Barstool suffers ‘Can’t Lose’ slapdown
Controversial parlay promo halted, WWE’s carnival of the absurd, Bet365’s Dutch difficulties, Cyprus welfare gambling ban +More
Good morning. On today’s agenda:
Under pressure Barstool calls a halt to ‘Can’t Lose Parlay’ promotion.
Hoo-hah raised over WWE’s supposed betting application.
The Dutch regulator sanctions bet365 over advertising to under-24s.
Cyprus to ban welfare claimants from gambling.
Barstool’s joke falls flat
An already busy Massachusetts Gaming Commission meets to decide next steps as Barstool suspends its ‘Can’t Lose Parlay’ promotion.
Lose-lose: Barstool parent Penn Entertainment has pulled the sportsbook’s controversial Can’t Lose Parlay promotion indefinitely in Massachusetts and elsewhere. During an MGC open hearing on Wednesday, the MGC said the issue came to a head after being raised by the media.
Barstool makes an association between the Can’t Lose Parlay and Barstool personality Big Cat and plays on his ineptitude at gambling.
Penn CEO Jay Snowden previously told the MGC the Can’t Lose branding was an attempt at humor.
Foul play: During the MGC open hearing with a single item agenda yesterday, Investigations and Enforcement Bureau director Loretta Lillios said the concern was that the promotion “runs afoul” of the regulations.
The meeting was about the process from here and Commissioner Todd Grossman said it wasn’t the job of the hearing to deliberate on the matter.
🍿That will come in a new hearing, on a date yet to be set, at which possible punishments will be discussed.
Penn VP and chief compliance officer Chris Soriano was also on the call but made no contribution at this stage.
Receipts aplenty: As is evident, the launch of OSB in Massachusetts hasn’t loosened the calendar of the MGC, which spent the week dealing with operator violations at Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park.
At least one of the violations confirms the concerns some commissioners harbored about the rushed launch timeline.
Flubber: The flub at Encore stemmed from the company having multiple backend codes for Boston College Women’s Basketball and a compressed timeline, GAN vice-president Robert Lekites told the MGC.
GAN had “very little notice to actually go through the entire system to match the approved wagering list”.
“Typically, we would have done that with code, and we would have done that well in advance. But that was done the day before.”
Penn’s double fault: Penn also got to see the MGC on Tuesday when it appeared before the Commission over bets on Merrimack College at the Plainridge Park Casino.
The glitch was also the fault of a supplier but, unlike Encore-GAN, the Penn-Kambi flub was due to a Kambi employee designating Merrimack as a Florida team.
What we’re watching
Gogglebox: On the MGC call, Commissioner Brad Hill noted the GeoComply ‘pin drop’ map from the first weekend’s action and said he “can’t stop looking at it”.
US notebook
A dark horse emerges: An online gambling bill would allow Iowa casinos to launch up to two individually branded online casinos. The House Study Bill 227 leaves room for the Iowa Gaming Commission to approve a third online casino skin.
Iowa passed a bill in 2022 that placed a two-year moratorium on new casino licenses. The legislation didn’t mention online gambling but, according to John Pappas, SVP of government and public affairs at GeoComply, its intent was a moratorium on all gambling expansions.
That said, Pappas last spoke to Iowa lawmakers in the fall. It’s unclear if their appetite for gambling has changed since then.
Big picture: With efforts dashed in Indiana and New York (online casinos were left out of the NY Assembly and Senate budgets), Iowa could be the dark horse candidate that kickstarts online casinos and online poker legalization.
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Carnival of the absurd
The possibility of punting on pro wrestling sets pulses racing.
No spoilers: Regulators in Colorado and Michigan have distanced themselves from claims they are in talks to legalize betting on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) matches. CNBC initially reported that the WWE had approached Big Four accounting firm EY to discuss how to ensure the result of certain predetermined bouts is not leaked.
The wrestling promotion was said to have sounded out Michigan and Colorado as initial markets to enter as it seeks to pump up its share price ahead of a potential sale, but both have reared back following the reports.
“The Colorado Division of Gaming is not currently and has not considered allowing sports-betting wagers on WWE matches,” it said.
“At no time has any state gaming regulator in Colorado spoken with the WWE about including wagers on our approved wager list,” the CDG added, noting a statute prohibiting bets on events with “fixed or predicted outcomes”.
Submission hold: Michigan’s gaming control board executive director, Henry Williams, noted that no “formal request” regarding WWE events wagering had been made. “The WWE should work with the gaming industry if it wishes to bring a proposal before the MGCB,” he added.
