THIS WEEK IN SPORTS BETTING NEWS – OCTOBER 22ND, 2021

Chris Altman Sports Betting Expert

5 minute read

POINTSBET CANADA PARTNERS OFFICIALLY WITH CURLING CANADA

PointsBet, the well-known Australian bookmaker that has released its legal betting app in a few US states, is now the official partner of Curling Canada. Curling Canada is the major oversight body governing one of Canada’s secret treasures: curling, a sport combining finesse, strength, and a knowledge of physics.

Curling is a huge draw for Canadians, and PointsBet’s higher ups are well aware of this fact. Nic Sulsky, Chief Commercial Officer for PointsBet, wants to make connections with Canadian bettors on a “deeper” level, which is why the company has opted to become the official partner of one of Canada’s most watched Olympic events. (In fact, 90% of curlers live in Canada!)

CEO of Curling Canada, Katherine Henderson, believes that sports betting will create new opportunities in the country, and sees this partnership as a chance to promote curling nationwide. Legal betting is a part of that promotional opportunity, as bringing in legal bettors can often improve viewership and raise revenues for a given league or sport.

PointsBet will offer branding as the official betting partner of Curling Canada in addition to securing title rights to the Curling Canada Seasons of Champions event.

CAESARS WILL LAUNCH A NEW RETAIL SPORTSBOOK AT THE HORSESHOE CASINO, BALTIMORE

Move over, Guy Fieri’s Baltimore Kitchen, make way for the Caesars Sportsbook. The famed Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore just got a new tenant in the form of The Brew Brothers, one of the best restaurants in Reno, NV. Their satellite location in Baltimore, MD will also be the home of a new retail Caesars Sportsbook as soon as Maryland goes live with their now-legal sports betting package.

This 250-seat location will open once renovations are finished and Maryland announces that their sports betting providers are legally cleared to start taking bets. Then and only then will the Caesars Sportsbook location in MD be able to also take in new and existing bettors that happen to be visiting the Horseshoe Casino.

CT SPORTS BETTING MAKES CONSIDERABLE GAINS DURING SOFT LAUNCH

Connecticut sports bettors were treated to the soft launch of the state’s legal betting program this week. Three providers were given the green-light to go ahead and start taking bets in the state as of October 20th, 2021: PlaySugarHouse, FanDuel, and DraftKings.

This “soft launch” was so because there was a cap on how many people could sign up and legally bet. That number, a little over 2,000, did place several bets over the last few days, so much so that PlaySugarHouse alone recorded over $60,000 in betting handle over the course of 2 days.

As Connecticut’s sports betting law only provides for three licenses, it’s unlikely that the handle will overtake such states as New Jersey, which offers for more competition in the market. However, the revenues brought in from sports betting are expected to reach $100 million by year three of legalized bets.

NJ SPORTS BETTING HANDLE TOPS $1B

New Jersey has always been at the forefront of the legal betting market in the US. The state played a fundamental role in the overturning of PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act), a 1992 law that barred states from allowing their residents to bet on sports in legal casinos. This interpretation was extended to online play, and was the law of the land until the law was overturned in 2018.

New Jersey continues to be a state to watch when it comes to sports betting, and it represents as of fall 2021 the largest betting market in the country in terms of handle. That trend hasn’t been challenged, as the handle for September 2021 topped all expected figures at a little over $1 billion USD.

This impressive figure is going to equate to over $50 million in revenue for the state. The tax rate for online sportsbooks in NJ is 13%. Compare that to New York, which is proposing a tax rate of at least 50% on overall handle if and when sports betting becomes legal there.

FLORIDA LAWMAKERS AND TRIBES WIN ONE OF SEVERAL CASES AGAINST BETTING

Florida has one of the most controversial sports betting laws in recent memory. It’s not that much different from other sports betting packages around the country, but this piece of legislation in particular has received a lot of pushback from interested parties that don’t want online betting to see the light of day in the Sunshine State.

Part of this pushback comes in the form of actual legal challenges and oppositions to the law, which should have taken effect a few months ago if not for said court cases. However, the interested tribe (the Seminole Tribe of Florida) and the lawmakers pushing for legal betting (including Governor Ron DeSantis) just tallied in a major win in the courts.

West Flagler Associates, parent company of a number of parimutuel horse racing and betting tracks in FL, sued DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe because they felt that the pending sports betting legislation “harmed their business”. A federal district court judge did not agree with WFA, and as a result, shot down their request to cancel the launch of FL’s betting package.

Challenges still remain for Florida’s sports betting program, which was supposed to launch around the start of the NFL season. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but DeSantis, the Seminole Tribe, and state lawmakers continue to fight for this much-needed revenue source (which is technically legal in the eyes of state and federal governments, pending any major decisions from circuit court judges).

Written by Chris Altman, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can read more about our author's expertise 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