Something for the Weekend - 7 July 2023

At a glance the DC Circuit Court’s ruling on the Seminole Tribe’s sports betting monopoly in Florida felt like a major win for the tribe. It clears the Department of the Interior of any wrongdoing, stating Secretary Haaland’s decision to let the compact pass into law was permissible. 

That paves the way for the Hard Rock-branded mobile sportsbook to resume operations, but that’s all the ruling does. What about the question of whether the compact’s ‘hub and spoke’ approach, which deems all mobile bets to be placed on tribal land, is a valid way of bypassing a state referendum on gaming expansion? Not our problem, it says.

Essentially, that issue is kicked back to the state. That means there will be appeals and a lot more debate around this case. In the short term we’re likely to see mobile betting come back to Florida, but in the long term... who knows?

Anyway, we’ll get on with the week’s other top stories after a final plug for iGB L!VE – registrations have rocketed this year, so make sure you join us in Amsterdam next week – and after we road-test a few jokes. 

iGB Diary: Untold riches, Snakes in an airport and I pledge allegiance to Nathan’s Famous 

Happy Friday igamers! This week the Diary approaches the lottery terminal wearing Groucho goggles, gazes dolefully at its snakeskin loafers and salutes some real American hero (rolls). 

Untold riches

What would you do if you won the lottery – would it change you?

In the Diary’s case, it’s likely it would remain largely the same basement-dwelling, takeaway-ordering misanthrope that it was before. Though perhaps it would at least mean a steady diet and the purchase of a pet spider.

In a recent letter sent to agony uncle Quentin Fottrell, an anonymous 67-year-old Californian man confessed that he’d won $55m 10 years ago – but had not told anyone, not even his own family.

Besides a new truck and house, the low-key lottery winner had even eschewed extravagant purchases. It seems alarmingly likely that the man has not even attempted a game of Monopoly with real money.

But perhaps it’s for the best. Much ink has been spilled outlining how the lives of lottery winners often resemble a real-life psychological thriller after the event. A quiet life might just be the real triumph in this story. 

Snakes in an airport

Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance has done it again.

Taking a well-deserved break from busting into innocuous buildings and confiscating illegal gambling equipment, the Ministry found itself at the centre of a scarier, scalier endeavour.

You may be wondering, what did they find? What happened? Will this impair their ability to see past fake storefronts and decimate the illegal gambling trade in Austria?

You may be surprised to learn that what the Ministry uncovered was a haul of reptiles at Vienna airport, which included 85 geckos, a brace of snakes and a pair of scorpions.

Thankfully, the creatures have found a new home at Schönbrunn Zoo. Be free our lizardy friends, enjoy having the glass case of your enclosure rapped on by children. Hey, it's better than a suitcase.

I pledge allegiance to Nathan’s Famous

As you may know if you’re an avid iGB fan (who isn’t?), we also run a yee-haw inducing, star spangled banner-spangled website called iGB North America.

On it, you can be sure to find all the latest news, including state-by-state results, financials, sports betting launches and a little bit of US legal jargon thrown in for good measure.

And on this glorious Fourth of July week, we are feeling more American than ever thanks to the true pinnacle of the US sporting calendar, Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest. 

The Diary’s more into superb owls than Super Bowls, stays sane amid the March Madness and turns off the playoffs. But every Independence Day, it charges down to Coney Island to watch history’s greatest gluttons chow down as many hot dogs as possible in under 10 minutes.

On America’s birthday, sportsbooks across the country offered bets on who would be crowned top dog for 2023.

And, spoiler alert, reigning champion Joey Chestnut triumphed once again this year, devouring a preposterous 62 hot dogs.

Maybe it’s the pinnacle of how the rest of the world views America. Or maybe it’s just about eating a lot of hot dogs. Either way, we’re starting to get a little peckish. God bless America.

That’s your lot! Same time, same place, next week!

The week on iGB

Last Friday’s Florida ruling was the biggest story of the week, but US operators also faced a setback in Ohio, where sports betting tax will double to 20% of GGR from 2024. The main sticking point for Ohio Governor Mike DeWine seems to be advertising – there’s too much of it, so the state is looking to divert that spend into tax, according to local stakeholders. Now whether that’s justifiable remains to be seen, but this is the first time a US state has increased its sports betting tax, and there’s a quick volte-face from launch to recoiling after a wave of advertising around a market launch. A tax hike and an adverse reaction to advertising? Feels quite European really. 

At least the Netherlands, which implemented a ban on untargeted advertising from 1 July, waited almost two years before taking action against industry marketing. Untargeted advertising, for the uninitiated, covers TV, radio, print and billboards. Kansspelautoriteit chair René Jansen says he will be constructive in how he enforces the new rules. If you want to hear more from him, he’ll be on stage with yours truly at iGB L!VE next week, discussing the ban, the market’s development and the KSA’s relationship with the industry.

Back across the pond, Better Collective continues to strengthen its position atop the US media market. This week it snapped up Playmaker HQ in a $54m deal, which US CEO Marc Pedersen believes will bring in a “new and large audience of generalist sports fans”. Playmaker specialises in creator content, sponsorship activations and athlete collaborations, so it’s adding another string to Better Collective’s US bow. At this stage, can you still consider such an expansive business an affiliate?

A few thousand miles south, Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, signed off on amended gambling legislation this week. That pulls any business operating in the market into a new point of consumption regime, in which licence fees have tripled to 3% of net income, or Sol2.97m (about $800k/£650k/€750k), whichever is higher. Local gaming consultant Jonathan Felix talked Zak Thomas-Akoo through the legislative process, explaining why a new bill was needed to address failings in the 2022 bill ratified by previous president Pedro Castillo. 

As if one European gambling ad ban wasn’t enough, we end on another which also came into effect from 1 July. Belgium’s ad ban has been trailed for what feels like years, and means only the National Lottery can promote its services to players. A late rearguard action by the industry was defeated in the country’s courts last week, clearing the way for it coming into force. “Hopefully this will put an end to all attempts at lobbying and legal sabotage from the gambling sector and sectors addicted to gambling money,” Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne said following the ruling. 

Last week, we said we’d been focused on producing a very special edition of iGB for next week’s show in Amsterdam. Obviously it’s not going to be the same as opening a hard copy and getting that chemical hit of printed pages, but you can have a look at our digital edition here. This was a team effort, but in particular Marese O’Hagan took on a massive project and did an incredible job. 

We’ve also got our Wimbledon Odds Tracker, in partnership with Kambi, live in time for the biggest and best tennis tournament of the year. You’ll be able to track the favourites’ progress, as well as seeing the most popular markets and every result from the tournament. With more than 250 players gracing the All England Club this year, putting this together was a huge undertaking for our resident data whizz Tansu Yilmaz. 

Finally, even with all this going on we managed to fit in one bit of long-form, from PandaScore’s Clay Bartolo. He looks at the upcoming impact of Counter-Strike 2, the sequel to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, on esports. Bartolo works his way through all the ways the sequel to the biggest title in esports could change the media for betting operators and their trading teams. 

That’s all from us this week. We’ll all be roaming the show floor at iGB L!VE in Amsterdam next week, so please come and say hello if we pass you at the RAI. Aside from my slot with René Jansen, I’ll also be talking to Mikolaj Cymerman of Entain CEE about the opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe – and there’s a great programme of content for operators and affiliates in the new Pulse theatre. Come along!

Have a great weekend!