Sports Betting Beat - May 23, 2021
This is your sports betting industry news for Sunday May 23, 2021.
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BetAnySports
The BetAnySports website continues to undergo maintenance and players are left wondering if popular features will return or are gone for good.
Case in point, this SBR reader reports that in house live betting will apparently not be in the cards moving forward.
"If anyone cares, after spending an hour on live chat with these retarted live chat agents, I was told that the regular "in-house live betting" was already available, then I asked where it was, he put me on hold while he checked, then told be to go into the vegas live casino lol.. after I said its the casino, I'm looking for live betting on sports so that I can add to open parlays, he put me on hold while he "checked" then said it was being added soon, possibly as early as today. I said ok cool, then he started rambling on about the other live betting platforms...super, ultimate...etc. I said ok, I already know about these. And when almost done, I said, so you are confirming that the in house live betting will be back in the near future so that I will be able to add live bets to open parlays, he said, please hold, let me check. I'm like are you serious? Lol. Then came back and said, we have no plans to add that at this time. I said ok, wow, thanks for the hour long run around, and changing your story 3 or 4 times."
BetMGM
Doug Kezirian said he partnered with a pro bettor on April's NFL draft, and it paid off in a big way when Tyson Campbell of Georgia was the first safety taken. The payout: $297,800 on a $3,500 bet.
The pro bettor, who wants to remain anonymous, had tipped off Kezirian that Campbell’s draft stock was rising. His draft position over-under opened at 60½ and closed at 46½ at Circa.
Kezirian said he was looking to bet the under on Campbell when he noticed that the Georgia cornerback was listed as a safety on the BetMGM prop while every other book listed him as a corner.
“I had to do a double take,” he said. “There are always a few different subtleties between books. MGM had two guys on their corner index that were listed as safeties at Circa. I just thought, at 100-1, it was a worthwhile play.”
BetRivers
Pennsylvania casinos with mobile sportsbooks also have seen continual growth in the amount wagered as well as taxable revenue streams. Locally, Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore and The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County offer online and mobile options.
Rivers opened its mobile sportsbook in June 2019 through BetRivers.com, which is owned by Rush Street Interactive.
According to Mattias Stetz, COO of Rush Street Interactive and BetRivers, the company’s mobile sportsbook has grown 50% year over year, with 75% of bets in 2021 placed online.
According to Gaming Control Board figures, $72 million in wagers were placed online at Rivers Pittsburgh in the first three months of the year compared to $200.4 million last year. Online wagers at the casino resulted in $3.7 million worth of tax dollars for the state and local communities last year and $1.19 million this year.
That’s compared to the $15.8 million in wagers placed in-person at Rivers Casino this year, generating more than $624,000 in taxes. Source: TribLive
Google Play
Last month, Google’s Play Store policies changed to permit gambling and betting Android apps that use real money in 15 more countries than before, including the U.S.
VentureBeat reports on the potential security threats:
By Google not including real-money gaming apps in the Play Store, there’s the potential threat to users who sideload sketchy apps to be exposed to trojans, malware, spyware, click fraud, and phishing code hidden within unofficial apps. In January 2021, Forbes reported that the “Rogue” trojan had infected hundreds of thousands of phones, taking control of data, photos, messages, location, and more. To protect against infection, they strongly recommend against sideloading apps onto your Android.
Users will sideload a variety of apps, such as custom-build business apps, third-party app stores like the Amazon Appstore, cryptocurrency apps, and games, too. In fact, the most notable example of a popular sideloaded game was Fortnite for Android. When Epic Games made the decision to bypass the Google Play store and offer the highly anticipated game only via its own website, it spawned the distribution of spoof Fortnite games and Fortnite-based phishing attacks.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
