Category: Legal Sports Betting

The quest for official league data rights and fees has evolved since it first emerged in Indiana in January 2018. The early wave of requests for 1% integrity fees has died down, with the leagues now seeking 0.25% and/or official data mandates. The question many are asking is, why should the leagues get paid? What is the foundation of their argument? The short answer: Their argument’s foundation is built on sand in…

Barely a year after the US Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on sports betting, the emerging industry already is exceeding expectations. A recent tweet from the American Gaming Association noted that American bettors have legally wagered more than $10 billion on sports since the fall of PASPA in May 2018. The Legal Sports Report sports betting revenue tracker indicates books didn’t quite reach…

If New Jersey is going to hold onto its sports betting crown in the east, it’s going to have to stave off a serious challenge from Pennsylvania. Regulated PA sportsbooks booked $109 million in wagers in August — by far their best month to date — yielding a win of $9.9 million across retail and online channels. Those numbers still pale in comparison to those…

Iowa casinos are already reaping the benefits of their newly regulated sports betting operations. Bettors wagered more than $8.5 million through the 17 days of action, with the bulk of that tied to local college sports. That early appetite yielded a win of almost $2.2 million for the books, though the inclusion of futures wagers skews that supposed hold. The numbers come from the…

Without top-shelf events on the calendar, NJ sports betting revenue could have reasonably fallen off in August. We’re learning, though, that the monthly baseline for handle and revenue looks pretty strong in the Garden State. NJ sports betting neared $300 million in handle and generated more than $25 million in revenue in August 2019. That 8.5% hold on a calendar thick with baseball and…

In this series, we will explore some of the important case law that is relevant to sports leagues’ argument that they should be compensated for “official data,” “intellectual property,” or whatever other term-du-jour league executives choose to use. The quest for official league data rights and fees has evolved since it first emerged in Indiana in January 2018. The early wave of requests for 1% integrity…

For the first week of the NFL season, Iowa sports betting will be available at 14 of 19 casinos, with two mobile apps serving the state. Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) administrator Brian Ohorilko told Legal Sports Report that stakeholders are excited about the influx of people attending casinos to visit sportsbooks over the course of the NFL and college football seasons. “Operators are being…

While the country prepares for the start of its most popular sport, Congress apparently still wants to find a way to meddle in sports betting through official league data. That news comes in a report by Gambling Compliance, which cites sources saying Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mitt Romney are discussing a bill. That could revive some version of the draft proposed by  Schumer and…

The PGA Tour became the latest pro sports organization to make a move toward monetizing official data by providing it to US sports betting operators via a new deal announced today. The world’s top pro golf organization announced an expansion of a deal with IMG Arena to “allow for the distribution of the PGA TOUR’s official scoring data to betting operators within North America.”…

European sports betting operator Smarkets announced today it had reached a multimillion-dollar deal with casino operator Full House Resorts in the US. That deal gives it access to the now open Indiana sports betting market, as well as to Colorado should it enact a referendum this fall. The tantalizing prospect for US bettors is the possibility of Smarkets bringing its betting exchange to the…