On the rebound
The NBA calls for federal sports-betting oversight, Euro 2024 ad warning, Brazilian match-fixing +More
NBA bosses lobby for federal sports-betting rules.
In +More: Arizona opens up for more licensees.
UK charity wants stronger Euro 2024 player harm messaging.
Penn in hot water in Massachusetts over ‘risk-free’ comment.
Brazil match-fixing fight gets dirty.
Why are you sweating your game?
NBA’s Porter reaction
Let’s get together: Basketball bigwigs want a federal framework for legalized gambling following the lifetime ban of former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter. The NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer, Mark Tatum, said the scandal of the player who bet on his own team to lose only came to light through monitoring in regulated channels.
“The fact that we were able to look at certain irregularities in betting lines, and the data that we were able to receive from our partners allowed this to come into the light,” Tatum said in a media call.
“We’ve always been, again, an advocate for a federal regulatory framework here. I think it creates transparency that we didn’t have previously, which allows us to maintain the integrity of the sport, which is essential to all sports leagues.”
The hard or soft option: By overturning the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which was an almost total ban on US sports betting, the Supreme Court effectively gave states two options, Tatum said.
“Continue the illegal sports betting or… embrace a legalized sports-betting system so that, quite frankly, we could identify the sort of behavior that this uncovered,” he said.
Full court press: Three people – Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah and Long Phi ‘Bruce’ Pham – have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their part in the Porter scandal. A fourth, Ammar Awawdeh, turned himself in.
Porter is alleged to have worked up sizable debts from gambling and was under pressure from criminal elements to repay by spot fixing.
The 24-year-old has not been charged and is not named in the case. However, the court complaint filed by Brooklyn prosecutors denotes a ‘Player 1’ who aided “a brazen, illegal betting scheme that had a corrupting influence on two games and numerous bets.”
Racket games: The complaint further details how the player communicated with the alleged conspirators and told them about the NBA’s investigation via an encrypted messaging app.
He warned they “might just get hit with a RICO”, federal racketeering charges, and inquired if the other parties had deleted “all the stuff” from their devices.
He got game: Porter’s lawyers said he is fully cooperating with the authorities and is undergoing treatment. “Jontay Porter is a good young man with strong faith that will get him through this. He was in over his head due to a gambling addiction,” said his attorney, Jeff Jensen.
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Desert kingdom: The door is open for more sportsbooks to enter Arizona. The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) will begin accepting applications for licenses between July 8 and 19. Tribes have a license reserved, as do Arizona’s sports teams.
State regulations permit 20 sports-betting licensees, with 17 spots currently filled.
Not to be sniffed at: High off the success of the country’s lotteries, Colombia’s gambling regulator said it wants to tweak regulations to encourage more legal play. “Both the transfers and the prizes paid show that it is worth playing legally,” Coljuegos president Marco Emilio Hincapié said of the $20m boost to the government coffers.
“For this reason… we are signing agreements throughout the country to protect and strengthen territorial games,” he added.
Australia’s federal court has signed off the A$67m ($44m) fine agreed by SkyCity and the country’s anti-money laundering watchdog.
The state of New York and the Seneca tribe are unlikely to reach a permanent compact agreement by the time the deadline on the temporary compact expires at the end of the month, according to local media.
Organized crime syndicates operating illegal online gaming out of the Philippines presents a threat to national security, said Pagcor CEO Alejandro Tengco, who defended the role of licensed Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, or POGOs.
The comment came after reports of a raid on an illegal POGO facility that uncovered more than 100 illegal workers, many of which experienced human rights violations.
Euro 2024 ad warning
Get through to you: With the UEFA Euro 2024 soccer tournament just around the corner, and a big spike in punting expected, a top UK gambling charity has warned current player harm messages are “inadequate.”
GambleAware wants to bin off the industry-approved ‘Take Time To Think’ slogan, and has called for more aggressive smoking-style warnings for bookies and casinos. It said a marketing blitz during the quadrennial Euro 2024 event is likely to make it harder for struggling gamblers to quit.
