Missouri’s last chance
Missouri lifeline, New York iCasino flannel, AGA UK warning, Tabcorp fine, PokerStars not going Dutch +More
Good morning. On today’s agenda:
Missouri lawmakers throw a sports-betting lifeline.
iCasino in New York is not dead, says Addabbo.
‘Don’t be like the UK,’ AGA’s Miller warns US industry.
Tabcorp and hotel chided for underage punter fail.
PokerStars waves goodbye to the Netherlands.
Missouri last gasp
Missouri sports betting has been on life support, but supporters are not ready to pull the plug just yet.
Mostly dead: Missouri Rep. Dan Houx has inserted sports betting into a bill on tax credits for interns and apprentices that the Senate passed. The bill’s sponsor is Sen. Denny Hoskins, who will be familiar to readers as the primary source of opposition to sports betting.
Hoskins doesn’t necessarily oppose sports betting, however. Rather, he wants it tied to VLT legalization.
Houx also added several separate tax pieces, one of which is a pet issue of one of Hoskins’s closest allies, Sen. Bill Eigel. The bill is now a comprehensive tax reform package, with sports betting loosely falling under that umbrella due to its tax implications.
Because Hoskins sponsored SB 92, he has a decision to make. Approve the bill or take it to a conference committee to attempt to hash out the differences between the House and Senate versions (sports betting).
Hoskins will unlikely be amused by what he likely views as a strong-arm tactic.
Bring on the committee: A conference committee would include five Senators and five House of Representative members. Houx and Hoskins would almost certainly be among them. That sets the stage for a potential compromise and gives sports-betting supporters more time to convince Hoskins – which is no small task.
To put it bluntly, Missouri’s 2023 sports-betting hopes are hanging on by a string and Sen. Hoskins is holding a pair of scissors.
Wind of change: The complete list of amendments added to SB 92 are:
HA #1 – this amendment changes the title to “Relating to Taxation”.
HA #2 – this modifies the Rural Access to Capital Act to make such language identical to provisions in SS/HCS/HB 268 (2023).
HA #3 – this authorizes three tax credits relating to the provision of child care.
HA #4 – this modifies provisions of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit to correct references to federal law
HA #1 TO HA #5, HA #5 as amended – this amendment authorizes sports wagering.
HA #1 TO HA #6, HA #2 to HA #6, HA #6 as amended – this authorizes an income tax deduction for beginning farmers and removes the sunset from an income tax deduction for employee stock ownership plans.
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iCasino in New York
New York could approve legislation to legalize iGaming as soon as next year, according to a prominent lawmaker.
Ice is slowly melting: Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. told the SBC North America Summit in New Jersey on Wednesday, he thinks the Empire State is a case of “when, not if”. “This will be a hotly debated issue in next year’s budget,” he said.
“New York is sitting on a billion dollars in iGaming revenue, money that can be used for transportation or healthcare; two major parts of the state budget, because it’s unspoken for funding,” he said.
Addabbo’s dabba do: The chair of the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee already floated an iGaming bill earlier this year, albeit to little enthusiasm. Bill S4856 would legalize online casino gaming, including slots, table games and live dealer games.
It carried a 30.5% iGaming tax rate, which is significantly higher than the standard elsewhere and almost double that of other states.
The senator remains bullish, however, and said it would be a priority of his over the coming year, and he is hopeful iGaming could go live by early 2025.
FanDuel’s public policy SVP Katie Peters liked what she heard and said she’s also optimistic of movement in 2024, but the mooted tax rate needs to drop.
“When you have a low tax rate, it incentivizes investment and you get more people playing more quickly. I’d suggest New York looks very closely at New Jersey (15%) for how that’s done,” Peters said.
Sweet, sweet fantasy: Not everyone shares the view of sunshine and lollipops; Lee Terfloth, chief operating officer at Out the Gate, said he feels the matter is stuck and not likely to make any progress for several years.
“I believe the political efforts will focus more on the brick-and-mortar casinos. I think iGaming will take a few years to get done,” Terfloth said.
