Each Wednesday, I provide commentary in short-form audio on a topic in the US gambling industry.
I want everyone into the pool on prediction markets. Sportsbooks, daily fantasy sports apps, crypto apps: Let’s go. I may change my mind later, but from a competitive and in some cases a responsible gambling standpoint, it might be the right answer as we sit here. And if you want actual change in the prediction markets space from a legal and regulatory point of view, it’s also the way to go.
I am out on a high wire with this take, please listen to the whole thing (or read the transcript) before you cuss me out.
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Gambling news roundup
Underdog and Sportradar Team Up to Enhance Player Protection and Support Responsible Gaming (press release): “Underdog, the fastest-growing sports company in the U.S., today announced an agreement with Sportradar Group to incorporate Bettor Sense, Sportradar’s AI-powered responsible gaming solution to identify high-risk players. As the first U.S.-based operator to leverage Bettor Sense, Underdog is furthering its commitment to creating a responsible gaming environment for its customers.
“This unique player protection and wellbeing program not only identifies individuals exhibiting problem gambling behavior through Bettor Sense’s AI-powered technology, but also offers access to care services from Birches Health, a national leader in evidence-based treatment to address gambling disorders. This results in a comprehensive approach to meet rising expectations related to end-user protection.”
“Launched in July 2025, Bettor Sense is Sportradar’s advanced responsible gaming solution that enables operators to take a proactive approach to detecting early signs of gambling-related risk and facilitates personalized interventions to protect users. Grounded in behavioral research, it enables efficient monitoring with continuous learning, real-time risk score checks, and clear analysis of player profiles to identify and address risks, while also being fully compliant with regulatory standards.”
Adam Warrington - Underdog VP of Responsible Gaming, said: “Collaborating with Sportradar to integrate Bettor Sense is another step in Underdog’s proactive approach to enhanced player protection across all entry types. The integration of this leading player protection technology to detect problem play and provide clear resources to those who need it, now including treatment services from the clinicians at Birches Health, is a critical step forward for our players.”
The prediction markets roundup from me, including news that a Kalshi lawyer is now a possibility to take over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It’s the same person who once said “if they lose their shirt, that’s on them” about Kalshi’s (lack of) concern about people losing money on sports event contracts.
FanDuel offered a statement on the ongoing consternation over who will operate the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline:
There’s a lot of virtual ink spilled about concerns around responsible and problem gambling. Every outlet that has done that should be covering this situation, because it has a chance to be very bad for people who need help.
More from Casino Reports: Crisis At The Crisis Line: What Happens Monday With 1-800-GAMBLER?
Mike Florio: Eagles-Rams bad beat should concern NFL about gambling partnerships (Awful Announcing): “Discussing this during an appearance on Tuesday’s edition of The Dan Patrick Show, Florio explained why the Eagles’ miraculous covering the spread on Sunday is a perfect example of why the NFL’s partnerships with sportsbooks create a negative reputation for the league.”
“This is a direct result of the NFL going from hating and shunning anything to do with gambling to jumping right in bed and loading the pockets,” he said. “They are the guy in the game show where the money is flying everywhere, grabbing as many dollars as they can while it’s there. We’re all aware now of the point spread. We’re all aware of the ramifications. How many millions of dollars changed hands because Jordan Davis decided to do… Not the smart thing, the smart thing is, the game is over, just fall down. You’ve got the win. In theory, someone comes up from behind, does the Don Beebe to Leon Lett, the ball goes out. The Rams take it the other way.
“The smart thing to do is to go down. He runs it in for a touchdown, the Eagles cover. It was perfectly legitimate. But when you open Pandora’s box, this is the kind of stuff that flies out. People are aware of this. So it’s just part of the stuff that the NFL needs to be concerned about. And sometimes I wonder, Dan, are they as concerned as they should be?”
My take: This is one of the dumbest takes I have seen in the short history of expanded legal sports betting in the US. And it’s such a word salad it’s hard to even understand what point he is making. Players score meaningless touchdowns all the time — or score meaningless points or goals or whatever. Yes, Davis is supposed to go down to guarantee the Eagles win. David Montgomery could have gone down at the 1 instead of scoring in Detroit-Baltimore this week, too. These things don’t happen because of the spread; they just happened because players like scoring touchdowns. Yes, it impacts the spread, but that’s not a problem the players on the field need to be worrying about in real time.
Ole Miss’ Kiffin Says ‘Take The Over’ vs. LSU, Daughter’s Boyfriend (Covers): “Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin had a piece of advice for bettors ahead of this weekend’s clash between his 13th-ranked Rebels and the No. 4 LSU Tigers. Kiffin responded to a viral post on X with three simple words ahead of Saturday’s afternoon showdown: ‘Take the over.’”
ClubWPT Gold switches GC for GTO poker training in product pivot (SBC Americas): “When ClubWPT Gold announced it was removing Gold Coin free-to-play games from its site, leaving only Sweeps Coin games with payouts with real cash value, the industry knew some sort of pivot was coming. On Sept. 24, the website unveiled the new look and approach, which has integrated training into the offering in lieu of social free-play poker. Instead of buying Gold Coins to use on free-play tables, users now buy the ability for a poker training tool to analyze hands the user has played on the site. Each hand analyzed costs users $0.50 and for every dollar spent on hand analysis, users earn a dollar in chips that can be used in ring games and poker tournaments, where users can win prizes with cash value. Existing Sweeps Coins on user accounts have been converted to chips.”
“The move comes amidst the passage of a bill in California that would expressly prohibit dual-currency sweepstakes gaming sites in which a dual-currency model based on free-to-play casino games is utilized.”