WWE had made an informal approach to Michigan through a third-party more than a year ago, the regulator said, but no follow up had commenced.
Offshore bookies have been taking bets on pro wrestling matches for several years, and UK punters have multiple markets available through the likes of Paddy Power and Unibet.
Laying the smackdown: Industry reaction ranged from swift and brutal to the artful evasive maneuvering displayed by the in-ring performers.
“NFW!” said Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, in response to a question at the recent iGamingNext event of whether he’d take bets on WWE matches.
FanDuel’s press team said it was “highly unlikely” it would ever allow wagers on pro wrestling.
DrafKings ducked the question and said it would be one for the regulators to decide.
Juice isn’t worth the squeeze: The American Gaming Association, which represents commercial and tribal operators, is also keen to avoid the kind of drama that comes with a violent live-action soap opera.
“Both regulators and operators must have confidence in the integrity of the competitions,” it said.
Fight of its life: The WWE is currently exploring a sale as it approaches a renegotiation of its multi-billion-dollar TV rights, which are arguably the most important in the business’s history. The WWE signed five-year TV deals with FOX and NBCU in 2018, valued at $2.35bn across both networks.
The New York company has a $6bn market cap, with 77-year-old owner Vince McMahon Jr reportedly seeking $9bn in what is likely to be his final hurrah.
Potential buyers include Comcast, Amazon, UFC owner Endeavor, Netflix, Disney, and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
Bet365’s Netherlands fine
The Dutch regulator sanctions bet365 over advertising to under-24s.
On your bike: Fresh off slapping around a host of online operators for illegally targeting Dutch citizens, the Netherlands gambling regulator has gone after bet365. The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) issued a €400,000 ($428,000) penalty to Hillside New Media Malta, bet365’s holding company, for breaching Dutch law in advertising to people under 24.
The regulator received a tip-off in January 2022 that teenagers were getting account opening bonus offers emailed from bet365, with an investigation confirming other examples.
You’ll like this one: Somewhat boldly, bet365 said the KSA had misinterpreted the Dutch Gambling Act.
The UK-headquartered operator claimed the wording indicated adverts must not be specifically targeted to 18 to 24s, rather than there being an outright ban on contacting that age group.
The KSA rejected the appeal and increased the initial €350,000 fine to €400,000 due to the seriousness of the case and that breaches had occurred over several months.
As previously reported in C+M, the Netherlands is clearing the way for a complete ban on untargeted gambling advertising (TV, radio, billboards etc) in the coming year.
Australia ISP blocking
Eight more illegal offshore operators have been blocked by Australia’s media regulator.
Eight men out: CasinoJAX, Mirax Casino, Wild Fortune Casino, No Deposit Kings and four others breached the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, per the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The watchdog said it has now blocked 709 black market websites.
More than 180 illegal services have also pulled out of the Australian market since the ACMA began enforcing tougher rules on offshore operators in 2017, it said.
Cyprus welfare ban
The government of Cyprus wants to stop people who receive state welfare payments from using the money to gamble.
Taking names: A planned self-exclusion platform, run by the gambling regulator in conjunction with the ministries of health and labor, will also include a list of welfare recipients in order to identify who shouldn’t be betting.
Ioanna Fiakkou, chair of the National Betting Authority, announced the plan in the Cypriot parliament as part of a number of new harm-related proposals.
All welfare recipients, including beneficiaries of Guaranteed Minimum Income, will automatically be banned from gambling, she said.
In 2022, €959m ($1.09bn) was staked at licensed betting shops in Cyprus, Fiakkou revealed, which accounts for 3.55% of the country’s GDP, up from 0.99% in 2016.
The return of winnings reached €843.42m and the state collected taxes of €11.75m.
Belgium ad ban
Belgium is to ban broadcast gambling advertising from July 1, 2023, with a tougher set of rules to be phased in over the next five years.
Which one of these is not like the others: The sweeping measures will cover all forms of advertising from land-based and online operators, but not the country’s National Lottery.
A last-minute plea from the gambling regulator to rethink the matter (or at least include the state-run lottery) failed.
The ban is just the start of Belgium’s crackdown, with advertising no longer allowed in sports stadiums from January 1, 2025.
Further sports club restrictions (not limited to team shirts) will enter force in 2028.
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European notebook
ANJ: The French regulator has published a blacklist of gambling websites that are subject to blocking and delisting orders.
What we’re listening to
Yeehah: Ex-governor of Texas Rick Perry tells iGB’s World Series of Politics pod why he thinks Texas voters will back sports betting.
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