Maryland Looks to Require Handicappers, Influencers to Back Their Records

Any sports handicapper and/or social media influencer would be required to support their records should a new measure pass in the state of Maryland.

The MD sports betting bill (SB 621) creates framework designed to ensure sports betting influencers, analysts, or pickers are forthcoming with their records.

In essence, the state would audit touts and handicappers, but more specifically focus on handicappers who work for Maryland's licensed sportsbooks or who use affiliate links associated with those sportsbooks.

According to SportsHandle:

The bill doesn’t actually mandate, however, that those licensed sportsbooks contract with an independent evaluator like SharpRank. The process is entirely optional, and it adds more work for staff of the Maryland Lottery, as it will be in charge of licensing these evaluators. 

Gambling911.com is way ahead of the game as it partners to offer a fully transparent handicapping platform that displays real time records as well as leaderboard and consensus picks.

Plus UK Lawmakers Call for Cryptocurrency Trading to be Regulated

British lawmakers are calling for the crypto trading market to be treated like gambling, as opposed to financial servicing.

The U.K. Treasury Committee said this past week:  “Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have no intrinsic value and serve no useful social purpose, while consuming large amounts of energy and being used by criminals in scams, fraud, and money laundering.”

But there's been pushback.

“It’s not helpful, I just don’t get who they’ve been listening to, to come to this conclusion,” Ian Taylor, board adviser at British lobbying group CryptoUK, told The Financial Times. “I have spent so much time saying the technology brings a host of benefits across financial markets and then they’ve said the opposite is true.”

This is sure to be among the topics discussed at next week's highly anticipated London Blockchain Conference.

Jasmine Solana of CoinGeek notes that there is more to blockchain technology than the usual “crypto” scams and bubbles these British lawmakers are honing in on.  Blockchain is a truly scalable public blockchain can solve real world problems—and legally, too.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com