SBC Americas

FanDuel sued by $22m embezzler for fostering his gambling addiction

The former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who embezzled more than $22 million from the NFL franchise is taking legal action against FanDuel and its owner.

According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York, Amit Patel is suing FanDuel, its owner Flutter Entertainment, Fox Corp. and Boyd Gaming for allegedly fostering his gambling addiction by incentivizing play. Patel alleges FanDuel and the other defendants in the suit “actively and intentionally targeted and preyed” on him leading him to gamble more than $20 million over a four-year period.

Patel illegally used the Jaguars’ virtual credit card (VCC) to transfer the money to FanDuel. He also spent millions on expensive gifts and trips including a $95,000 Patek Philippe wristwatch. Patel also used the VCC to spend more than $75,000 on private jets, $278,000 on vacation travel, and $47,113 on a putter used by golf legend Tiger Woods in 1996.

In the suit, Patel alleges FanDuel showered him with mo..

Read more

Openbet partners with Four Winds Casinos on player protection tech

Four Winds Casinos has selected OpenBet to supply its player protection technology, powered by Neccton.

The casino company, which is owned and operated by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, will utilize Neccton’s responsible gaming and anti-money laundering (AML) software and OpenBet’s wider technology and services at its premier gaming resorts across the Midwestern U.S.

Neccton is part of OpenBet’s growing regulatory tech vertical and demonstrates the provider’s ongoing commitment to building a secure and sustainable industry. The research-based software provides evidence-based interventions including personalized pop-up messaging, limit setting functionality and valuable behavioral insights.

Four Winds Casinos is the latest operator to join OpenBet’s ever-increasing global customer base, which grew by more than 40% during the first half of 2024.

The companies also say the deal reaffirms OpenBet’s strategic efforts to support the U.S. tribal casino community. OpenBet current..

Read more

ROGA college campaign moves to fill gambling education gap

To Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA) leader Dr. Jennifer Shatley, it was clear something had to be done.

“College-age people, this is an audience that is either already engaged in sports betting or online gaming or largely will be in the near future,” Shatley told SBC Americas in an interview. “It’s an important audience, one that’s been mainly overlooked up until this program, in my belief.”

That’s why ROGA, the multi-operator association that Shatley spearheads as executive director, recently launched what it calls a National College Education Campaign aimed specifically at supplying that demographic with the resources, tools and support that they need.

“It’s important to have realistic expectations, to understand how to engage in gambling in a responsible way as entertainment and not as a way to make money and to really dispel a lot of the myths around gaming,” Shatley says. “This audience just hasn’t had that type of information targeted to them as of yet. Most colleg..

Read more

Opinion: Former NJ regulator on shifting the RG focus to the unregulated market

Image: Jessica Yurinko Photography

Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360)is a leading global technology and consultancy firm specializing in comprehensive integrity and compliance solutions for the gaming industry, formed earlier this year by the merger of U.S. Integrity and Odds On Compliance. Asrticle author Eric Weiss is IC360’s Managing Director of North America and formerly spent 30 years with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

As we observe Responsible Gaming Education Month (RGEM), it is an opportune time to recognize the notable achievements of the online casino and sports betting industry in promoting responsible gaming practices.

Since the inception of online casino gaming in 2013 and the advent of online sports betting in 2018, the regulated sector has shown a strong commitment to safeguarding at-risk individuals by providing access to essential resources and support.

Key initiatives include:

Equipping players with ongoing education and self-regulation tools.

U..

Read more

Several states fall short of player protection standards in NCPG report

The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) is evaluating how regulated sports betting markets across the country protect consumers.

The NCPG has released a report, U.S. States’ Online Sports Betting Regulations: An Evaluation Against National Council on Problem Gambling Standards, providing an analysis of how regulated markets adhere to their laws and regulatory frameworks.

The report, prepared by Vixio Regulatory Intelligence, uses public information from states and their regulatory agencies. It does not include data on RG practices by operators.

“This report is the first time that state sports betting laws and regulations have been evaluated against the NCPG’s Internet Responsible Gambling Standards,” said Executive Director Keith Whyte. “With the widespread adoption of legalized sports betting, NCPG felt there was a need for a report comparing sports betting laws and regulations to the IRGS.”

