News

It’s not a death in the traditional sense, but Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN) is dramatically reducing the scope of its WynnBet sports wagering unit, announcing the business will halt operations as soon as possible in eight states in which it currently books bets. Encore Boston Harbor and the WynnBet logo. The operator is halting sports betting in eight states. (Image: Casino.org) The Las Vegas-based casino operator announced today that WynnBet is working with regulators in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia to halt its sports wagering business in those states. The news arrived less than two months after the gaming announced the debut of WynnBET …

Underdog Sports, a provider of paid fantasy sports contests, claims DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) and FanDuel are waging “back room” campaigns aimed at maintaining their duopoly and stifling innovation in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) arena. An ad for Underdog Sports. The company says DraftKings and FanDuel are trying to halt competition. (Image: Twitter) In their early days, DraftKings and FanDuel pioneered the concept of DFS, a departure from the traditional season-long formats that for years were the bedrock of the fantasy sports world. The concept was warmly received among sports fans, particularly because cash prizes were involved even though DFS wasn’t initially viewed as betting. Following the 2018 Supreme Court …

Sports bettors know that you never bet with your emotions. Drake, the Canadian rapper and intrepid bettor known for missing big money bets, never got the memo and lost a considerable fortune this weekend on the Jake Paul vs. Nate Díaz boxing match. Nate Diaz takes a tumble during his boxing match against Jake Paul. Diaz lost his debut match, and the rapper Drake went down with him. (Image: Kevin Jairaj via USA Today Sports) Drake supposedly took a loss of $250K thanks to the defeat of Díaz at the hands of YouTuber Jake Paul. Diaz was a formidable UFC fighter before deciding to try his skills as a pugilist. …

Shares of DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) spiked in Thursday’s after-hours trading session after the online sportsbook operator delivered its first profitable quarter as a public company. Inside a DraftKings office. The company was profitable in the second quarter and lifted its 2023 guidance. (Image: Wall Street Journal) The Boston-based company said its non-generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP) earnings per share in the second quarter were 14 cents, well ahead of the loss of 14 cents analysts expected. Thus, DraftKings generated positive adjusted earnings before, interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in the June quarter as revenue surged 88% to $875 million, blowing past analysts’ estimates of $772.9 million. The gaming company’s …

Sports wagering startup Betr is entering the fantasy sports space with a new “pick ’em” game that, over the long term, could be additive to the company’s sports betting efforts. Social media influencer Jake Paul poses in a Liverpool FC jersey. Betr, the gaming company he co-founded, introduced a real money fantasy picks game. (Image: Jake Paul/Twitter) Betr Picks is a real money game with binary choices, such as “more” or “less.” In essence, Betr Picks is a prop-style daily fantasy sports (DFS) game. The simple and intuitive real money fantasy pick ’em experience allows users to select ‘More’ or ‘Less’ from a wide array of player projections to build …

The Australian greyhound trainer whose kennel is at the center of an animal cruelty investigation was once caught on camera allegedly “stimulating” a dog before a race. Tony Rasmussen, above, and his wife, Lisa, were charged with 12 offenses Friday morning related to footage showing animal abuse at his kennel compound in South Australia. (Image: Greyhound Recorder) In 2016, Tony Rasmussen was seen in Sky Racing footage handling a dog named Crisis Bale “in the vicinity of its genital region,” according to a subsequent inquiry by Racing South Australia (SA). Some commentators at the time suggested the action was designed to make the dog run slower. Sure enough, Crisis Bale …

Josh Jacobs, the All-Pro running back from the Las Vegas Raiders, will hold out of training camp due to a contract dispute. He was spotted leaving Las Vegas and he’s expected to sit out of the entire preseason or, possibly, longer. Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, seen here evading tacklers in a game at Allegiant Stadium, will be a training camp holdout in the preseason. (Image: Getty) Jacobs led the NFL in rushing last season, but the league’s top rusher won’t report to training camp. The Raiders slapped a franchise tag on Jacobs when they were unable to reach a contract extension this offseason. Jacobs doesn’t want to …

New numbers show total wagers on online casino games are beating sports-related betting in Ontario. Data from iGaming Ontario shows Ontarians placed CA$14 billion in total wagers in the second quarter of 2023. About $11.6 billion of that total was casino compared to $2 billion spent on sports. The remaining $350 million was attributed to peer-to-peer poker. Canada’s Ontario Province, home to Toronto (shown above), saw bettors place $14 billion in online igaming and sports betting wagers in the second quarter of 2023. (Image: Trip Advisor) The numbers are beginning to reveal a picture of the competitive market for online casino gambling and online sports betting, particularly because the Ontario …

Regulators in Vermont this week approved rules for newly legal sports betting in the state, setting the stage for sportsbooks to pursue operations. A “Welcome to Vermont” sign greets motorists. Vermont regulators this week approved procedures that will lay the groundwork for sportsbooks to begin operating in the state. (Image: Shutterstock) Vermont last month became the 38th state to legalize sports betting, and sportsbooks are expected to be operational by the end of this year or early next. The Vermont Liquor and Lottery Department voted this week to approve sports wagering procedures establishing requirements for operators. The department’s board of directors on Wednesday unanimously approved the procedures but acknowledged that …

Sure, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal secretly ran the Stardust, Fremont, Marina, and Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for the Chicago branch of the mafia from 1974 to 1978. That’s without even possessing a gaming license, ensuring the syndicate a “skim” of at least $1.6 million — and probably many times more. Sure, in the ’50s, he bought contracts to fix sporting events, earning multiple sports-bribery indictments. And sure, he was a suspect in multiple business and car bombings in Miami in the ’60s, which is allegedly why he fled to Las Vegas in 1968 in the first place. Frank Rosenthal testifies in front of a Sept. 8, 1961 Senate Investigations Subcommittee …