Articles by: Grant Mitchell

According to revenue figures provided by the state regulator, New York—which legalized sports betting in the second week of January 2022—has already surpassed a $25 billion betting handle, making it the state that required the shortest time to eclipse the milestone amount.

The idea was proposed last week and agreed to on June 30. DeWine himself was responsible for the initiative that proposed the idea in February, which left it as little surprise that he signed the plan into action and it took effect on July 1.

Since football last kicked off a new season in September 2022, states such as North Carolina and Kentucky have made major legislative changes to legalize and expand their sports betting markets. States with existing markets are also feverishly preparing for what will be the busiest time of the year for sportsbooks.

The Wednesday announcement offers athletes the chance at as little as simple educational courses without mandating suspension from their respective sport, depending on how much money was gambled. The new standards come in response to an uptick in gambling violations at the professional and collegiate levels of sports.

Fanatics looked like it had a $150 million deal in place earlier this year, but interest from other companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel caused an agreement to be placed on hold. DraftKings offered $195 million to PointsBet earlier this month, leading to Fanatics’ second bid.

Zuckerberg, a 39-year-old co-founder of Facebook and parent platform Meta, and Musk, the 51-year-old Tesla CEO and owner of Twitter, have had their share of back-and-forths online over the years. However, their relationship hit a new level earlier this year when the idea of engaging each other in a UFC-style match.

However, it recently came to light that Nomura Securities International—the company that helped Mayor Lori Lightfoot solicit licensees for the project—had a serious financial incentive to select Bally’s thereby muddying the license awarding process, according to a Chicago Sun-Times investigation.

Legal sports betting was first broached in the state legislature in 2020, and just a couple of months later, had the requisite support to go before the Governor. But despite the overwhelmingly early success, the infrastructure was not in place to open the market until this week.

The league has experienced an uptick in problems and uncertainty regarding its sports betting policy amid the takeover of gambling in America. Infractions have come in a variety of areas and even left players saying that they were simply unaware what they were doing was against the NFL’s code.

The Cubs and the sports betting giant initially signed a $100 million partnership in September 2020, at which time plans for a future sportsbook were circulated. Although it took years for the idea to coalesce, the Cubs were the first team to announce its intent to construct a sportsbook connected to their home field.