Pay the Piper
The US sports betting industry has, to quote Kurt Russell playing Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, called down the thunder, as the sector is coming under increasing fire.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: After a devastating week for the industry, the NCAA is seizing the opportunity and calling for a nationwide player prop betting ban.
BEYOND the HEADLINE: The industry can only blame itself.
LOOSE ENDS: Shohei Ohtani update; Sportsbooks form RG organization; 888 sells US assets to Hard Rock.
NEWS: US online gaming has a nearly 11% digital fraud attempt rate.
VIEWS: NCCA’s problem gambling campaign, part wrestling, part 90’s sitcom.
BEYOND the HEADLINE: PG campaigns need an extreme makeover.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: For those that can’t get enough of Ohtani.
STRAY THOUGHTS: The Raiders!
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NCAA Calls For Nationwide Ban On Player Prop Bets
It’s been quite a few weeks for the legal gambling industry.
Shohei Ohtani, Rece Davis, Temple Basketball, Jontay Porter, J.B. Bickerstaff, Rudy Gobert, and The SAFE Bet Act are just a few of the stories swirling over the industry’s head like a swarm of locusts.
Consider the following quote from a Kentucky Today column delivered by Harry Levant, a gambling policy adviser at the Public Health Advocacy Institute:
“Sports always belonged to the American people, the American family. Sports now belongs to the gambling industry. I would like to think there are people in leadership positions, and potentially even gambling industry companies, who will say, ‘You know what? This thing has gotten out of control. It needs to be regulated to protect the American public.’”
That is the messaging supporters of legal online gambling will need to counter. And given the recent scandals, it’s not an easy argument to refute.
And in the midst of March Madness, the NCAA is swooping in with a solution to, as Levant put it, “protect the American public.” The solution is a nationwide ban on prop bets on college players.
The NCAA statement reads in part (bold mine):
“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed. The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats, and many are responding by banning college prop bets. This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets… The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game — issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”
The NCAA President will host a press conference today with the Massachusetts Attorney General to discuss the next steps.
As I noted an X, it’s hard to imagine this ends with player props: “What I've never understood about this POV: If you bet on a team and a specific player makes a mistake or misses a key shot, isn't a deranged bettor still going to blame the player?”
Player prop bans will not solve this problem. These prohibitions will not even dent it. Bettors losing on team wagers will continue to blame players, and the offshore market is more than happy to accept player props.
Beyond the Headline: The Industry Has Itself to Blame
Since 2018, I’ve been screaming, “What’s the rush!?!?” The stories and the inevitable fallout from them were obvious. The industry has pushed for lightning-fast legalization and launches, and now it must lay in that bed.
In its rush to capitalize on the PASPA decision, the industry overpromised and underdelivered. It avoided guarantees, but there is a disconnect between what the industry considers an appropriate guardrail and what lawmakers and regulators consider appropriate.
Some (correctly, IMO) point to the Jontay Porter story as an indication the legal market is doing its job and detecting anomalies. But lawmakers and regulators were promised detection AND prevention. That is not the situation they expected to be in - defending their choice to legalize sports betting.
And that’s not the only area the industry claimed to be able to do more than it could. Whether it was tax revenue projections and the need for low tax rates on their 5% margin industry or their ability to prohibit certain bet types/markets, the industry was making claims it couldn’t back up.
Margins in states are creeping into double figures for the biggest books, and we’ve had numerous instances of prohibited markets being offered, funding accounts with credit cards in states that banned their use, and marketing violations.
Loose Ends: More on Ohtani; and the Formation of ROGA; 888 Sale to Hard Rock
Ohtani Update: Baseball megastar Shohei Ohtani took to the microphone on Tuesday to give his version of events in the still-unfolding story of his interpreter and an illegal bookmaker. Per Ohtani, his interpreter was stealing money from his account to bet with the bookie. “I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker,” Ohtani said. The comments did little to quiet the chatter down on social media (see Around the Watercooler section below).
Another RG group: Seven of the largest sportsbooks in the US - FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Penn, Fanatics, Hard Rock, and bet365 - have created the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA). The stated goal is to share information about self-excluded customers (some believe the goal is more insidious, which I’m mentioning but don’t believe to be true).