The NCPG’s Internet Responsible Gambling Standards (IRGS) provide guidance in gami..

Read more

SAFE Bet Act wants federal oversight of regulated US sports betting

Rep. Paul Tonko and Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced details of their new Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet (SAFE) Bet Act during a press conference on Thursday.

Bill would create federal oversight of state-run sports betting

The overarching idea of the bill is to let states continue to regulate and oversee sports betting but to implement a set of federal minimum standards that state regulators and operators need to meet. States would be required to apply to the Department of Justice in order to get the greenlight to run a regulated market.

Those federal standards cover a wide range of topics related to responsible and problem gambling. Unlike Tonko’s previous bill, the Betting on Our Future Act, which sought to ban all electronic advertising of sports betting, this version would allow it, but with several limitations.

The bill would prohibit advertising during primetime hours as well as during live sporting events, implement language restrictions on words like ..

Read more

AGA, operator partners unveil new RG Intervention Effectiveness Scale

The American Gaming Association (AGA) is attempting to make it easier to evaluate the effectiveness of responsible gambling messaging with its new Responsible Gaming Intervention Effectiveness Scale (RG-IES).

The AGA, in cooperation with Bally’s, BetMGM and FanDuel, announced the RG-IES on Sept. 11. The scale has been developed by professors Dr. Jonathan Ross Gilbert and Dr. Marla Stafford, whom the AGA and the three operators provided with funding and access to thousands of players to test certain RG messaging.

The scale provides academics, industry members and others interested in responsible gambling with a new, research-based tool they can use to evaluate responsible gaming messages.

“While no single scale or measurement tool can fully capture effectiveness in this area, we believe this new scale is an important starting point in evaluating whether or not a message has the potential to resonate with the public and are grateful to the researchers who led this important effort,” ..

Read more

Massachusetts regulators finally hold roundtable on limiting sports bettors

The much-anticipated meeting of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission where the group discussed the practice of limiting bettors was certainly more informative than the first effort.

For starters, every retail and online operator actually showed up, as opposed to a May meeting where they rescinded their participation after they learned they would not be able to discuss what they believed were proprietary secrets about how their trading rooms work.

This time around, the trading team was not particularly well represented, but compliance and counsel for operators appeared to discuss the issue. While they did not go into explicit detail, the group did offer the commissioners several explanations of situations where limiting takes place.

Operators also offered some insight into just how many people were being told they could not bet as much as they wanted.

Operators allege limiting impacts an extremely small population

BetMGM representatives said roughly 1% of Massachusetts patrons had b..

Read more

Responsible Online Gaming Association creates college education campaign

The Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA) has unveiled a new national college responsible gambling education campaign.

In partnership with EPIC Global Solutions, Kindbridge Behavioral Health and the Toronto-based Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), ROGA will develop and implement a comprehensive, evidence-based program specifically tailored to the unique needs of university-aged students.

The initiative will leverage digital delivery tools to provide responsible gambling and financial literacy education to students across diverse campuses and demographics throughout the U.S.

ROGA is an independent trade association of leading gaming operators. Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Shatley said in a release that while some programs focused on student-athletes already exist, “there are very few resources currently available to the broader university student population.”

“To fill that gap, ROGA is proud to be collaborating with leading organizations that bring diverse expertise and e..

Read more

EPIC Global Solutions lands RG partnership with PrizePicks

PrizePicks is leveraging a new partnership to promote responsible gaming.

The Georgia-based daily fantasy sports operator has secured a partnership with gambling harm consultancy EPIC Global Solutions to expand its RG initiatives. As part of the partnership, EPIC will provide educational training for PrizePicks employees on RG measures and how to identify signs of problem gambling and various prevention methods.

The in-depth training will include presentations from EPIC’s team of RG experts.

“At PrizePicks our aim is to set and continuously raise the standard for responsible gaming in the DFS space and we look forward to working with EPIC to strengthen our internal RG resources,” said PrizePicks Senior Director of Responsible Gaming Phil Sherwood. “These educational training sessions will help create safer and more enjoyable experiences that will ultimately improve the gaming ecosystem.”

The partnership will also see EPIC conduct an organizational assessment throughout PrizePicks. ..

Read more