Dispatches From SBC
The hot topics at the recently concluded SBC Summit Americas were the ongoing debates over prediction markets and sweepstakes.
The Bulletin Board
THE LEDE: Prediction Markets and Sweepstakes were the talk of SBC.
SBC TIDBITS: Lottery couriers & Fanatics’ talks prediction markets.
NEWS: Wyoming memo on limiting bettors draws the ire of sports bettors.
NEWS: Ohio’s new online casino effort has support… and opposition.
ROUNDUP: FanDuel’s new RG tool; MO OSB launch date; PENN fires back at HG Vora; Caesars integrates parimutuel bets into app.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: The big question on limiting bettors.
STRAY THOUGHTS:
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The Lede: The Important Bits from SBC
Let’s face it, prediction markets and sweepstakes are the #1 and #1a reasons to go to a gaming conference in 2025. And those panels were the two biggest draws at the SBC Summit Americas.
Prediction Markets Panel
During a panel discussion titled “Trading on the Future: Prediction Markets are Here to Stay,” there was little agreement between the industry (represented by Sporttrade CEO Alex Kane and Melissa Blau) and the lawyers (David Aron of Jones Day and Daniel Wallach of Wallach Legal), other than that the situation is extremely complicated.
You can find a full report on the panel from:
I’ll pull from these reports to summarize the critical points below.
“Unfortunately, this is a very nuanced topic,” said Alex Kane, the CEO and Founder of Sporttrade. “And I think to call what DraftKings currently offers and what Kalshi or Crypto.com offers, or what Sporttrade offers, as both sports betting, it’s intellectually inadequate.”
Wallach reiterated his previous analysis from social media and columns, calling Kalshi’s arguments smoke and mirrors, and accusing the company of gaslighting everyone, considering, in Wallach’s opinion, Kalshi is “taking adverse different positions on other federal court proceedings when they were litigating against the CFTC over the right to offer event contracts around political events.”
Blau noted that because of the ongoing legal uncertainty, her clients (in the licensed space) are handcuffed: “They’re not allowed to, but they have to watch everyone else be able to do it. And they just have to sit idly by and watch their addressable market shrink and shrink.”
And more pointedly, when it came to the ‘will or won’t the CFTC allow these markets’ question, Blau said:
As panelists noted, waiting to see how this plays out could put licensed operators at a massive disadvantage. Kalshi et al. would have a several-year head start on tech and market access, and when they do decide to take the plunge, the licensing process through the CFTC is not a rubber stamp.
The overarching question, and what I’ve been calling the question, was summed up in two tweets:
Sweepstakes Panel Gets Testy
Covers.com’s Ryan Butler called the sweepstakes panel at SBC Summit Americas “animated” and “heated.”
The panel featured West Virginia Del. Shawn Fluharty, Jamison Selby, the CEO of Rubystone, Jason Rosenberg, the CEO of American iGaming Solutions, Brett Calapp, founder of Shadow Fox, and Jeremy Groves, CEO of EvenBet Gaming.
Fluharty spent most of the session rebuking the arguments of the sweepstakes supporters (per Covers.com):
“I just think that's absurd on its face comparing (social casinos) to McDonald's and hamburgers and you're digging into that deep water, chances are your argument is pretty flawed,” Fluharty said.
“They're stealing profit from states with an illegal market. That's what they're doing. They're the Hamburglar.”
Selby took the middle ground, saying he expects some states to prohibit sweepstakes and others to regulate them like DFS.
Calapp, who has been on both sides of the industry, offered the most measured stance, making the case for sweepstakes, but noting, per Casino Reports’ Chris Altruda, “Calapp said a doomsday scenario similar to 'Black Friday' when online poker sites were banned could occur for sweeps.”
SBC Tidbits: Lottery Couriers & Fanatics’ on Prediction
Lottery couriers make their case at SBC Conference [Lottery Geeks]: during a panel discussion at the SBC Americas conference Lotteries — A Road to Relevance?, “representatives of two major courier companies put a positive spin on all the Lone Star State negativity,” Eric Raskin reports. “What I see as the whole silver lining behind the situation in Texas,” said Lotto.com CEO Thomas Metzger, “is that our business is going to be legitimized with regulations in other jurisdictions.” Metzger noted that legitimacy can be difficult in some states: “There are some people in Texas who think that the lottery is a sin. It’s like in the movie Footloose, where they don’t want dancing.”
Fanatics takes a “wait and see” approach to prediction markets [InGame]: Fanatics’ Chief Business Officer AriBorod delivered a keynote at the conferencem and intimated the company doesn’t have (immediate) plans to enter the prediction market space, with its primary focus being closing the gap between itself and the top sportsbooks: “As any business focused on building the best business, the best service … we obviously are paying attention to what’s happening in that space… At the same time, the caveat would be that we’re super-focused on our sportsbook. We have plenty to do.”
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News: Wyoming Is Cool with Limiting Bettors
Massachusetts isn’t the only state looking into the practice of limiting bettors. Wyoming held a hearing on the matter in November, and its findings were released last week.
In the memo, Michael Steinberg, Special Agent Supervisor, wrote that the vast majority of betting limitations are due to cheating, and only “1% of Wyoming sports bettors are limited,” with just 10% of limited bettors falling outside the “cheating” category:
“Spanky, and the bettors association, would like you to believe that the operators are only limiting the bettors who are doing well and winning consistently. This is not the case.
