The U.K.’s battle with the gambling industry continues to show how far regulators will go to push gambling into dark corners that no one would want to visit. The U.K. Gambling Commission (UKGC) is implementing policies and regulations that will severely handicap operators, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is always willing to take a stab at the industry. All it takes is for one person to lodge a complaint about a gambling operator’s ad, and the ASA is ready to put the company in front of a firing squad. While there may be some ads that have crossed the lines, the latest attack, this one against sports gambling giant Ladbrokes, shows how petty the ASA can be. 

Ladbrokes ran an ad on on-demand video services that was introduced last October. In it, several individuals were seated at tables in a café using the Ladbrokes mobile app to place their bets. The commercial cuts to show a live horse race with a voiceover asserting, “Come starter’s orders. I’m a bag of nerves,” as the camera pans to the man’s shaking leg. That nervousness was enough for the ASA to assert that Ladbrokes was “socially irresponsible” with its ad, and the advertising watchdog slapped it on the wrist, as well as the wallet. 

It’s absurd to think that there could be a link between nervousness and “social irresponsibility.” Most individuals would be nervous when placing bets, regardless of the size, and some people get nervous just reading the menu at Starbucks. Ladbrokes isn’t happy about the situation, either, and said in a statement, “[We did] not believe the ad depicted socially irresponsible behaviour because the man was not shown placing a bet nor indeed talking about gambling.”

The operator has support from several marketing industry insiders, including Clearcast, which oversees commercials that are put on commercial TV in the U.K. It asserts that, because the man wasn’t presented as an individual obsessed with gambling, and was still aware of his surroundings, the ASA might be reaching too far. Channel 4, a U.K. broadcaster, agrees, arguing that it fails to see how the ad could be viewed as causing emotional, financial or social harm. 

After a rocky roller coaster ride over the past couple of years, sports gambling in the state of Georgia might be on smooth tracks toward the finish line. The state’s legislative session began on January 11 and already had included on its agenda several sports gambling bills. One that looks to introduce mobile sports gambling to Georgia has passed its first test, safely getting through the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee this week. There are still many more obstacles in the way, but sports gambling supporters in the state have to take each one as it comes along. 

It wasn’t too surprising that House Bill 86 was approved by the House committee. Its chairman, Representative Ron Stephens, is behind the bill, but there were six lawmakers on the committee who still don’t seem to understand the importance of legalized sports gambling. The bill was approved by a vote of 20-6, hopefully an indication that future votes will swing favorably toward approval. 

If the bill survives as it’s written, which only rarely happens, the Georgia Lottery Corp. would oversee the sports gambling market and be able to approve at least six sports gambling licenses. The licenses would run $900,000 each year, in addition to the initial $50,000 application fee. The Lottery would also be responsible for managing the collection of taxes from the operators, which would be used, in part, to provide funding for Georgia’s HOPE college scholarship program. Stephens has already found one adjustment to his bill, with the tax rate dropping from 16% to 14%. However, he explains that, even at 10%, sports gambling would contribute at least $42 million annually in tax revenue. 

House Bill 86 includes language that would prohibit wagers on college and high school sports competitions, a point of contention that has caused issues in other states already. However, Stephens has some competition that tries to open the sports gambling market a little and offer greater flexibility. Senator Jeff Mullis has a bill prepared that would tax sportsbooks at 10% and allow college sports wagers. That bill is expected to be introduced soon.

The Primorye region of Russia is progressing with its casino market to help the country’s far east become more self-sufficient. Casinos are either up and running or in the works, and the massive project will continue to see development for years to come. There also have been plans to introduce similar development to the Crimea region, even though Russia President Vladimir Putin reportedly squashed that idea a year ago. It now would seem that he’s been overridden, as Russian Gaming Week indicates that the Crimea’s integrated resort (IR) and entertainment zone will break ground on its first casino project before the end of this year.

The “Golden Coast,” as it’s referred to, has been the subject of tourism and gambling development for almost seven years. It has long been a popular destination for tourism, weather permitting, and local leaders sought to take advantage of the attention to add gambling to the list of options. Initial studies have shown that the area could add around $329 million in annual revenue once everything is up and running, not including the massive number of jobs that would be added to the economy.

The village of Katsiveli was selected in 2018 as the ideal spot to begin Crimea’s ambitious plans and, a year later, official approval was received by former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. That was before Putin dropped the hammer (and probably sickle) on Crimea, but things are now getting back on track. After an investor was found to support the development of the first IR project, it’s possible the COVID-19 situation is fueling expedited development and the upcoming resort will get underway this year, with a targeted completion date of sometime in 2024.

Included in the resort will be a casino, a five-star hotel, beach and recreation areas, swimming pools, dining options, conference and event facilities and a summer theater. With nightly temperatures from the fall through the spring dipping to around 34F and daily highs in the winter only reaching around 45F, capitalizing on the summer month’s warm weather will be paramount to the success of the property. The idea of lounging around in a beach chair when it’s 38F outside probably won’t appeal to most international travelers, even though many Russians seem to enjoy the polar bear environments. 

Everyone’s looking at Wall Street like it’s just another casino right now, but one man wants to use the market to help sports books. Thomas Chippas, CEO of ErisX, wants to list sports betting contract futures on the stock market, giving investors and book keepers a new way to hedge.

The Washington lawyer emphasized that this isn’t a way to spread sports betting to investor markets, but specifically for sports books to hedge their risk. “This is not a substitute for gaming,” he noted to Bloomberg. “There is underlying economic risk that is being hedged.”

ErisX has put in their formal request to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in mid-November, and must wait a 90-day period for the public to provide comments. If the CFTC agrees to the plan, the exchange service, which also offers cryptocurrency, will offer futures for football, basketball and baseball.