Breaking News: After the conclusion of its “strategic review,” 888 announced that it is selling its US B2C business to Hard Rock Digital, giving the latter a pathway into the online casino states of Pennsylvania and Michigan—more on this next week.
TransUnion: Online Gaming Leading Digitial Fraud Source
According to a recent TransUnion report, online fraudsters increasingly use fabricated and stolen identities.
“This early phase new account digital fraud may represent a paradigm shift of sorts among fraudsters,” said Steve Yin, senior vice president and global head of fraud solutions at TransUnion. “In lieu of using traditional tactics to gain access to and ultimately compromise existing accounts, they are increasingly choosing to create new accounts that they can control themselves.”
Of note to STTP readers, gaming has the largest digital fraud attempt rate in the US, more than double what it is globally.
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NCAA Swings and Misses with PG Campaign
A prop betting ban isn’t the only thing the NCAA is pushing.
The NCAA has a new problem gambling campaign called Draw the Line, “prioritizing student-athlete education on the effects of sports betting while also addressing problem gambling for all that consume and participate in college sports.”
Per the website:
Sports betting is everywhere – your friends, family and classmates are placing bets, ads are impossible to miss and there is a lot of harassing chatter on social.
While betting may attract more fans, it increases pressures, risks and dangers for student-athletes. Sports betting must be treated with caution as it could hurt your eligibility, brand, mental health, finances and future.Don’t let betting get in the way of what you are trying to accomplish – in competition or in life.
The logo looks like a pro wrestling promotion.
The ad itself drew inspiration from the opening to The Fresh Prince:
If you couldn’t tell, I’m not a fan of the campaign. The intention is good, but it will have zero impact and completely misses the mark.
Beyond the Headline: Most PG Campaigns Miss the Mark
We need to eliminate the somber tones and patronizing academic language that is so prevalent in responsible gambling and problem gambling messaging. Efforts to highlight responsible gambling tools or raise awareness for problem gambling resources and programs should be blunt and to the point.
I’ve always struggled to put my finger on it, but almost every campaign comes across as:
“You’re too dumb to understand the dangers of your behavior. Fortunately, we’re here to act as a parental figure and pass judgment on what you should and shouldn’t do.”
Here are some of the graphics on Michigan’s Don’t Regret the Bet website, which makes me wonder who we are trying to communicate with. It’s too cute for its own good. Again, good intentions but poor execution. It’s how Jim’s dad would try to talk to him about gambling in American Pie.
To use another movie reference, it gives off “pieces of flair” vibes from Office Space. It’s someone’s idea to appeal to customers that will have zero impact on customer behavior.
Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
What does social media think of the Shohei Ohtani situation?
From Dustin Gouker and Tisha Thompson:
From Matt Perrault:
Stray Thoughts
Speaking of Dustin Gouker, here is another Facebook memory. This one is from seven years ago (2017) when I was apparently going through my Dustin Gouker phase:
“The Raiders are officially going to Las Vegas, where you'll be able to legally bet on the Raiders. The NFL is still opposed to sports betting.”
I have read what’s happened here and I believe they are doing the same thing in the uk with stupid mistakes as seen here with the leagues jumping in quickly here like they did with football not American, limiting or banning winners while losers get more to gamble with the gaming industry gads targeting colleges or in the uk the youth do and so forth https://justiceforpunters.org/latest-news/ Thus your legislation talked about like Tonko and Blumenthal proposed which will lead in my view to https://www.legalsportsreport.com/113376/analysis-long-anticipated-uk-white-paper-released/ in America federally.
Onto the ncaa player prop ban I agree it won’t do good as action will just go offshore with that plus the slippery slope of outright college ban ala what was proposed in 2000 federally in the paspa era which Nevada where I live responded by lifting that ban in 01. Now I don’t know what they’ll do with this but the deterance back then which would apply now. I do fear that these harassment cases you are hearing you will see a disgruntled bettor take those harms physical which none of us want but it’s very possible in this environment of bad people sadly that ruin it for those who bet and know how to be responsible.