Take a look at some of the latest in sports betting across the Unied States:
Sports Betting a Go in West Virginia
West Virginia now stands as the fifth state in the nation with legalized sports betting as the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races punched out it’s first wager ticket. That inaugural ticket is a $50 College Football Championship Game futures bet on the West Virginia Mountaineers to win it all at 60 to 1 odds.
That’ll pay out a quick $3,000 for those keeping score. The odds were provided by William Hill, which provides the services to Hollywood. Regulators began testing the Hollywood systems earlier this week and they passed have passed with flying colors as three days later the sportsbook is up and running. West Virginia joins Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, and Nevada as states with legalized sports betting.
Big Bets in Vegas
The College Football season has begun and sportsbooks are already receiving some major action. Earlier this week, one bettor wagered at least $100K on the Wisconsin Badgers and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Word traveled quickly about the deep-pocketed gambler as he began with a $30,000 wager on the Buckeyes -38.5 against Oregon State.
Moments later he put down $10,000 on a two-team parlay featuring Ohio State with Wisconsin. However, he was not done there as he returned to drop another $30,000 on Wisconsin straight at -37. This was all at the South Point sports book in Vegas.
Once word had spread, other books couldn’t help but notice some similarities with the action they’d been receiving as someone laid a $10,000 parlay on the two schools as well as $20,000 on Wisconsin minus the points over at the Westgate SuperBook. If that’s the same dude, he’s in for $100,000.
Not to be outdone, a William Hill sportsbook director announced they’d received a $130,000 parlay on Ohio State-Wisconsin, too. Now the guys in deep at $230,000 because there is no way you can convince me this is not the same person.
This is Vegas after all and people do live their lives as such, just seems a little early. As of this writing, the games have yet to be played so remember this guy when the games go final this weekend.
Schumer Setting Framework for Feds in Sports Betting
In our most important story of the week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) helped advance a federal sports betting framework last Wednesday, but stopped well short of any legislation. Schumer’s proposal would require bookmakers to purchase “official league data” and allow sports leagues to control which bets are offered in sportsbooks. The framework also includes a requirement for casinos to share anonymously betting trend information with leagues and government bodies.
The framework is very league friendly as you could imagine as Schumer and all four major pro sports leagues reside in New York. The leagues put out a statement of their own, shortly after Schumer’s release. “As legalized sports betting spreads across the states, there is a need for consistent, nationwide integrity standards to safeguard the sports millions of fans love.
We strongly support the legislative framework outlined by Senator Schumer and we encourage Congress to adopt it.” Just last week Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) renewed his call for federal legislation that would, in effect, replace the recently overturned PASPA. Hatch was one of the original authors of the unconstitutional law.
The gaming industry is, of course, pushing back as they prefer individual states to craft their own rules and regulations. The American Gaming Association has been the most vocal before and after the recent Supreme Court decision and released a statement of their own. “The casino gaming industry shares Senator Schumer’s goal in preserving the integrity of sporting events and providing consumer protections. Federal oversight of sports betting was an abject failure for 26 years only contributing to a thriving illegal market with no consumer protections and safeguards.
New federal mandates are a nonstarter. The casino industry is working with stakeholders to ensure the proper protections for consumers, and the integrity of bets and sporting contests are included in state policy, universally implemented by all operators in those states, and overseen by effective state and tribal gaming regulators.”
Of course, it’s important to remember, Schumer’s proposal is only a framework. An outline of an idea to be considered, maybe. It includes no actual legislation, whatsoever. States are going to have to take the lead as legal sports betting is here and five of them already have. (Delaware, Nevada, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Mississippi) The feds are notoriously slow movers which, of course, gives the gaming industry more fuel. Retiring Senator Hatch has said ever since the PASPA repeal, he’d have federal regulation put in place. Well, he is running out of time as the midterm elections are right around the corner and his clock is ticking.
Rhode Island and Pennsylvania are said to be close to joining the other five states with legal sports betting very soon. As more states move on legalized sports betting, the further behind Congress falls, and attempting to apply new federal law to different states’ law will prove to be difficult if not impossible. Good luck, fellas. You’re going to need it.
