This Week in Sports Betting Legislation – February 4th, 2022

Chris Altman Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

SUPER BOWL SPECIAL OFFERS

Now that Super Bowl LVI is just around the corner, sports bettors in eligible markets all across the country are looking to get the best bang for their buck. Luckily, platforms are releasing a nice selection of special offers for betting on The Big Game: here’s a breakdown of some of the best!

• FanDuel Offer: Bet $5 to Win $280 on The Big Game!
• DraftKings Offer: Bet $5+ on the Moneyline, Win $280 if your team wins!
• PointsBet Offer: 2 Risk-Free Bets up to $2,000!

Keep in mind that these special offers replace the welcome offer, so they’ll only be available if you haven’t created an account with the platform before.

ARKANSAS GETS CLOSER TO LEGALIZING MOBILE SPORTSBOOKS

After legalizing in-person sports betting in 2019, Arkansas is eyeing the legalization of online betting. We’re seeing a lot of moves towards legal online betting being realized in The Natural State, the most significant of which is Governor Asa Hutchinson’s indication that he would indeed sign off on a bill that allowed the practice.

Most recently, legislators agreed to move forward with a ruleset for so-called “off-premises” play, which is understood to mean betting on legal apps and websites. That’s a great step in the right direction, as it indicates that officials from the Arkansas Legislative Council and the ARC (Arkansas Racing Commission) are on-board with bringing sports betting to the digital space.

Next steps? The Arkansas Legislative Council meets from mid-February to mid-March, and may or may not have enough time to discuss and finalize a ruleset for mobile betting. However, all signs point to yes in Arkansas, as legislators and gaming officials alike, including the governor, seem favorable to the idea of online sportsbooks.

CANADA GEARS UP FOR 2022 WINTER OLYMPICS BETTING

Naturally, a country like Canada is no stranger to winter sports, and eligible bettors there are finding plenty of action at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Canadian bettors are taking to legal bets on the Olympiad like never before, as 2020’s C-218 bill legalized single-event wagering, which happens to be the bread-and-butter of Olympics betting.

Using platforms like PROLINE+ in Ontario or PlayAlberta (we’ll let you figure out the province in which that platform is available), eligible users in Canada can indeed place bets on this international competition of strength, endurance, and spirit. Common bets include moneyline bets on an athlete to win the gold medal and over/under bets for a country to earn a certain number of gold medals.

ONTARIO LOOKS TO APRIL LAUNCH OF COMMERCIAL SPORTSBOOKS

Since the August 2020 legalization of single-event wagers in Canada with the passage of C-218, provinces across the country are looking to this expanded ability to offer bets as a source of revenue.

Notably, Ontario is looking across the border at US jurisdictions with legal gambling and likely salivating at the tax revenues. New Jersey, for example, has taken in approximately $200 million in state tax revenue since legalizing online sports betting. Officials in the Canadian province are on the path toward expanding the legal betting market there: currently, only one lottery-sponsored app, PROLINE+, is offering bets that include single-event wagering.

The so-called “commercial” market is set to launch in early April, 2022, with officials from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) aiming to offer license applications to eligible applicants by the third of that month. Interestingly, a diverse array of sports betting providers will be eligible to apply whether or not they offered offshore, “gray market” bets before C-218 passed.

Written by Chris Altman, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can learn more about our author’s expertise here.

The featured image for this post was sourced on Flickr under CC BY 2.0. Attribution data can be found here.

Chris Altman

Chris Altman is a sports betting writer and content expert with almost a decade of experience. He's covered everything, but his current focus is on reviewing sportsbooks and online casinos and keeping tabs on sports betting legislation. Chris has been with VegasInsider since 2019 and has freelanced in the sports betting content industry for years. More from Chris Altman