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Phillies pass Dodgers as World Series sports betting favorites (MLB): “The Philadelphia Phillies have overtaken the Los Angeles Dodgers as the betting favorites to win the 2025 World Series. It marks the first time since the market was released last October that someone other than the Dodgers is favored to win it all. The Phillies are +425 to win the World Series via the latest odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook. That gives them an implied probability of 19.05% to win their first championship since 2008 and a third World Series trophy in franchise history. Philadelphia started with a +1100 price tag when BetMGM released this market on Oct. 30, 2024, trailing only the Dodgers (+400) and New York Yankees (+800) following their matchup in last year’s World Series.”
New offshore gambling jurisdictions surge as operators flee crackdowns, says research (Next.io): “A new wave of offshore gambling regulators has emerged across small island nations and territories as operators seek alternatives to tightened oversight in established jurisdictions, according to new academic research. The study, mapping offshore gambling regulatory frameworks globally, found that more than 20 jurisdictions now offer online gaming licences, with several new regimes appearing in response to regulatory reforms in Curaçao, the Philippines and the Isle of Man. The proliferation of these ‘pseudo regulators’ has created significant risks for player protection and sports integrity, while enabling money laundering and match-fixing activities, researchers warned.”
ECU and ECSU athletics receive $3.1 million after sports betting raises $41 million in eighteen months (WITN): “Two Eastern Carolina universities’ athletics programs are getting support after the legalization of sports betting. The Sports Betting Alliance has announced that after eighteen months of legalized sports betting in North Carolina, more than $41 million has been raised for the thirteen UNC System institutions. According to the release, this $41 million comes from the state law that says roughly 20% paid to the state by sports betting companies go to the athletics programs of the UNC System.”
Amazon series depicts ex-USC football player’s road to recovery after prison time for running bookmaking, drug operations (IGB): “Nearly six years after winning a BCS national championship with USC, Owen Hanson accepted a massive parlay from a prominent member of a Mexican cartel that led him down a road to perdition. The unidentified associate hit a 5-leg football parlay for $220,000, according to Hanson, delivering the former tight end one of the sharpest defeats in his young bookmaking career. The loss planted the seeds for Hanson’s association with the cartel, triggering a downward spiral that nearly cost him his life. Soon after, Hanson began moving vast quantities of cocaine to Australia, engaging in a pattern of high-risk activity that placed him under the radar of international authorities. … Months after his release from a Los Angeles halfway house, Hanson’s story is being chronicled by Amazon Prime in ‘Cocaine Quarterback,’ a three-part docuseries that debuts on Thursday. Directed by Jody McVeigh-Schultz, the series is produced by Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas.”
New Jersey’s Horse Race Betting Handover Faces Serious Deadline (Covers): “The longer it takes to get a new online racebook up and running in New Jersey, the greater the risk of the Garden State losing the only legal way to make pari-mutuel bets on horse racing over the internet. While the odds of that actually happening are long, it’s at least a possibility. And it’s one that state regulators and industry officials are working to ensure does not come to pass.
Nevertheless, the risk was raised during last week’s meeting of the New Jersey Racing Commission, which regulates horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering on the sport. Furthermore, even if it’s a remote risk, New Jersey horseplayers may still be wondering when the promises made last year of additional betting options will be fulfilled.
Pennsylvania regulator fines Valley Forge for letting 13-year-old gamble (SBC Americas): “Valley Forge Casino Resort near Philadelphia, PA, has been fined $30,000 for allowing a 13-year-old to gamble on slot machines for over three hours. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) said on Wednesday that Boyd Gaming-owned Valley Forge agreed to pay the penalty after the minor was able to access the casino floor for more than six hours in November 2024 with his father. A consent agreement obtained by SBC Americas detailed that on Nov. 18 last year, the boy and his father were on-site at the casino from 1:47 p.m. until 7:50 p.m. The child was allowed to access the casino floor using the legitimate ID of his dad, born in 1992.”
Boyd Gaming says staff data compromised in cyberattack (Next.io): “Boyd Gaming disclosed yesterday (23 September) an unauthorised third party accessed its internal IT systems and removed employee data. The regional casino operator has announced a cybersecurity incident in which hackers gained access to its internal IT systems and removed data including employee information. The US casino operator said the breach had no impact on its properties or business operations.”
Newsletter corner
Straight to the Point, Steve Ruddock: “Prediction markets could serve as a bridge product, capitalizing on PrizePicks’ existing user base without directly challenging state gambling laws, and position PrizePicks to cross-sell into sports betting if more states legalize it—using its database from non-legal states as a ‘strategic bridgehead,’ as Citizens put it. But there are also some risks. While the FCM nod is a win for compliance, it doesn’t eliminate scrutiny—especially as prediction markets blur lines with gambling. States could push back if they see it as skirting betting laws, which could lead to anyone in the space getting blacklisted down the road — recall Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio have warned operators about getting involved with sports prediction markets.
Gaming News Canada: Is hockey really king among Canadian sports bettors?: “A Leger survey released last week on the sports betting habits of Canadians and Americans makes for interesting reading. Though, we’re trying to get our head around some of the findings. On the surface, the fact that the Canadians surveyed said that the NHL was the league they bet on the most over the last year makes some sense given this is a hockey-crazed nation. But, given that the NHL pales in comparison to the NFL in terms of a sport best suited for betting, makes us wonder how this could be tru”
Trusted Voices: Conversations About Betting is designed to equip adults, including parents and coaches, with tools and resources to talk to young people about gambling, including information on warning signs, risks and proxy betting. The program is led by retired professional basketball player Randy Livingston and his wife, basketball agent Anita Smith, who share their personal stories related to problem gambling, with the hope of preventing others from experiencing similar harms. Learn more and join the conversation here.
