic information from his friend and former Dean Foods chairman Thomas Davis, who later cooperated with the government.
The man who won $1.19 million on a futures bet when Tiger Woods won the Masters has reinvested $100,000 of his winnings on a 100-to-1 bet on Woods to win all three remaining golf majors this year.
On Wednesday afternoon, Adducci, who told multiple news outlets in April that the $85,000 was his first bet ever, was back in Las Vegas to place a $100,000 wager on Woods to win the Grand Slam this year at 100-1 odds.
The bet was made at the same William Hill sportsbook at the SLS Casino where Adducci made the original bet on Woods to win the Masters at 14-1; this latest wager would win $10 million.
It’s the biggest liability on a bet, in any sport, that William Hill has had in its 85-year history.
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