Weekly News – 07/12/2021

Joseph Beguiristain Sports Betting Expert

7 minute read

THIS WEEK IN SPORTS BETTING

July 12th, 2021 Weekly Report

This week in legal sports betting news, New York sports betting announced bidding details. Plus, Arizona sports betting released a second draft of prospective rules. And, Connecticut sports betting announced a big partnership that is coming to the state. This roundup of the legal sports betting news from this week will keep you up to date!

Now that we are firmly in Summer, the legal sports betting news has finally slowed down. But, we do have updates for New York sports betting coming to you. Also, Arizona sports betting has been in the news as well as Connecticut. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the latest legal sports betting news.

If you want to find out more on some major topics not covered in this article you can check out the rest of VegasInsider with our exclusive BetMGM bonus code, FanDuel promo code or DraftKings promo code for example!

CONTENTS

• New York Sports Betting Gets Much Needed Update
• More Comments Come in for Arizona Sports Betting Rules
• Connecticut Sports Betting Announces Another Partnership

NEW YORK SPORTS BETTING GETS MUCH NEEDED UPDATE

After missing a critical deadline last week, New York sports betting hopefuls got a much needed update last week. On Friday, eight days passed the original deadline, bidding details for New York mobile sports betting were finally released. The release of this information sets off a thirty day period in which prospective New York online sportsbook operators can bid to be one of the minimum two platform providers as well as for four sportsbook licenses.

After that thirty day period, it is up to the New York State Gaming Commission who has 150 days to select the winning bids. The new deadline after missing a recent important deadline for them to select the winner is now January 6th, 2022. Unfortunately, there is no set launch date for mobile betting in the RFA at this point. The finalists are set to be chosen prior to December 6th of this year, with the licenses being awarded at the following commission meeting.

The New York State Gaming Commission has also released the proposed New York mobile betting regulations attached to the RFA. Prospective platform providers will be applying for the New York sports betting licenses from the state. The New York mobile sports betting requirements that must be met include nine designated services that a platform must be able to handle. These are:

• Ability to take as well as register bets.
• Ability to generate tickets for these wagers.
• The ability to computer bets as well as the payoffs.
• Ability to keep records of all wagering activity.
• The ability to generate as well as to submit the reports that will be required by the commission.
• Ability to maintain the integrity of the platform.
• The ability to maintain all of the transaction data for a period of seven years.
• The ability to create a wallet that can be used on all of the sportsbooks that would be associated with the platform.

The platform that is applying is able to also be one of the sportsbooks/operators. So, the NYSGC would be able to learn a lot of information about the operators during the licensing process. Also, the applicants must submit a breakdown of the promo and ad plans for their sportsbooks. In addition to the estimations of their advertising plans as well as marketing budgets, every platform would need to outline the efforts that they would take to convert new players back from offshore sites.

We also know the details the RFA has outlined for scoring the bids. Every bidder will need to get a minimum technical factor score of 60 points. This is out of a possible 75. That is needed to be considered a qualified applicant. Here is the breakdown of the points:

• By platform as well as sportsbooks, sports betting expertise: 25 points
• Safety, sustainability, as well as integrity of the platform: 20 points
• Relevant experience for both sportsbooks and platform from the past: 15 points
• Promo plans as well as advertising: 7.5 points
• Ability to bring bettors into the platform “rapidly and efficiently”: 2.5 points
• Racial, gender, and ethnic diversity efforts: 2.5 points
• Other factors concerning state revenue: 2.5 points

When it comes to the New York mobile sports betting tax rate, applicants need to provide a tax rate that is fifty percent or even greater for its Preferred Scenario. But, that will change the scoring for the pricing category in which applicants are required to lay out their revenue share with the Empire state. This looks like:

• 12.5% up to 30%: 3 points
• 30% up to 40%: 10 points
• 40% up to 50%: 15 points
• 50% or higher: 20 points
• Over 50%: applicants will receive an additional point for every full percentage point higher than 50%

The term of the license will be connected to the tax rate:

• Up to 30%: 3 years
• 30% to 50%: 5 years
• 50% or higher: 10 years

In addition, the New York State Gaming Commission will give five points to every bidder that has a revenue-share agreement in place with one of New York’s tribal gaming partners. But, those five points will not be counted toward the minimum 60 points required for the technical factor score.

