All of a sudden, legalized sports betting is feeling the sting. In the span of a week, two different things have came out— both carrying some weight — that’s criticized the industry from a national level.
This was bound to happen once it became prevalent outside of Las Vegas and Nevada in general. The famed gambling mecca lost its monopoly on sports betting. Not only that, but the topic suddenly got more eyeballs.
Up to this point, that’s mostly been good attention. A total of 38 states have legalized in some capacity. Moreover, the industry has absolutely boomed — creating a new revenue windfall for teams, athletes, and media personalities, among many others.
But now the eyeballs are starting to turn into side eyes. Here’s the latest that’s going on in this hot-button issue:
SAFE Act Introduced
The SAFE Bet Act was introduced on September 12 and it takes direct aim at how operators are running the mostly legalized sports betting industry on a national level — no one operator or state was targeted. Short for Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet, this act wants to impose federal rules on the industry.
New York Representative Paul Tonko and Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal are behind the bill. They’re focused on three A’s — affordability, advertising, and artificial intelligence. Let’s examine each head-on.
We’ll start with advertising. The bill wants to ban betting ads on TV from airing between 8 am and 10 pm and during live sports events. Additionally, it would ban inducements, such as ads encouraging viewers to place bets or create new accounts. In other words, it wants to completely kneecap how sportsbooks promote themselves.
Moving on to affordability, the proposal wants to cap bettors at five deposits per 24 hours, ban credit cards as funding sources, and require operators to conduct affordability checks on those wagering more than $1,000 in 24 hours or $10,000 in 30 days.
Then there’s AI. The bill wants to stop sportsbooks from using customer data to send them personalized offers and recommendations. But more importantly, it would end microbetting as a whole since it uses AI technology to update lines in real time. Yikes, we know.
“This relationship between the gambling industry and sports has reached intolerably dangerous levels, and it’s well past time for Congress to just step up and make a difference,” Tonko said during a press conference introducing the new legislation.
Nevada Big Wigs Don’t Hide Resistance To SAFE Act
Sure, this is a national bill, but what the “big wigs” in Nevada — as in the politicians — think still carries a lot of weight. They’re still associated deeply with betting and the local economy depends on gaming more than other others.
U.S. Representative Dina Titus — a Nevada Democrat, whose district includes the major casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip — pushed back right away. Here’s how she was quoted:
“The SAFE Bet Act reinforces the outdated and unwarranted prejudice against gaming, a legal industry which provides good-paying jobs and tax dollars to communities across the United States,” Titus said in a statement. “Pre-empting state gaming regulators by outlawing most forms of advertising and restricting the types and methods by which customers can place bets is a misguided approach.”
Similar reactions came from Nevada’s two Democratic senators — Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto.
“Nevada has successfully regulated the gaming industry in our state for decades and provided oversight of sports betting for the last six years,” said Rosen.
She’s not wrong. Sports betting in Las Vegas has been legalized since 1949. Telling them what to do when the federal ban has only been lifted six years feels asinine.
Gaming Study Adds Fuel To The Fire
Only a week after the SAFE Bet Act, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) released a study of its own. Per the new study, state regulators aren’t doing enough to protect consumers.
They cited the NCPG’s Internet Responsible Gambling Standards (IRGS). There are 82 guidelines, and per the research, states met only 32. The most compliant states were Connecticut, New Jersey betting, and Virginia, but even then, they only met 49 of the conditions.
“We urge legislators and regulators to take immediate steps to close these gaps and work to mitigate gambling-related harm,” said Keith Whyte, executive director of the NCPG.
Does the timing of the study feel perhaps a little too coincidental? It does to us, and that’s not us putting on our tinfoil hats. It’s just understanding how these things work. Both politicians and lobbyists alike use “studies” to sway opinions.
Want to know our honest opinion? All of this will roll over with enough time. Once the genie was left out of the bottle — sports betting as a whole — it’ll be hard to get it back, especially when the vast majority of states having now legalized it. We think this heat and story will go away in the next few months. Just give it time!
