Brazil vote postponed, Senate split on iCasino inclusion
Brazilian bill, North Carolina says ‘no’ on ’Bowl betting, California DFS +More
The Brazilian Senate is split on the inclusion of iCasino.
North Carolina rules out sports-betting debut by the time of the Super Bowl.
California Attorney General query could spell bad news for fantasy operators.
Ronaldo, F1 and others in latest crypto lawsuit wave.
I get the feeling I get nearer by the day.
Brazilian bill
A plenary vote in the Senate on the sports-betting bill has been postponed.
COP out: Disagreements over whether to include provisions for the legalization of iCasino in the sports-betting legislation mean the vote in the Senate, which was scheduled for yesterday, did not take place. No date has been set for another attempt.
Several senators opposed to the inclusion of iCasino asked the vice-president of the Senate Veneziano Vital do Rêgo to postpone the vote, who in the absence of the Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco was overseeing the process.
Pacheco was unavailable due to attending the United Nations COP-28 Climate Summit in Dubai.
Long time coming: Hopes had been raised by the news last week that the proposed legislation, including iCasino and a new lower tax rate of 12%, passed a vote on the key economic affairs committee (CAE). The passing of the bill is seen as important to the government of President Lula, which has earmarked the tax revenue from legalization for the 2024 federal budget.
CAE rapporteur Senator Angelo Coronel, who is shepherding the bill’s final stages, has previously suggested the inclusion of iCasino is necessary for the government to achieve its fiscal aims.
He told the Senate yesterday: “Brazil will be the biggest market in the world, even bigger than the UK, with the start of regulated sports betting in the country.”
However, the bill has run into opposition from former footballer and now senator Romário, who heads up the influential sports committee.
He has submitted counter-proposals that restrict the legislation to sports betting.
Senators Eduardo Girão, Magno Malta and Omar Aziz made points in the debate suggesting approval of the bill would open the door to casino games, which would lead more people to addiction and increase the potential for manipulation of results in sport.
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No to ’Bowl betting in North Carolina: During a North Carolina Education Lottery Commission meeting on Wednesday, chair Ripley Rand said there was still too much work to accomplish to achieve a launch in time for the Super Bowl.
This comes after the regulator had previously nixed the idea of launching on the first possible day in January.
The window for getting up and running is open until June. Operators have until the end of December to submit applications.
Ohio: State Senator Niraj Antani has introduced a bill that would reduce the tax rate on sports-betting revenue from 20% back to 10%, as was originally intended when legislation was first proposed.
Data disputations: The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has questioned the accuracy of underage gambling data provided by sports-betting operators in the state. According to the Boston Herald, Commissioner Brad Hill cited an NCAA survey that found more than half of the 3,527 18- to 22-year-old respondents had made a sports bet and questioned the zero suspensions for underage betting on the part of Caesars Sportsbook and WynnBet.
On target: The petition put forward by UK racing to force the government to think again about the planned introduction of affordability checks has passed the 100k mark, meaning the issue will now be considered for debate in parliament.
On X, Racing Post editor Tom Kerr said the success of the petition showed the “strength of feeling among punters and racing participants”.
“Now the government must rethink a policy that has wreaked havoc,” he added.
Meanwhile, the UK Gambling Commission has opened up a new set of consultations and is asking the public and interested parties for their views. The consultations will run for 12 weeks and cover, among other issues, socially responsible incentives and transparency of protection of customer funds.
eSports provider Oddin.gg has hired lobbyist Bill Pascrell as its licensing and regulatory compliance counsel in North America. Oddin.gg is looking to secure eSports betting licenses in Ohio, Maryland, Kansas and five other US states.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario plans to introduce a centralized exclusion system through iGaming Ontario. The regulator said a request for proposals to select a supplier will open early next year.
Catenaccio: Italians under 18 are now blocked from accessing gambling websites via mobile phones following a new rule forcing operators to bar “inappropriate” content. The Italian Communications Authority (Agcom) is responsible for the measure, which entered force on November 21, as directed by the government.
Hyper hyper: Holland Casino has lost its bid to overturn a penalty for advertising violations, following a ruling in the District Court of The Hague. The dispute involved hyperlinks from the operator’s websites that sent punters to webpages showcasing its land-based offerings.
What we’re reading
Maverick move: ‘Why Dallas? Las Vegas Sands casino moguls make a play for the NBA – and Texas.’ From CNBC.
California DFS
Winds of change: California is one of the few states that hasn’t legalized, expressly authorized or prohibited DFS, but, with Attorney General Rob Bonta reported to have been asked about its legality, that may soon change.