The winning bidders will be found by adding together the pricing score, technical score, as well as the tribal revenue share bonus. If a tie occurs, the bidder that has the higher revenue share will be the winner. The applicants that are qualified will be ranked according to technical scores as well as their tribal revenue share bonus points.

Then, the New York State Gaming Commission will be establishing how many operators as well as platform providers there will be in the state. At the end of the day, it will be down to the total scores that will also include pricing. Keep in mind, the winning bids will need to conform to the highest revenue share that has been offered by a winning bid. Otherwise, the bid will be disqualified.

The deadline to ask questions that is first established will be this Friday in the afternoon. The questions will be answered later this month on July 22nd. Another chance for questions to be submitted will be July 27th. This is in addition to the New York State Gaming Commission having released answers to sixteen pages of questions.

The bidding period will close on August 9th at 4pm ET. Then, oral presentations will be commencing on September 1st, but this is not guaranteed to all bidders. Finalists will be chosen prior to December 6th of this year. After, bidders will have a one-week period in which they can amend their applications. Finally, the licenses and the winners will be handed out at the following commission meeting.

MORE COMMENTS COME IN FOR ARIZONA SPORTS BETTING RULES

On Wednesday, the Arizona Department of Gaming received public comments for the second draft of rules that would guide Arizona sports betting. Arizona sports betting stakeholders, like sportsbook operators and professional sports teams were the ones giving the comments. Written comments will be accepted until Wednesday night.

The Arizona Department of Gaming wants to launch sports betting in the state this Fall by September 9th. This second draft of rules had prospective tax fees as well as license fees outlined. However, it is still not clear how the Arizona Department of Gaming plans to allocate licenses to Arizona’s tribal gaming partners.

The fees are currently outlined like this:

• A $100,000 application fee
• A $750,000 license fee
• A $150,000 annual renewal fee

The structure for taxation is outlined like this:

• 8% on retail bets
• 10% on mobile bets

This round of Arizona sports betting rules that have been outlined eliminated the work “skin” on purpose. This is because concerns were expressed about the idea of more than one skin existing per license holder. Back in April, current Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill into law that approved Arizona sports betting. This was in addition to a new tribal gaming compact that had been established between Arizona and its tribal gaming partners.

This bill allows for 20 licenses, to be split between the tribal gaming partners and the state’s professional sports teams. Arizona currently has more than 10 tribal gaming partners.

CONNECTICUT SPORTS BETTING ANNOUNCES ANOTHER PARTNERSHIP

Two of the biggest sportsbook operators in the United States will be coming to Connecticut sports betting. The FanDuel Sportsbook has announced its partnership with Mohegan. Using Mohegan’s license, the FanDuel Sportsbook will be able to supply both online sports betting as well as retail sports betting in the state of Connecticut. In addition, FanDuel will be able to power Mohegan’s iGaming operation in Connecticut.

It has already been announced that the DraftKings Sportsbook will be operating in Connecticut under the Mashantucket Pequots’ license. There is still a third, and last, skin that will be able to partner with the Connecticut Lottery, but that has yet to be announced.

FanDuel had also announced last week that it would be using Mohegan to secure its daily fantasy sports license in the state. In September, a temporary FanDuel Sportsbook will be opening at Mohegan Sun. This winter, the full FanDuel Sportsbook should be launching, which will potentially be the largest FanDuel Sportsbook in the United States.

The announcement from the Connecticut Lottery about who the third and last skin will be could come any time now. There were originally give bidders for that skin, but one of them could have been FanDuel. Right now, it appears BetMGM is the frontrunner to be announced as this third skin. The last skin will be announced once the contracts have been signed.

Written by Allie Nelson, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise.

Joseph Beguiristain

Joseph Beguiristain is a South Florida native with 10-plus years of sports media experience. Before joining VegasInsider in July 2021, he wrote for the Sun-Sentinel and Miami Heat. More from Joseph Beguiristain