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Lawmakers in New Jersey heard from both sides of the argument regarding a proposed bill to ban in-game prop betting, or micro-betting, in the state. However, since the hearing was only informational, so far, the Assembly has not taken any action on the matter.

Bill would ban in-game wagers on events like baseball pitches

Rep. Dan Hutchinson kicked off the hearing by explaining his measure, A 5971, which he introduced last month amidst a torrent of controversies related to match fixing in professional and collegiate sports. The bill would eliminate the bets and impose a fine of between $500 and $1,000 on each wager taken. There is a companion bill in the New Jersey Senate with the same text, S

Hutchinson recalled some experiences he shared interacting with those who have dealt with problem gambling as well as voiced his own thoughts as to why he thinks the matter is an issue worth legislating.

“As I watched the Eagles play yesterday, I was shocked to find that gambling ads were bak..

NCAA President Charlie Baker has been outspoken about the impact of legal sports betting on its student-athletes, but the organization is also having to consider another vertical.

Baker sat down with Yahoo! Sports to discuss the legal sports betting industry and how the NCAA is responding to recent gambling infractions across sports and the steps the organization is taking to protect its student-athletes. Baker also discussed the growing popularity of prediction markets and how the NCAA perceives the emerging platforms.

Easy access to online wagering changed the game

Since the overturning of PASPA in 2018, the NCAA has worked to develop and implement a framework that protects student-athletes from gambling-related harm and ensures the integrity of competition. However, the rapid pace of growth and the accessibility of online sports wagering impacts how the NCAA sets a standard related to regulated gambling.

“I don’t think anybody was anticipating that it [legal sports betting] woul..

The NCAA investigation into sports betting violations at Fresno State led to the discovery of similar infractions at another California university.

Former University of San Francisco men’s basketball guard Marcus Williams was found to have violated the NCAA’s rules related to sports betting by knowingly providing information to a third-party for gambling-related purposes. Williams shared information with former Fresno State men’s basketball player Mykell Robinson, who was dismissed from the university and ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA for manipulating his performances during games to win bets.

The NCAA initiated an investigation into Williams after their probe into Robinson revealed communication between the two players. The communication included Williams providing information for Robinson to wager on him.

Robinson leveraged daily fantasy sports accounts to place bets on Williams. The NCAA did not disclose which gaming platform Robinson used to place the wagers. NCAA ga..

Notch another one in the win column for DraftKings, as Southern District of New York Judge Denise Cote dismissed a class action lawsuit against the sportsbook over its promotions.

After prevailing in a similar lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York in July, Cote’s ruling drew many of the same conclusions as the judge drew in that case. Both cases observed that there were clear opportunities for the plaintiffs to read the terms of service surrounding the $1,000 deposit bonus and the “No Sweat” bet, so they cannot argue that DraftKings was misleading in how these offers were presented.

Plaintiffs didn’t have a specific DK ad in mind

Cote also pushed back at the suit because the plaintiffs could not point to the exact advertisement the plaintiffs had seen. The plaintiffs tried to argue that didn’t makker because all of the ads are relatively the same, but Cote said a specific example is necessary in order to state a claim.

She went into more detail on other elements of the case, ..

Fanatics Betting and Gaming has partnered with betting technology provider OpenBet to launch the supplier’s suite of geolocation, fraud prevention, AML and responsible gaming tools on its sportsbook platform.

Fanatics Sportsbook will deploy OpenBet’s full Protect Suite, which includes OpenBet Locator and the AI-enhanced responsible gaming and AML platform Neccton.

“The OpenBet Locator and Neccton products deliver a secure and frictionless experience for our customers,” said Fanatics Chief Business Officer Ari Borod. “When we launched, we stated that our intention would be to innovate on the tech side, and we have now delivered two critical integrations in Neccton and OpenBet Locator to enhance our player protection framework and our geolocation needs.”

Rollout reflects Fanatics’ expansion

Fanatics Sportsbook now operates in 22 U.S. states plus D.C., a geographical spread that the operator said exposes it to close to 95% of the total addressable online sports betting market. It most..

Kalshi’s list of legal battles now includes one with citizens in addition to state governments.

Last week, a group of individuals from across the United States filed a class action against the site related to its offering of sports-related event contracts.

Filed in the Southern District of New York, it is the second such lawsuit filed in the district, following one that was filed in October. The law firm representing the plaintiffs in the first lawsuit is the Almeida Law Group, a firm that is no stranger to gaming-related class actions. The firm represents the plaintiffs in the pending litigation in California against DraftKings and PrizePicks as well as some sweepstakes-related lawsuits.

The uniting thread of all of the cases is that the product being offered is tantamount to illegal gambling and the plaintiffs are seeking damages and restitution. To date, none of the cases have been resolved.

The plaintiffs in the second lawsuit are represented by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernste..

A lawmaker in Maryland wants the state to consider prohibiting micro betting as a professional sports league deals with allegations of game manipulation by athletes.

According to a report from The Baltimore Sun, House of Delegates member Jason Buckel wants the state to consider banning or changing rules related to micro bets as MLB deals with a gambling scandal tied to the alleged manipulation of pitch-level markets.

“We definitely should take a strong look at it [micro betting],” Buckel told The Baltimore Sun. “I believe the best course of action would be to either outright ban those types of individual-play prop bets or to very significantly limit the amount that could be wagered on those types of sporting activities.”

Buckel wants Maryland to consider a ban on micro bets after MLB warned state gaming regulators in 2021 about the risks associated with offering the betting markets. MLB pointed directly to the risk of offering pitch-level markets and called for discussions on the ma..

The NCAA is no longer considering a rule change that would have allowed its student-athletes to wager on professional sports.

The governing body of college sports announced that its Division I member schools voted to rescind an approved rule change that would have lifted a ban on pro sports betting.

DI institutions had the opportunity to rescind the rule change as part of the NCAA’s protocols, which allow DI schools to vote whether to rescind an approved rule change within 30 days if a proposal doesn’t receive at least 75% of votes from the DI Board.

Last month, the board voted to adopt the proposal, but with fewer than 75% of the votes.

The lack of votes allowed DI member institutions to vote on the issue, with two-thirds of the schools voting against lifting the NCAA’s ban on pro sports betting.

The NCAA considered a change of stance regarding pro sports betting as its bylaws “were written and adopted at a time when sports gambling was largely illegal nationwide,” said Universit..