Online bookmaker Marathonbet has inked its biggest sports sponsorship to date with English Premier League powerhouses Manchester United.

On Wednesday, Marathonbet announced it had signed on as Man U’s new official global betting partner, excluding China and the United States. Terms of the multi-year deal weren’t disclosed, but the club’s previous deal with Bwin.party digital entertainment was believed to be worth an estimated £2.4m per year.

Whatever they paid, Marathonbet will have loads of branding opportunities in Old Trafford stadium as well as across the team’s digital platforms while the team’s fans will have access to exclusive free bet offers. Marathonbet will also be allowed to feature Man U’s star players in marketing pitches.

Marathonbet CEO Stan Reoutt called Man U “one of the most recognizable names in the world, let alone in world football” and described the deal as “a clear marker of our global plans” that “cements [Marathonbet’s] aims as a brand. ”The deal follows the regional betting partnership Marathonbet signed with EPL stars Liverpool FC last month and the brand’s existing deal with Tottenham Hotspur.

Legislation that will pave the way for lottery and table gaming in Alabama remains alive in the State Senate.

On Tuesday, the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee voted 6-2 in favor of the proposal to hold a referendum on creating a state lottery and legalizing casino-style gambling in four locations across the state, The Washington Times reported.

The bill cleared its first hurdle in the legislature, but not without some drama.

State Sen. Del Marsh, who reintroduced the bill last July, said legalizing gambling will create at least $400 million in new revenue and generate 11,000 new jobs in Alabama, a good way to replenish the state’s coffers. But opponents argued that gambling will only “prey on the state’s poor.”

A new Australian study suggests that not only are social casino games harmless for the vast majority of players, the free-play products could provide an alternative outlet for problem gamblers.

The study, which was announced two years ago, explored the connections between social casino play and real-money gambling. (The study also examined Aussie betting operators use of social media to promote their businesses, but we’ll examine that aspect in a future article.)

The study was funded by Gambling Research Australia and conducted by Southern Cross University researcher Sally Gainsbury. For those of you keen enough to read the whole 302-page report, it’s viewable here, while the rest of you lazy bastards can continue reading this summary.

Researchers conducted an online survey of 1,554 adults during May and June of last year. One-third of participants were classified as social casino gamers. While there were no dramatic gender differences, social casino gamers tended to be younger, less likely to be married but more likely to be living in a common law relationship, morel likely to be fully employed and (interestingly) more likely to speak a language other than English in the home.

Searching for sports betting odds? Google is here to help.

The search engine website has reportedly started showing betting odds in its search result’s featured snippets. To see the snippet, one has to include “odds” in the search query along with the sporting event, teams or players, according to The SEM Post.

[Snippets credit: The SEM Post]

However, team searches only triggered featured snippets from one website, VegasInsider. It is also still unclear if this new feature is a sign that Google is joining the sports betting market.