Then-AG Kamala Harris was believed to be looking into DFS back in 2015, but nothing ever materialized and California remained a gray state.
DFS brands have operated in California throughout without interference.
As reported by GamblingCompliance, the current investigation came at the request of State Sen. Scott Wilk, who asked the Office of the Attorney General to opine on the following question:
“Does California law prohibit the offering and operation of daily fantasy sports betting platforms with players physically located within the state of California, regardless of whether the operators and associated technology are located within or outside of the state?”
Is this just fantasy? More interesting and somewhat unique to California, the opinion could go beyond pick’em games. Florida’s cease-and-desist letters appeared to also take aim at the entire DFS industry, but neither FanDuel nor DraftKings received the C&D that was sent to operators offering pick’em contests.
In a white paper sent to Florida regulators, FanDuel made the case for traditional fantasy sports and against pick’em-style games.
The investigation is occurring parallel to a new, but ill-fated effort to legalize sports betting. Recent polling shows little support among Californians for legalization of mobile sports betting.
Under fire: DFS has been a subject of regulatory scrutiny in multiple states. Unlike California, the casus belli were pick’em-style contests, which traditional DFS operators (DraftKings and FanDuel) put on the regulatory radar.
States that have taken a look at the legality of various DFS contests include Florida, Michigan, Wyoming, Maine, Colorado, New York, Alabama, Arizona and North Carolina.
Not every state has prohibited DFS 2.0 contests, and the situation is still ostensibly being discussed in other locales such as New York and Florida.
California would be a huge loss for the DFS industry, both in terms of the state being the largest DFS market and the potential to trigger similar action elsewhere.
Another interesting point is outside of Alabama (which asked operators to retool their contests to comply with the state’s DFS laws and regulations), it is the only non-sports betting state on the list.
Shake up: If the OAG issues a negative DFS opinion the state could explore DFS legalization in 2024. How that would shake out is anyone’s guess, assuming legalization is even considered, which is a long shot. Still, the state could legalize traditional fantasy sports or, less likely, consider legalizing pick’em contests as DFS. The latter would likely draw the animus of tribes.
Tribes will see any form of DFS as competition, particularly down the road when (if?) sports betting is legalized.
FanDuel and DraftKings have a lot of political clout and massive war chests, but also made many enemies during their failed 2022 sports-betting initiative.
Fighting for DFS could further strain their relationship with tribes.
DFS 2.0 operators could see California as an opportunity for a major win if they can get pick’em games codified into California law. Conversely, it could be their Waterloo should the Golden State prohibit the contests, continuing a national trend.
Low blow: Meanwhile, in a blow for proponents of sports betting in California, a new poll found only 13% of California voters strongly support legalized sports betting in the state, while another 17% somewhat support the idea.
On the bright side, those who strongly oppose sports betting declined from 49% to 46%, while those who somewhat oppose it increased to 17% from 16%.
Spanish defeat
Carry on: Spain’s betting ad ban is legally sound, a top court has ruled. Jdigital, Spain’s online gambling trade association, had argued a decree authored by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs went against the country’s constitution. However, the Constitutional Court of Spain has unanimously rejected the appeal to review the Royal Decree on Advertising.
The legislation was drafted in 2020 and entered force in November 2021.
It introduced a widespread ban on betting sponsorship across Spanish sports and a window of between 1am and 5am for broadcasting gambling adverts on media platforms.
Jdigital had challenged the legislation, arguing ministers had skipped over key constitutional procedures and railroaded the law into effect, but the court disagreed.
Crypto lawsuit wave
SIUUED! Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit from plaintiffs claiming they suffered losses from his promotion of the troubled crypto exchange Binance. A Nov. 27 filing to a US district court in Florida claimed Ronaldo “promoted, assisted in, and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with Binance”.
Binance, facing major legal woes of its own, partnered with Ronaldo in mid-2022 to promote a series of his own non fungible tokens (NFTs).
The claims argue that signing up for Ronaldo’s at-the-time enormously popular NFTs led to using Binance for other purposes, such as investing in allegedly unregistered securities.
The suit cited US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidance warning celebrities to disclose payments received for pumping cryptocurrencies, which Ronaldo, busy playing football, allegedly didn’t do.
Race with the devil: In a separate case, investors who lost billions of dollars following the collapse of FTX have widened their legal action to include Major League Baseball (MLB), Formula 1 racing and the Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s racing team.
The investors allege that these entities aided and abetted FTX’s fraud, adding to the existing class-action suit that already includes celebrity promoters, according to Bloomberg.
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