Rhode Island Sports Betting Lawsuit, NJ Saturation and PA Wants Affiliates to Draw Blood

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Published on:
May/02/2019

Last month Gambling911.com reported on how sports betting had come up short by a disastrous $40 million.

Things just got worse in the smallest US state.

From Legal Sports Report:

Brandon Bell, a former chair of the state’s Republican Party, helped to engineer a lawsuit challenging the legality of sports betting in Rhode Island.

“… the General Assembly has refused to follow our State Constitution by seeking voter approval before expanding gambling in the form of sports gambling, and now online sports gambling,” Bell said in a news release in March.

Josh Block, press secretary for Gov. Gina Raimondo, provided a statement about the suit to Legal Sports Report:

    “Multiple legal opinions have affirmed that sports betting was already approved by the voters. The revenue from sports betting supports investments in education, health care, infrastructure and more, and we remain confident that it will be upheld in court.”

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No matter how frivolous this suit might seem to some, it will most certainly disrupt the already chaotic sports betting landscape in Rhode Island.

Paul Grimaldi from the state’s department of revenue claims the state was reliant only on data from Oxford Economics, provided by none other than the AGA.  This resulted in their $40 million miscalculation.

Sports betting industry expert Joe Brennan, Jr. tweeted out following that news:

This is a failure on all sides, and you can be certain it will create skepticism in other statehouses. Credible numbers are non-negotiable

Brennan, Jr. was instrumental in getting sports wagering licensed in New Jersey, a state that has realized a bit of a windfall.  By year's end 2018, NJ had taken in just over $1.2 billion in sports bets.  Sportsbooks only began operating during the late summer.

New Jersey, though, is on the verge of saturation.  The state requires its licensed affiliates to cease operating with offshore Internet gambling businesses.  That's a nonstarter for just about everyone except for the top three affiliate businesses, who already have a foothold in the NJ market.

"They are offering a $600 CPA for online casinos," one affiliate, who wished not to be named, tells Gambling911.com.  "And I am only able to get ten signups a month so far."

For affiliates looking to crack the US market, good luck.

Pennsylvania practically wants affiliates to draw blood with their application process.

"It's brutal!" an affiliate attending last week's Betting Sports America conference tells us.  "We are still waiting to get approved.  They want to know everything about you since you were born."

And we thought New Jersey was bad.

God only knows what's going to transpire in Tennessee.

Gambling911.com can confirm that this state delivered the most traffic to G911 for one month last summer following the opening of sportsbooks in Tunica, Mississippi last summer, so there is definitely a market.

Tennessee will become the first state to offer online gambling-only sports betting.  They will not have retail sportsbooks.

That state's Governor doesn't want it, but he's confirmed he'll just allow the measure to become law by doing nothing.   That process will be complete in mid-May.

Sports betting is forecast to bring in an annual $50 million, according to sponsor Senator Steve Dickerson, R-Nashville.  Whether that happens remains to be seen, but we can certainly confirm the demand is there.  Memphis area gamblers went gaga over Tunica sportsbooks.

One of the early beneficiaries of Tennessee sports betting will be Rotogrinders, the popular fantasy sports media outlet.  His company is based in Nashville.

Sportsbook licensees will need to pay a $750,000 fee annually.  Until now, nobody has any idea which companies are looking to move in.  Few anticipated Tennesee to be among the "firsts" when it came to legalized sports betting in the US.

"That's where we come in, we have our active and engaged audience and we can work with the sportsbooks to send them the bonus deal, special promotion or whatever it is," Cal Spears, the CEO of RotoGrinders.com, told News Channel 5. "We send our traffic to the sportsbook and the sportsbook pays us in the process."

He is excited that fans from out-of-state where sports betting is not legalized will set their eyes on Tennessee.

"Instead of our guys leaving the state like what we've always done to gamble, it'll be the opposite," Spears added.

One thing is for sure, last week's Betting Sports America was a huge success for those who knew what they were doing.

Gambling911.com founder Chris Costigan confirmed that one of the site's ad partners bragged about having entered into a significant deal with one of the SBC exhibitor's.

Costigan told Becky's Affiliated: “It’s amazing how these conferences have changed from ten years ago. While there were a few of the same faces, a lot of the exhibitioners at the 2019 Betting Sports America did not exist back in 2009 when the big events were GIGSE, ICE and CAC Amsterdam for affiliates. It is mind blowing how technology has evolved over this period of time.

"Back then it was all about competing for the best bonus offers and wagering options to maintain customer loyalty. For the better part of ten years after online gambling first emerged I would hear how mobile would soon be the next best thing. Only in the last five years or so has mobile really taken off to the point where it has exceeded earlier dreams,” he said.

“At Betting on Sports America, the focus was on how best to capture the U.S. sports betting and casino market through live user interaction with in-play betting and all-in-one score, data and wagering interfaces. I suspect ten years from now with virtual reality there will be products on the market where the gambler can feel as if he or she is actually at the stadium while placing bets,” he predicted.

- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com

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