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).

He went into the final near the bottom of the chipcounts, saw the second-least money invested in him (at odds of 14.87), yet Benjamin Rolle took down the latest and 34th edition of the GGPoker weekly $10,300 buy-in event, the Super MILLION$.  

Winning $424,581, Rolle didn’t just come from a tough position, but he did it live on Twitch and as he described, with the best poker fans in the world.  

Took it down!

So incredibly grateful to have such a massive score live on twitch with the best community in the world!

The Mike Sexton Classic featured 125 players, each of whom contributed to charity along with buying into the million-dollar guaranteed event, raising a massive $39,900 for the Nevada Partnership Homeless Youth Charity.  

As part of the WPT Montreal Online Series, the tournament, which was rake-free, had some proper superstars at the felt and produced a final table of real quality.  

Day 1 saw just 20 players survive, with 105 players heading to the virtual rail courtesy of a friendly but fairly rapid structure. With Day 2 being the final day, everyone was guaranteed a return of at least $21,887 and the bust-outs flowed from the first card.  

Superstars of the game such as Welsh Triple Crown winner Roberto Romanello, French poker legend Pascal Lefrancois, Swedish EPT Budapest winner Christian Jeppsson, recent ARIA High Roller success Ali Imsirovic, Swedish Super MILLION$ boss Niklas Astedt, Spanish WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Mateos, and Canadian Ami Barer all departed before the final table would get under way. 

Michael Dotts, an attorney for Imperial Pacific International (IPI), has confirmed what the rest of the world already suspected. The embattled casino operator behind the long-delayed Imperial Palace in Saipan doesn’t have the money required to satisfy a judgment against it and wants to be able to work out some type of payment plan. IPI is on the hook for almost $3 million through an order pushed through the courts by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as millions more to other government and private entities, and has thrown itself on the mercy of the court in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) as it seeks leniency. Based on recent assertions by the court, however, leniency might be off the table.

CNMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona has already found IPI, as well as its chair, Cui Li Jie, to be in contempt of court for not making good on its financial obligations. Last week, she suggested that, should the company not come up with the outstanding money, she might put it in receivership, selling IPI’s assets to pay everyone off. Dotts informed the court that “IPI lacks funds to make the deposit that the U.S. Department of Labor has requested” and hopes that an installment plan can be worked out. 

IPI was to pay $788,022.54 in outstanding wages to its employees, as well as $1.3 million in salary and overtime pay dating back to 2016 and 2017. It was also ordered to set aside $800,000, to be put in an escrow account, to cover employee wages should it default once again. Some of the wages have already been paid, but Dotts explained that one payroll, meant to be covered on January 29, was still outstanding. If IPI can’t come up with the funds to make good on a single pay period, it isn’t clear how it intends to stay up to date with future payrolls while making installment payments to pay off its debt.

In addition to fights over money with the DOJ and CNMI gaming regulators, who are still owed several million dollars, IPI has a new battle to deal with. Xerox wants the court to issue a default judgment against the company for not taking care of its debt. It is looking for just over $182,905 in damages, late fees and interest, which it contends are covered in the service agreement signed by the two companies in 2016.

The battle to win the English Premier League is sure to go to the wire, but the battle to stay in the division is arguably even more difficult for the teams involved.

With clubs such as Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United all trying to win the 2020/21 English Premier League title, bookmakers are hedging their bets as to who might lift the trophy. But when it comes to the bottom three, each of Sheffield United, Fulham and West Bromwich Albion are odds-on to be relegated to the Championship.

Could either of the clubs escape the drop and if so, who could take their place and be plying their trade in The Championship next season? Let’s take a look.

Two Teams Look Doomed

Ark Investment Management is betting on gambling. The large asset management firm has taken an interest in DraftKings, purchasing 630,000 shares of the sports gambling and fantasy sports operator to add to its ARK Next Generation exchange-traded fund (ETF). ETFs have been around for a long time, but have begun to see more interest in recent years as a way to make investments in certain industries while minimizing, to a degree, the risk involved. 

Since DraftKings went public last year, it has enjoyed almost constant growth. On June 1, it was trading at $43.70 before spiking at $63.78 on October 2. It bounced around a little since then but, as of yesterday afternoon, was trading at $59.31. Ark, a major supporter of Tesla’s future, is confident that it will be able to capitalize on that growth, as well as future climbs, and it has the track record of success to back it up. Over the past three years, the Next Generation ETF has seen a return of more than 273%, more than double the return from the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 Technology Index combined. 

Part of the decision to invest in DraftKings and add it to the ETF was a forecast provided by Ark analyst Nicholas Grous. He believes that sports gambling, as well as eSports and fantasy sports, have nothing but pure upside potential going forward and predicts 31% in the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the combined activity through 2025. Online sports gambling alone is poised for massive growth, with Grous anticipating a handle of $180 billion within four years. That would be ten times the handle from 2019. 

Grous, who follows the gaming industry for Ark, adds, “Since it legalized online sports betting in mid-2018, for example, New Jersey’s online handle has totaled $12 billion, half of which took place in 2020. Based on the $12 billion, we believe New Jersey has earned $100 million in taxes and enabled sports betting companies to generate $750 million in revenue. In the last two weeks, both New York and Texas have weighed in favorably on the prospective approval of online sports betting and, given their desperate need to plug gaping deficits, other states seem likely to follow.”

Casino employees in places like Macau are used to getting annual bonuses as a sign of appreciation for their hard work and dedication, but it isn’t a widespread practice in many other locations. Hard Rock International (HRI) is bucking the trend and has announced that it is prepared to give some of its employees in the U.S. some extra cash this year. The bonus, according to the company, is a way to thank the workers for toughening it out during a stressful time and for helping the casino operator provide a safe environment for guests, as well as employees.

