Don't Just Call Me Pessimist
New York State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr.'s comments to Play NY about his online poker legislation give us an opportunity to try and read between the lines.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: Michigan sends cease-and-desist letter to Bovada. Now what?
LOOSE ENDS: SEC will use injury reports; FL sports betting SCOTUS update; The Man, the Myth, the Legend that is John Smith.
NEWS: Why is Maine still waiting for its first retail sportsbook to open?
VIEWS: The real reason New York State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. introduced an online poker bill.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: Sports betting is no longer the low-hold industry it claimed to be five years ago.
STRAY THOUGHTS: We all have a complicated relationship with gambling.
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Michigan’s Illegal Gambling Crusade Takes Aim at Bovada
Social media was abuzz last week following the news that the Michigan Gaming Control Board had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bovada.
“The proliferation of online gaming platforms has led to increased scrutiny from regulatory bodies worldwide, and this action serves as a stern warning to overseas companies that flouting local regulations will not be tolerated,” MGCB Executive Director Henry Williams said in a press release. “The MGCB remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding Michigan’s laws and regulations and will continue to actively monitor and enforce compliance within the state to ensure a fair and secure gaming environment for all.”
The rationale mirrors the arguments the MGCB made when it sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple sweepstakes gambling sites in 2023. The MGCB has been active on this front, trying to shut down DFS 2.0, sweepstakes sites, and illegal machines in brick-and-mortar locations.
The questions are: Will Bovada abide by the order? Most likely, yes. Does the MGCB’s enforcement reach extend to Curacao, where Bovada is based? No. Can Michigan bettors still bet offshore? Yes.
As Roger Gros said, Bovada has a history of compliance, but that history doesn’t extend to other operators:
Loose Ends: SEC Injury Reports; FL sports betting SCOTUS Update; The Man, the Myth, the Legend
SEC football could use injury reports: How do you know sports betting is changing college athletics? When the SEC considered requiring its football programs for the upcoming season — the Big 10 started requiring teams to submit injury reports last season. The stated reason is to alleviate potential pressures on athletes, coaches, and staff to disclose this information privately and for nefarious purposes.
Will the Supreme Court take the case? On June 13, The Supreme Court will decide whether to hear West Flagler’s appeal in the Florida sports betting case. The core of the case is whether the state and the Seminole Tribe can enter into a compact that allows mobile betting outside tribal lands if the servers are located on tribal lands. Most experts expect SCOTUS to pass on the case, but Attorney Daniel Wallach sees it as an intriguing longshot, telling Next.io it has similarities to PASPA: “It’s an important federal question that’s led to a division in the lower federal courts, and those are the kinds of cases the Supreme Court typically wants to weigh in on.”
The Legend of John Smith: [Sam Elliot voice] “Sometimes there’s a man. Well, he’s the man for his time and place.” And I’m talking about John Smith here. Smith, an unassuming man with an unassuming name, is no stranger to poker tournaments but not what anyone would call a tournament crusher. Still, he has surprising results in what many consider one of the most skillful formats: Heads Up No Limit Holdem. Two of his Top 3 and three of his Top 6 paydays are in the $10k Heads Up NLHE event at the World Series of Poker. Per his Hendon Mob results, Smith finished 11th in 2014, 2nd in 2016 and 2017, and 5th this year.
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Maine has Mobile Sportsbooks; Retail Launch in Limbo
Maine State Sen. Joe Baldacci is curious why the Maine Gambling Control Unit is dragging its feet authorizing retail sportsbooks at the state’s two brick-and-mortar casinos.
“It is both surprising and unacceptable that not a single retail operator has commenced operations,” Baldacci said, noting that it has been two years since Maine legalized sports betting, and wondered if the delay was intentional. “There’s no comparison, there’s no other place where you could find this kind of stagnation.”
According to Baldacci, removing the regulatory barriers may require legislative action, as the MGCU and its executive director, Milton Champion, lack oversight and public accountability.
Austin Muchemore, vice president and general manager of Hollywood Casino, spoke positively of Baldacci’s push: “We remain committed to constructive dialogue with all stakeholders to support a smooth implementation of retail sports betting at Hollywood Casino as soon as possible.”
Is New York’s Online Poker Bill an Indictment on Online Casino’s Chances?
Last month, New York State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. revived an online poker-only bill that has been kicking around Albany for a decade.
Addabbo told Play NY he introduced the bill to see if there was an appetite for a poker-only bill in the legislature and to modernize what he felt is now outdated language. He noted that the online poker bill confusingly called it iGaming “to make it more accurate and to see if there was any interest… next year.”
This is an excellent chance to try to “speak politician,” a phrase I coined last week.
Addabbo told Play NY, “When we saw that iGaming was not going forward because certain people in the industry, I guess, had questions or concerns,” he turned to the old online poker bill.
A couple of things strike me about this statement.
An online poker bill has been introduced in New York almost every year for the last decade. Further, Addabbo introduced one last year, S 9226.
More importantly, it sounds like Addabbo believes online casino legalization is off the table this year and perhaps for the foreseeable future. He will now turn his attention to passing online poker legislation. I’m all for this, but it highlights the sad state of affairs surrounding online casino legalization in the US.
The shift from online casinos to poker has less to do with poker presenting an easier (but by no means easy) path and more to do with online casinos being a dead end.
If you want to read my latest thoughts on online casino legalization, you can skip over to Casino Reports for my monthly deep dive into the topic. This month, I looked at the difficulties of post-election legislation and placed the candidate spotlight on Iowa.
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Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
The original argument that sports betting is a low-hold industry is no longer the case. Chris Grove discussed this sea change on Bostonian Vs. The Book and what it means going forward (for bettors, operators, and policy). You can listen to the full segment here.
The conversation is interesting, as it brushes up against several other complex conversations that people would like to simplify (like cannibalization or the topic in the Stray Thoughts header below). A sportsbook can offer both low-hold and high-hold products.
Stray Thoughts
Gambling is for entertainment. That is a common industry refrain that serious bettors, who believe people gamble to win money, sneer at.
Both things can be true.
Take the following statements:
The purpose of food is sustenance.
The purpose of lifting weights is to get stronger.
The purpose of martial arts is to defend yourself.
No one will argue with any of these statements.
Every person who eats is getting sustenance. Every person who lifts weights is getting stronger. Every person who takes a martial art is better equipped to defend themselves.
But here is the rub.
Many of us do not choose our foods solely based on sustenance; there are tradeoffs. Some people overpay at fancy restaurants for experience and image, and some choose cheap, nutrient-deficient foods.
Very few people who lift weights will get strong, in the true sense of the word. It takes a commitment and mindset that few possess. Where and how people lift weights gives us a glimpse into their motivations.
Yes, every martial arts class makes you better equipped to defend yourself, but like the difference between stronger and strong, getting to a point where you can protect yourself is something few achieve. You can get less bad at something, which raises the question: why are they doing it?
And sticking with martial arts for a minute, defend yourself from what? A single unarmed attacker? A group of three people? An angry mob? An armed attacker(s)? A tank?
Yes, the purpose of gambling (the core mechanic) is to win money, but it’s far more complicated than that. The relationship can be different depending on the game, location, or whether the person is with a group or solo.
As Cody Luongo once said, is your product entertaining without money involved? On the flipside, if it were only about winning/making money, there are countless other ways to go about accomplishing that goal.
A person’s relationship with gambling isn’t singularly motivated, nor is it permanent.