The charity has proposed its own guidelines and wants a new set of tougher health warnings, with slogans such as ‘Gambling can be addictive’ and ‘Gambling comes at a cost’.
Industry associations have dismissed the suggestion and, with a UK election and potential change of government imminent, the charity and its messaging face an uncertain future.
GambleAware is funded via voluntary donations from the betting industry. However, a mandatory levy could enter force under a broad review of UK gambling laws currently underway.
ESPN Bet’s Massachusetts threat
Hot mic: An off-hand “risk-free” comment made by ESPN’s Rece Davis when speaking during a broadcast to ESPN Bet analyst Erin Dolan looks likely to land Penn Entertainment with a sanction from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Davis made the comment in March when, after a short segment with Dolan, he said “some would call this wagering, gambling. I think the way you’ve sold this; I think what it is, is a risk-free investment.”
At a meeting last week, the MGC hauled ESPN Bet parent Penn over the coals, saying the comment breached the rules with regard to ‘risk-free’ language. The regulator will decide at a later date on the quantum of the fine.
Back in trouble again: This isn’t the first infraction for Penn in Massachusetts over its promotional efforts in the media. Recall, previously the MGC pulled the company up over a ‘can’t lose parlay’ promotion at the time when it was still running a sportsbook in association with Barstool.
No formal announcement was made over whether a penalty or warning was issued.
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Pitch battle
Some heads are gonna roll: Heated rivals on the field, the bosses of two of Brazil’s most popular soccer clubs have taken the fight to the country’s Senate in a clash over match-fixing claims.
Palmeiras president Leila Pereira has said Botafogo owner John Textor should be booted out of the sport if he cannot back up claims her side contested a rigged game.
It’s a scandal: A Brazilian Senate committee is taking evidence on betting irregularities in football, as multiple scandals envelop the sport in a land where the game is more akin to a religion.
Textor, a US businessman and controversial figure, was the first witness called when the probe opened in April, and he drew fury by claiming he has evidence that a crucial match between Palmeiras and São Paulo last year was manipulated by five players.
In response, Pereira went in two-footed: “It’s unacceptable for a foreigner to come to Brazil and cast doubts on our clubs without any proof, simply because his team failed to win the title.”
Textor has presented lawmakers with reports from a technology firm, which analyzes the behavior of players and referees, purportedly to support his claims.
Off the bench, you gotta own it: Pereira told the committee the allegations were unfounded and that Palmeiras is taking legal action against Textor in civil, criminal and sports courts.
“If he doesn’t prove anything, and there is absolutely no proof so far, he must be expelled from Brazilian football. Penalties need to be severe to be effective,” she said.
Other figures from soccer in Brazil have lined up to criticize Textor and downplay the accusations, including a referee’s association and Wilson Luiz Seneme, president of the Arbitration Commission of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
The committee is chaired by soccer hero-turned-senator Romario, and was formed to investigate various allegations of fraud and match-fixing involving players, officials and betting operators.
At the end of the drive the lawmen arrive: A fortnight ago, seven people suspected of fixing games in at least two Brazilian state leagues were the latest to be arrested in a probe dubbed Operation Game Over that was launched back in 2015.
Those cuffed in morning raids across four Brazilian states were believed to have links to betting syndicates in Malaysia, China and Indonesia.
Other investigations are running concurrently into corruption in football, with the tentacles of criminal enterprises stretched beyond the country into other parts of the world where the Samba Boys ply their trade.
West Ham’s Brazilian star Lucas Paquetá faces a 10-year ban from football after the UK Football Association charged him late last month with four counts of spot-fixing.
West Ham’s own shirt sponsor Betway alerted the authorities to suspicious betting patterns linked to games Paquetá played in, with the dodgy punts traced to the island off Rio de Janeiro where the player grew up.
According to reports, lawmakers are hauling Paquetá back to Brazil to explain himself to the panel.
Calendar
Jun 18-20: Canadian Gaming Summit
Jul 17-20: National Council of Legislators from Gaming States, Pittsburgh
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