HRI is ready to hand out over $1 million in bonuses to staff in New Jersey, with a total of 2,184 workers expected to receive some money. Hourly employees, of which there are reportedly 1,822, are set to be given $250, supervisors and salaried employees (197) will receive $500 and managers (165) will pick up $1,000. The company’s chairman, Jim Allen, explains, “The dedication of our team members has been crucial to driving the success of our casino resorts, and we are proud that Hard Rock Atlantic City has been able to prevail during these challenging times. We are committed to the well-being of our valued team members.”

In addition to those employees in New Jersey, workers in other locations are going to receive some extra money, as well. Bonuses are expected to be provided to staff in Florida and more; however, Allen didn’t specify the breakdown or which other areas might be included. It also isn’t clear when the money will be put in the hands of the employees.

HRI has been generous to its staff before. At the beginning of last year, it handed out around $2 million to employees in New Jersey as a sign of appreciation for their work in helping the company come close to reaching its business goals. That, of course, was before it took a massive hit from COVID-19 that is still being felt today, with casinos in Atlantic City only operating at 25% of their normal capacities.

Are you thinking of betting on the Super Bowl? The biggest North American sporting event always ends up being a huge day for sports books, with thousands of new players creating accounts at online sites just to bet on the big game. To help you get your bet in with the least hassle, we’ve got some tips for you.

Find the right sportsbook for you

If you’re lucky, you live in a country or state that has lots of different sports betting options. If you’re not, you might only have one or two options.

If you don’t know what your options are, helpful sites like OddsShark have a breakdown by region. With a resource like this, you can find the right sportsbook for you, and get a great promo for signing up.

Rod Ratcliff, the former CEO and chairman of Spectacle Entertainment, has made a spectacle of himself. He, along with several other people tied to Spectacle and Centaur Gaming, came under fire for allegedly tampering with elections in 2015, and the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) wasn’t impressed with his actions. It launched an investigation into Ratcliff and the rest of the gang a year ago, with the prospect of Ratcliff being forced out of the casino business in the state. That possibility is now being realized and the IGC is following through on its warning that it could revoke Ratcliff’s license after temporarily suspending it last December.

The saga involves the former Spectacle CEO, as well as the casino operator’s VP and general counsel, John Keeler (also the former VP and general counsel of Centaur), who has already been indicted on charges of campaign fraud. A lot of underhanded dealings were said to have been conducted to try to help Brent Waltz, now a former Indiana senator, win a seat in Congress. Charges included conspiracy, falsification of documents, obstruction of justice, receipt of illegal campaign funds and more. 

Ratcliff was never charged in the case; however, his proximity to the others forced him into the hot seat and, during its investigation, IGC discovered a number of violations at Spectacle that raised red flags. They also determined that he had been involved in overseeing operations at Spectacle’s Majestic Star Casino in Gary after he resigned as the company’s chairman and CEO. Not only was he an outsider at that point, but he also disobeyed a direct order from the IGC to not get involved.

As the investigation advanced, other troubling activity was uncovered, as well. The IGC reports that Ratcliff had an undisclosed account with racing betting platform FastBet and, while running Centaur, would have employees make deposits from Centaur operations to that account. It is believed that he received about $900,000 over four years, with the money being logged in Centaur’s books as “marketing” expenses. 

It’s not possible to talk too much about the upcoming Super Bowl this weekend. This is expected to be one of the hottest Big Games in history, with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looking to keep Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs from winning their second consecutive Lombardi Trophy. The hype has been building for a while and, as Super Bowl LV approaches, it is beginning to look like the game is going to be another huge success for the sports gambling market.

Over the past 12 months, since Super Bowl LIV was held, 36 million more Americans can now place wagers in legal markets in the U.S. As a result, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA), it is estimated that 23.2 million Americans will place bets, with $4.3 billion expected to be wagered. Leading the crowd will be online wagers, with 7.6 million gamblers forecast to turn to online sportsbooks this year. That’s a 63% increase from last year. 

Bill Miller, AGA’s president and CEO, predicts, “This year’s Super Bowl is expected to generate the largest single-event legal handle in American sports betting history. With a robust legal market, Americans are abandoning illegal bookies and taking their action into the regulated marketplace in record numbers.” 

The figures, which were provided through a limited survey conducted by Morning Consult, show an overall drop in gambling dollars to be spent this year. This is primarily due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation; however, if history repeats itself, the prediction will fall short of the actual handle after all the numbers are run through calculators. There are now 21 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have legal sports gambling markets up and running. Four other states have approved the activity, but haven’t been able to work quickly enough to get everything in place in time for the Big Game. Last year, it was predicted that around $6 billion would be wagered on the game, but the final tally was over $21 billion.

Tekkcorp Capital President and CEO Matt Davey believes that the gambling industry is headed in the right direction after the disruptions of the last twelve months. He sat down with Calvinayre.com lead reporter Becky Liggero Fontana to share his thoughts on the industry. 

While the industry has experienced some downturn in the face of COVID-19, Davey can see the light at the end of the tunnel for investors:

“From a pure investing perspective with interest rates incredibly low, institutional investors are looking for where they can get growth and so they’re prepared to pay a high multiple for today’s business on the basis that it’s going to grow rapidly. I think with online gaming and sports betting you actually have that environment.”

Davey speaks from a depth of knowledge and wisdom. “We’ve been in the market invest in capital for the last two years or so and we’ve looked at both private deals and public deals,” he said. “When it comes to doing significant deals, typically we’ve looked for partners to execute those deals and organizing both the sale and negotiating a great agreement with the vendor and then negotiating the capital requires two sets of negotiations,” he said.