“Cheating by placing prop bets while at a live event, ahead of the televised feed… grouping up with other bettors to manipulate a line at one sportsbook in order to change the line at another… creating multiple accounts to take advantage of special incentives.
“The only reason for limiting a patron that gave us any concern was when an operator limits a patron for finding their errors in making odds and taking advantage of those errors.”
According to Steinberg, Wyoming has received zero complaints from residents about being limited.
The memo went over like a lead balloon on Sports Betting Twitter:
Richard Schuetz, the CEO of American Bettors’ Voice, told Sports Betting Dime, “I find the use of the term cheating to be most curious. Am I then to assume that the operators identified these cheaters for the regulators and law enforcement, and we can anticipate arrests and legal actions?”
Supporters want transparency. They want operators to clearly outline each wager's limits (minimum and maximum). The sportsbooks have their reasons for the practice (which is tackled in the Watercooler section of today’s newsletter).
News: Are Online Casinos Coming to Ohio?
Ohio is taking a late swing at legalizing online casinos, and there’s a lot of chatter about the new effort, SB 197:
“A plan to expand gambling in Ohio to allow for betting on casino games, horse races and the lottery online seems to be on track to move quickly – maybe even to become part of the state budget. But there are key questions the idea brings up.”
Or as Dan Real from ExclaimRecovery.com wrote on LinkedIn [bold mine]:
“I thought for sure when that news came out last week that the bill from Senator Manning would be shelved. Not only isn't it shelved, I have it from reliable sources that it is a done deal. So, why would I take my time on a Sunday morning to write this article? Because I hope the pressure from Ohio residents would cause them to reconsider the bill.”
Real, a former casino executive, has a unique perspective and has been writing some interesting articles on LinkedIn about the proliferation of gambling.
As I wrote last week, the effort seems to have the support of House and Senate leadership, per local reports:
“Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said iGaming and iLottery are being looked at as the budget process goes on… McColley's Republican counterpart in the House shares a similar view, “In some sense I think as a state we've sort of turned the corner and said, we're going to raise money from gambling," said Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima).”
However, that’s the optimistic view of the effort’s chances. STTP would caution that because of online casinos' struggles, every glimmer of hope suddenly looks like rays of sunshine.
Yes, these late efforts are likely to fare better as the opposition gets caught off guard and has to muster its defenses to counterattack.
That said, there are a lot of hurdles:
National Association Against iGaming (NAAiG) members, JACK Entertainment, and Churchill Downs operate properties in the state, as does PENN Entertainment, which has lobbied against several online casino bills in 2025.
Even supportive stakeholders will double-take at a $50 million licensing fee and a tax rate of 36% ($100 million and 40% if the licensee partners with an outside platform).
The bill lowers the retail betting tax rate to 10%, which is likely to raise an eyebrow from Gov. Mike DeWine, who doesn’t seem to be a friend of any gambling expansions — DeWine doubled the online sports betting tax rate months after launch, and wanted to double it this year.
Roundup: FanDuel’s RG Tool; MO OSB Launch Date; PENN Fires Back; Caesars Integrates Parimutuel
FanDuel debuts new RG tool [SBC Americas]: After a successful rollout of the My Spend responsible gaming dashboard, FanDuel has upgraded its Deposit Alerts (STTP reported on the new tool back in February), which it has dubbed Real-Time Check-In. Real-time check-in is a machine learning tool designed to promote responsible gaming. Real-Time Check-In flags unusual deposit patterns, prompting users to confirm if they wish to proceed, set spending limits, or access other RG tools. The tool aims to intervene early, complementing FanDuel’s existing responsible gaming measures like deposit limits and self-exclusion options.
Missouri online sports betting launch date announced [Sports Betting Dime]: Missouri Gaming Commission Chairman Jan M. Zimmerman has confirmed the date for the launch of the state’s sports betting sites, dashing hope for an earlier, summer launch. As Robert Linnehan reports, the state began accepting sports betting license applications in May 2025, with 19 retail and 23 online licenses available. The delay stems in part from the rejection of emergency rules by Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
Penn fires back at HG Vora criticisms [SBC Americas]: Per SBC Americas, “PENN released a letter to shareholders taking HG Vora to task for their activist movements, which include nominating people for board seats and filing suit against the company in Pennsylvania. This week, the group also wrote to shareholders imploring them to ignore the PENN-endorsed ballot and put forth the HG Vora ballot instead.”
Caesars integrates parimutuel racing into sports betting app in five states [Press Release]: In the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby, Caesars integrated its parimutuel horse racing, powered by NYRA Bets, into its sportsbook app in Kentucky and Colorado. Last week, ahead of the Preakness Stakes, New York, Ohio, and Maryland also got the upgrade. “Integrating pari-mutuel horse racing into the Caesars Sportsbook app is a significant milestone for both our digital business and the sport of horse racing,” said Dan Shapiro, Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer at Caesars Digital. “Our customers will be able to bet on horse racing, whether it’s the sport’s biggest events or daily races from tracks around the world.”
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Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
This is the question that never gets asked, especially at conferences: Why?
Experts like to tell you what is wrong, but there are rarely solutions offered (and the ones that are are put forth are typically related to investments they have). Rarely does anyone ask why such a policy is in place.
Here’s another example:
Experts tell you something is wrong and something must be done, but offer no explanation of why, and in this case, what… Question: What should be done? Answer: Anything.
Thanks for the help.
Stray Thoughts
"I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do." ~ Socrates, via Plato
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." ~ H.L. Mencken