Tag Archives: i-gaming

Indiana sports betting bill intro’d; Canada MP pleads NHL to rethink betting stance

A member of Indiana’s state House of Representatives has introduced a bill to authorize legal sports betting at state casinos (land-based or riverboat), racinos and off-track betting sites. House Bill 1073 has no official name, but it should be called the We Can’t Do Squat Until The Feds Say It’s Okay Act of 2015.

The bill requires the state gaming commission to ensure intrastate sports betting is compatible with federal law, something legislators in New Jersey have had an awful time trying to put past the feds. Fierce opposition will also come from the NCAA, which is based in Indiana, and which has joined the four pro sports leagues in fighting New Jersey’s quest for legal betting.

The bill’s author, state Rep. Alan Morrison (pictured on the left), says the goal is to get the state’s regulatory ducks in a row so that it’s ready to act if/when the federal government finally gets around to amending or abolishing the 1992 PASPA sports betting prohibition. Morrison told the Indianapolis Star that the state had become “increasingly reliant” on gaming revenue, which has been “trending down” of late. As such, Morrison says it’s incumbent upon legislators “to figure out how to fix it or to improve on what we have.”

Morrison has also introduced a separate bill (1074) that would authorize daily fantasy sports (DFS) services at state racinos. Not surprisingly, Morrison believes this bill has a far greater chance of making it into law.

MONMOUTH PARK DELAYS FANTASY SPORTS ROLLOUT

Meanwhile, New Jersey’s Monmouth Park racetrack has delayed plans to roll out its own DFS offering. NorthJersey.com quoted track operator Dennis Drazin (pictured center) acknowledging that the system wouldn’t be up and running before the NFL playoffs were over. Drazin said the plan now was to aim to be operational by the time the NCAA March Madness basketball tourney kicks off or for the start of the 2015 baseball season.

Drazin said Monmouth had been wrestling with whether to offer DFS online rather than make customers physically present themselves at the track. The problem is how to attract players to a website when there are already multiple big players in this space (DraftKings, FanDuel, etc.) with which a Monmouth site would have to compete.

Italian sports betting market rebounds; Paf buys Winga, launch iBandit

Italy’s online sports betting market has enjoyed a new lease on life ever since the government relaxed restrictions on the types of sports betting operators could offer. Figures viewed by eGaming Review show online betting stakes hit €188m in December, up 65% from December 2013. For the year as a whole, stakes hit €1.6b, a gain of 23% from the previous year. Credit for the gains goes to regulators expanding the range of betting options (this year and last) and the launch in October of Bet365’s Italian-facing site.

Finnish gambling operator Paf has waded into the Italian market via the acquisition of Milan-based Winga. The Playtech-powered Winga.it site offers casino, poker and bingo products and also broadcasts live roulette games on Italy’s digital TV networks. Winga was previously owned by Italian conglomerate Buongiorno SpA. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Winga generated €10m in revenue in 2014.

Paf plans to expand Winga’s offering via additional casino games and a possible sportsbook launch “in the next few years.” Paf CEO Anders Ingves said the acquisition represented Paf’s “continued internationalization and expansion” but Paf’s previous endeavors in European regulated markets have not ended all that well. Paf pulled out of the Spanish online poker market in 2013 and left France the year before that.

Paf has yet to reveal whether its Italian customers will have access to the iBandit (pictured above), the groundbreaking device for fooling slots players into thinking they’re actually in a brick-and-mortar casino. The iBandit, essentially a slot machine lever encased in a small block of oak, was released in December to commemorate both the 15th anniversary of PAF’s online site and the anniversary of the €17.9m slots jackpot a Paf player won in 2013.

Developed by the Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery, the iBandit connects to your computer’s USB port, allowing a more tactile experience to your slots play. Paf communications manager Matias Lindquist said the iBandit “forms a transparent link” between Paf’s digital and land-based casinos. For a small additional fee, Paf employees will come to your home and chain smoke cigarettes for that truly visceral in-casino atmosphere.