The CFTC isn’t taking the request lightly. They’ve asked for feedback on if the offering would be “contrary to the public interest,” as well as input on if it would affect sporting event outcomes, and if it would fall under a ban on gaming contracts. Such a ban was put in by Congress in 2010, but ErisX argues that their contracts would have nothing to do with gambling, but rather offer risk management tools for legal sportsbooks.

In 2019, Japanese casino junket NINE & PICTURES found itself suddenly scrambling to cover its financial obligations. The company had been around since 2007, and its downfall didn’t come from overwhelming competition or a decline in the junket market. Instead, it came because one individual using the company as his own personal piggy bank, spending over $1 million of company funds to gamble. Now, NINE & PICTURES wants the man to be prosecuted and is hoping it can convince Osaka’s prosecutors to charge him for his crimes.

Japanese media outlet Mainichi Shimbun reported on the case, identifying the man as the former president, as well as a founder, of NINE & PICTURES, but stopping short of naming him. He reportedly used the company’s bank account to cover gambling trips to Macau between 2014 and 2016 and apparently wasn’t a very good gambler, as he lost everything. Not only did he waste $1.4 million of the junket’s money, but he also ran up $4.8 million in personal debt, forcing him to file for bankruptcy.

The money had been given to NINE & PICTURES in 2014 as part of a $3.3-million financial arrangement to help the company expand. Of that amount, $1.42 million was sent to a Macau casino in November 2014 to be used as security. However, the former president used it to gamble and, unable to repay the loan, NINE & PICTURES was forced into bankruptcy. The company is hoping it can find a way for prosecutors to go after the man, but it can’t expect to receive any type of financial reimbursement. Obviously a failed businessman and gambler, the former president wouldn’t have the means to make good on his outstanding debt.

NINE & PICTURES initially had high hopes for its future. As it continued to grow, it chose Osaka as its headquarters in 2017 and was well on its way to being involving in the gambling and travel industries, as well as having its hand in a few other markets. It reportedly holds licenses in several locations, including Australia, Macau, the Philippines and the US, and has agreements with over 20 casinos around the world. While it has been able to tread water and try to recover from the massive losses, it has faced added difficulty because of COVID-19. The company is most likely anxious to see Japan’s integrated resort market get up and running, as the country is expected to allow junkets to provide services to casinos. That, however, won’t be possible until around 2028 when the first IR is expected to be ready.

Illinois sports bettors may be excited to bet on this weekend’s Super Bowl, but the Illinois Gaming Board has reminded everyone to have fun within their guidelines. Specials and fun props go a little too far, they noted in a meeting last week.

Illinois Gaming Board administrator Marcus Fruchter reminded the public that only bets with “activity directly within the control or jurisdiction of the NFL and/or individuals subject to the NFL integrity policy.” Bets on the length of the national anthem or how many movie ads we’ll see? Not allowed.

Fruchter admitted that these fun specials are good for “the growth and success,” but it’s too early for Illinois bettors to have them. According to him, it’s “imperative that sports wagering be conducted with the highest standards of integrity, and without any appearance or possibility of potential impropriety.”

There’s some logic to his argument, but not when you consider Illinois gamblers could just open up an account with an international sports book to bet on the fun stuff.

Today was supposed to be a lot of things. Today was supposed to be Day Three of the ICE London expo and Day One of iGB Affiliate London at the ExCeL. Today was also supposed to be the day after Fire and Ice, the networking party of the year for so many of us. We also learned this week that ICE London and iGB Affiliate London will not be happening this year, news likely all of us expected, yet is still hard to hear.

Rather than lament about the COVID-related situation at hand, I wanted to dedicate today’s column to ICE and iGB Affiliate London by sharing some amazing memories with you. A few of these memories go back ten years and others are more recent, but every reader should be able to relish in at least some of the nostalgia with me.

While enjoying some of the video-induced memories below, I hope we can celebrate “London Conference Week” together virtually, knowing it will return bigger and better than ever when the timing is right.

Fire and Ice 2011 at Gilgamesh

Another packed Premier League schedule saw Manchester United run riot at Old Trafford, Sheffield United come from behind to beat West Brom and Manchester City and Liverpool both battle to stay in the race for the title.

It was an action-packed midweek fixture list, with all twenty EPL teams playing each in three days and we’ve got the best of the action from a sportsbetting point of view. Check out the goals galore as we begin and end our Gameweek #22 round-up in the North-West.

Manchester United 9-0 Southampton

A record-equalling Premier League victory for the hosts kicked off with a horrific tackle that saw a red card inside a minute and a half. The match was only 79 seconds old when Alexandre Jankewitz went in so high on Scott McTominay that three stud-lines could be seen on the Scotsman’s inner thigh. With McTominay somehow surviving to play on, Jankewitz, in his Premier League debut, saw straight red and The Saints got that sinking feeling.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

After taking last weekend off, the UFC returns to action and to the United States on Saturday for a Fight Night card headlined by a non-title heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov, both former champions, from the organization’s APEX facility in Las Vegas. The main card starts at 8 p.m. ET and will be available on ESPN+.

The current heavyweight champion is Stipe Miocic, with the 40-year-old Overeem ranked No. 5 in the division. The Dutchman is 47-18 in his legendary career, which includes heavyweight belts in DREAM and Strikeforce as well as being a former K-1 World Grand Prix champion.

“The Demolition Man” has beaten former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski, Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar in his career. He got his lone UFC heavyweight title bout against Miocic in September 2016 at UFC 203 and lost by first-round knockout (punches).