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For obvious reasons, not the least of which is the 37.18 percent gain over the past year, it’s good to own a lot of DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG). Just ask Shalom Meckenzie, who plunked down $11.8 million on a non-fungible token at a Sotheby’s auction on Thursday. A replica of the CryptoPunk 7523 NFT. The real thing was purchased for $11.8 million by a DraftKings board member. (Image: U. Today) The DraftKings board member paid that tidy sum for a digital piece of art known as “CryptoPunk #7523” — part of a coveted series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) produced by Larva Labs in 2017. To be precise, Meckenzie paid $11.75 million for …

The UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation has launched a series of online boot camps focusing on sports betting and other regulatory matters. A patron at a Las Vegas casino sportsbook watches sporting events on television screens. UNLV is conducting a boot camp in July on the sports betting industry. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal) Joe Bertolone, the center’s executive director, told Casino.org that the online seminars, or boot camps, are designed to help people in the casino industry with “nuts and bolts policy.” Earlier this summer, the center held an anti-money laundering boot camp. Upcoming boot camps include one titled “Casino Investigations: Security, Law, and Policing,” and two others on …

Sports betting data provider Stats Perform is rumored to be for sale. It is the latest sign the market for information and technology used by leagues and sportsbooks remains robust. The Stats Perform office in India. The sports betting data provider is reportedly for sale. (Image: Twitter) Stats Perform is privately held and controlled by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Sportico originally reported that the business is being shopped and that the investors engaged investment bank Evercore to run the sale process. Stats Perform was born out of a combination of two businesses owned by Vista. In 2014, the private equity shop purchased Stats LLC, a provider of sports …

The Louisiana Legislature on Thursday approved the final bill needed for sports betting to take place in the state. Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) is expected to sign the measure.  A football with a New Orleans Saints logo is pictured near an end zone at a football field. Sports betting proponents hope wagering will be available in Louisiana by football season. (Image: KNOE-TV) On a 33-3 vote, the Senate approved an amended version of Senate Bill 247 to regulate sports betting in Louisiana. The measure allows for mobile sports betting on smartphones and computers. It also permits bettors to place in-person wagers inside casinos and racetracks at sportsbooks and kiosks. …

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) CEO Jason Robins would like his company to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment. But state regulators aren’t allowing it. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins at a conference in 2016. He wants to take crypto as payment, but states aren’t allowing it. (Image: YouTube) Robins made the comments at an event sponsored by stock trading app Public on Wednesday. He didn’t specify which digital assets the company would like to take as a form of payment. Bitcoin is, by far, the largest digital asset, with a market capitalization of $695.33 billion. Nor did the DraftKings boss specify if he’s hoping to take crypto as payment for daily fantasy …

Some £3.5 million ($5 million) held in a Football Index “player-protection account” can now be redistributed to 280,000 former customers of the stricken soccer trading platform, London’s High Court has ruled. Football Index was a highly visible brand in UK soccer, sponsoring the jerseys of English Football League team Queens Park Rangers (pictured). (Image: Scottish Sun) The account was held by a third party and kept separate from the company’s operating costs. It will now be turned over to administrator Begbies Traynor to reimburse players who still had funds on the platform when it collapsed in March. It’s a drop in the ocean compared with the estimated £100 million ($138 …

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) has signed a bill setting tax rates for sports betting in the state. This puts Louisiana closer to being the only state in its immediate vicinity with mobile sports betting, possibly by football season. Saints fans cheer on the popular NFL football team based in New Orleans. Legislation to allow sports betting is expected to be approved at the Capitol in Baton Rouge in time for football season. (Image: Sports Illustrated) Earlier this month, Edwards signed House Bill 697 by Rep. John Stefanski (R). Now known as Act No. 80, reports say it sets a 10 percent tax rate on sports bets placed inside …

A gambler who took part in the 2004 killing of a Long Island bookies’ runner has finally admitted his culpability in the case, Newsday reports. Mark Orlando photographed in 2004, shortly after he helped murder bookies’ runner Bobby Calabrese. (Image: Newsday) Mark Orlando, then 33, lured Bobby Calabrese, 24, to a deserted industrial area in Island Park, between the mainland and the island of Long Beach. Orlando had promised to hand over a $17,000 gambling debt to the younger man. But he had no intention of paying. Instead, he and another man, Herve Jeannot, ambushed Calabrese. Orlando held the victim while former US Marine Jeannot shot him once in the …

Detroit commercial casino revenue remains below pre-COVID-19 levels.  MotorCity Casino Hotel in downtown Detroit. The casino is one of three commercial gaming properties that combined last month to win $109.7 million. (Image: MotorCity) The three brick-and-mortar gaming floors won $109.7 million last month, $16.1 million less than what they did in May of 2019.  MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity, and Greektown were closed throughout May 2020 because of the coronavirus. For comparison, the Detroit casinos won $125.8 million in May of 2019 — 13 percent better than last month.  MGM led the way in May 2021 with $46.1 million, representing a 42 percent market share. MotorCity was next at $39.2 million, …

Efforts to legalize single-game sports betting in Canada gained some momentum late last week, as a Canadian Senate Committee supported a bill set to do just that – and doing so without making any changes or additions. Canadian Sen. Marty Klyne speaks on a single-game sports betting bill during a Banking, Trade, and Commerce Committee meeting Friday. The bill could go before the full Senate for debate as early as Tuesday. (Image PARL Vu/Ca.gov) Stav Nitka, Communications Officer for the Canadian Senate, told Casino.org that the Committee on Banking, Trade, and Commerce passed C-218, a bill sponsored by MP Kevin Waugh (Conservative-Saskatoon-Grasswood). The committee met Friday to take testimony on …