Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.
Queens casino controversial among politicians
Businessman Steve Cohen’s plan to build a casino in Queens adjacent to the Mets’ Citi Field earlier this week got the endorsement of a city councilman, but a state senator said Cohen has not been “open and transparent”, according to the New York Post.
State Senator Jessica Ramos, who appears to back a Genting Resorts World project, took issue with Cohen’s lobbying strategy. Any downstate casino will need legislative approval in Albany. Cohen is partnered with Hard Rock in his proposed venture.
Queens Councilman Francisco Moya told the NYP that “If we fail to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we ensure that the area around Citi Field remains underutilised parking lots for the foreseeable future; and we permanently stymie the future growth potential of Queens. Let’s not allow that to happen.”
In March, the New York State Gaming Commission said it won’t decide who gets the three available licences until late 2025.
Louisiana to ban college player prop bets
The NCAA last week made a public plea for a national ban on college player prop bets and Louisiana’s regulator followed up on 1 April by announcing that it will prohibit that betting market from 1 August:
Here's the bulletin announcing the incoming ban on college player prop betting in Louisiana: pic.twitter.com/esXdsIbrhc
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) April 3, 2024
Stripped down Alabama gambling bill goes to conference
Alabama’s house refused to concur with a stripped-down version of the comprehensive gaming bill that it sent to the senate on 4 April and the issue will now go to a conference committee, according to the Associated Press.
The house previously passed a gambling bill that would have brought 10 brick-and-mortar casinos, lottery and retail and digital sports betting to the state. The senate stripped out all sports betting, added electronic gaming machines at dog tracks and lowered the number of retail casinos.
Either proposal would be a constitutional amendment that would go to the voters. Lawmakers have more than a month to conference and send a proposal back to the house and senate floors. The legislature is set to adjourn on 20 May.
New offerings
On 1 April Circa Sports started taking bets in Kentucky, marking the company’s first launch since going live in Illinois last September, according to a company press release. The launch means that those in Kentucky now have eight wagering platforms to choose from. Circa Sports is also live in Colorado, Iowa and Nevada.
In Mississippi, DraftKings opened a new brick-and-mortar casino at the Golden Nugget. The book features the largest seamless screen on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the company announced. And in New Jersey, Prime Sportsbook soft-launched in New Jersey on 31 March – its second market after Ohio.
Golden Nugget holds grand opening for new DraftKings Sportsbook https://t.co/GouCCsc5h2
— WLOX (@WLOX) March 29, 2024
Poll: Nevadans want a lottery
A Noble Predictive Insights poll of 829 registered voters, held 27 February-5 March, revealed that 75% of Nevadans support introducing a state lottery. Nevada is one of five US states that does not currently have a lottery.
Support for a lottery is bipartisan, according to the poll and 82% of Democrats are in favour versus 71% of Independents/Others. Whether or not to allow a lottery is one of five ballot measures that Nevada voters will consider in November.
Digital sports betting NOT coming to Nebraska
Following a public-opinion poll revealing 57% of those polled would vote yes to a constitutional amendment that would expand legal sports betting to online platforms, backers won’t run one, according to the Lincoln Star-Journal. Although the number is more than the 50% needed to pass an amendment, it is not high enough to convince backers to move forward.
“If you’re at 57 (% support), it creates some possibility that you could lose unless you really were to put substantial resources into it,” Lance Morgan of WarHorse Gaming told the Star-Journal. “It doesn’t make any sense to go to war unless you have a war chest lined up.”
WarHorse partnered with BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings and FanDuel to run the poll.
LSU-Iowa women’s game record setting
Although none of the major operators released hard numbers, all reported that the LSU-Iowa women’s basketball Elite Game on 1 April saw the most bets on a women’s sporting event in history. According to ESPN, viewership for the Sweet 16 was up 96%.
The 2024 #NCAAWBB Sweet 16 was the most-watched on record 🎉
🏀 2.4M viewers, up 96% year-over-year
🏀 @IowaWBB/@CUBuffsWBB drew 6.9M viewers on ABC
🏀 Registered 4 of 5 most-viewed Sweet 16 games on record#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/UjNo3YIuAq— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 2, 2024
Led by superstar Caitlin Clark, Iowa beat LSU to advance to the Final Four, which starts in Cleveland on 5 April. The Connecticut-USC game was also in the top three women’s sports events for betting at BetMGM according to USA Today.
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