George Rover, managing partner of Princeton Global Strategies, agreed with Terfloth.
The New York State Gaming Commission is wading through bids for casinos and will come to a decision on licensing following a competitive bidding process.
With three licenses available, Rover said he understood two were already nailed down, with Aqueduct Racetrack and Yonkers in the frame. Around a dozen more hopefuls will duke it out for the final license.
The big money: On a separate panel, Adam Greenblatt, CEO at BetMGM, said his “political advisors” have told him that Illinois could see iCasino expansion in 2023 due to a $1.3bn hole in the state budget. Richard Schwartz, CEO of Rush Street Interactive, said he also believes Illinois, along with Maryland and New York, all have realistic shots of legalizing iGaming in the coming years.
“This year a record number of states introduced legislation to legalize iGaming,” he told the panel.
Narrator: None passed.
Lobby warning
One of the most prominent US gaming lobbyists has said the UK market has flunked its lines in regard to problem gambling.
Throwing shade: Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA), said he was conscious of the industry’s perception amid regulators and the non-gambling public could go south quickly if operators don’t focus on player harm.
“Responsible gaming is core to the business; it’s core to sustainability,” he said.
“We’ve seen the UK, and other countries where the industry has gone bad, and we don’t want a repeat of that,” he told a panel at the SBC North America event.
“We need to think about how regulators see us and what the American public thinks of us.”
The recent white paper on reform of the gambling sector announced by the UK government was heavily influenced by public health and player safety data.
It laid out proposals to further regulate player limits and improve safeguarding for young gamblers.
Tabcorp fine
Tabcorp and the Preston Hotel face six-figure penalties after allegedly allowing a teenager to place bets at a terminal.
Smells like teen did it: The pair are likely to land combined penalties of up to A$325,409 ($219,000), according to the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission, after a 16-year-old was allegedly able to access and place bets on gaming machines inside the Melbourne hotel.
The youngster placed bets six times across May and September last year, the regulator said in addressing the charges.
The Preston Hotel’s 15 charges bring a maximum fine of A$221,904, while Tabcorp is facing eight charges, which could amount to a maximum fine of A$103,505.
VGCCC gambling director Glorija Kuzman said the incident was “deeply concerning” and that minors being allowed to gamble is “one of the most serious harms”.
All gambling operators, including venues and the holders of statewide licenses, “have an irrefutable legal requirement to do everything they can to stop children from gambling”, she said
Investigations are ongoing into additional venues and may result in further charges.
PokerStars pulls Dutch application
PokerStars has pulled its application for a Netherlands remote license and will not return for the foreseeable future, it has been reported.
Bye bye bye: “The withdrawal was simply a question of resourcing and the business had other priorities at the time in terms of market launches,” an unnamed insider was quoted as saying.
PokerStars can now be added to the list of illustrious names that have also failed to acquire Dutch approval, including Bettson.
Kindred, bet365 and Entain, via its later acquisition of BetCity, are the only big hitters to so far secure a license to operate in the Netherlands.
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European notebook
Sweden: The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) has welcomed what it says is a “remarkable statement” from the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden on how fines by the Swedish Gambling Authority are levied.
The decision on Tuesday relates to a penalty issued against the operator Genesis Global where the SGA based the fine on turnover whereas the court believes it should be levied against GGR.
BOS said the decision “may have a prejudicial effect, not only for future decisions on penalty fees, but for all penalty fees that have already been imposed since the Swedish re-regulation in 2019”.
The possible prejudicial effect is now under investigation at the SGA.
“This decision is very welcome, albeit belated,” said Gustaf Hoffstedt, secretary-general of BOS.
Denmark: Bet365 has been ordered to pay DKK4.7m ($690k) to professional athletes after the company was found to have used their images on its Twitter and Facebook profiles without consent. Defendants include current English Premier League football stars Christian Eriksen and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, the Handball Players' Association and the Danish Elite Sports Athletes' Association.
Latam notebook
Brazil: The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has announced it will expand its integrity monitoring and wider anti-match-fixing operations in Brazil.
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