Category: Gambling

Rivalry Academy Launched to Educate Esports Bettors

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Since it was launched earlier this year in February, Rivalry.gg has proven to be a formidable force in the Esports gambling arena thanks to its holistic approach in offering services that have made it a one-stop-shop for Esports bettors. In addition to this, the operator has a number of new, exciting and engaging developments in the pipeline.

One of these developments is ‘Rivalry Academy,’ the betting platform’s in-house tool that bettors can use to learn and tone their understanding of Esports gambling. This is certainly a noble move for the relatively young company and thus it may be quite helpful to the company’s overall business.

Creating Guidelines for Bettors

The Rivalry.gg team realized that betting is often intimidating for new and uninitiated – the lengthy spread of odds are sometimes overwhelming and may even be compounded by sub-par bookmarker experience. The team’s solution to this problem was creating their own betting guidelines from scratch.

“It’s terrifying depositing money into something you barely understand. It takes a fair amount of research for non-bettors to be comfortable enough to bet. We created the Rivalry Academy to help with that process. We want to provide clear and concise guidance so that customers are comfortable with betting and how it all works,” Kevin Wimer, Chief Marketing Officer at Rivalry.gg told Esports Insider.

Just like Rivalry.gg, the Rival Academy website features a nicely polished user interface as well as a plethora of other user-friendly qualities. This goes directly in line with what the site’s major focus is: to help bettors understand the parameters of betting and help improve their chances of winning.

Navigating as you progress through the various stages of learning is also quite easy as the guides are broken down into neat segments in both written and video formats each of which is accompanied with real examples. This definitely hits the operator’s target of being clear and concise. However, the stand-out traits of the educational offering are brevity and effectiveness – the language used possesses a friendly that gives learners the feeling that they are learning from seasoned bettors who happen to be their close friends.

“We’re esports fans that have created a betting site. We had to learn all of this ourselves not too long ago. This has resulted in the Rivalry Academy being very authentic and conversational,” Wimmer added. “For people brand new to betting, the Rivalry Academy helps to give a basic foundation and understanding of how betting works. We also have a few videos aimed towards people that know their way around but are looking to learn some more advanced techniques to help give them the edge.”

As the Esports betting market and the Esports industry as a whole keep expanding there have been concerns pertaining to betting education. As such, Rivalry has made itself a champion for its customers by serving as a complete bedrock for betting as well as a proactive participant in betting education.

Copycat Lawsuits Piling Up Against Social Casino Operators

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A slew of lawsuits have begun piling up against Washington State social gambling operators in the wake of a federal court ruling which found that Big Fish Casino which was previously owned by Churchill Downs violated Washington State gaming laws. All these copycat lawsuits hope to capitalize on the recent court ruling and state laws that govern and regulate online gambling.

As of Monday, Geekwire reports that four lawsuits had already been filed against four other social gaming operators namely High 5 Games, Playtika, DoubleDown Interactive and Huuge Games. Each of these operators offers a series of casino games like blackjack, slots, and roulette that use virtual chips. These chips have no monetary value but players must have them in order to play. Therefore, when players run out of the chips, they can either opt to wait until the game offers more free chips or buy a huge number of chips with real money and get back to playing.

All four suits further user similar language and arguments in their filings which also happen to be centre around the same arguments of the Big Fish Casino case. This takes advantage of a vague clause in Washington state law that backed the idea that the chips represent “something of value” even though they are not worth any money on their own.

“Double Down Casino games are illegal gambling games because they are online games at which players wager things of value (the chips) and by an element of chance (e.g., by spinning an online slot machine) are able to obtain additional entertainment and extend gameplay (by winning additional chips),” states one of the suits.

All these cases including the Big Fish casino case that preceded them are very likely to have major implications for the casual casino games market as a number of social casino gaming providers today depend on in-app purchases as revenue sources. The lawsuits represent an emerging backlash against this model. Already, online gambling lawsuits are becoming fairly common but the tide turned in favour of the petitioners and this opened the door for similar occurrences in the near future.

Playing It Safe

Again, following the Big Fish Casino ruling, PokerStars became one of the first social gambling operators to stop offering free play games in an effort adhere to the terms outlined by the March 28 Court of Appeals decision. According to the Washington State Gambling Commission press release, PokerStars opted out of the state’s online gambling industry. The gambling commission however assured the public that it had nothing to with this move by the online gaming operator:

“We are not a party to the civil court case, we did not testify in the case, and we did not order these sites to discontinue free online play for Washington residents. Customers with concerns should contact these websites directly,” reads the April 4 press release.

PokerStars’ parent company, The Stars Group, released a statement shortly after saying that the company was “reviewing the rulings and ensuring that our activities are in line with state regulations.” The company also said that it would reinstate players to their status before the free game offerings were altered once the law is clarified.

New York Online Poker Bill Back on the State Assembly Table

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It has been just a few weeks since the New York State Senate passed a budget which excluded plans for legalized online poker or online casinos. This was a presumably clear indication that the proposed bill represented nothing more than a pipe dream but, apparently, a recent Online Poker Report story suggests otherwise. The legalized online poker legislation still has a good shot at getting passed this year.

At the helm of the rejuvenated efforts is New York State Assemblyman Clyde Vanel who has called for the involvement of New York poker activists as he prepares to solicit for votes to support legislation that will finally allow for legal and regulated real money online poker in the state.

At the moment, the bill has 13 co-sponsors but Vanel expects it swell its ranks to “60 to 70 sponsors.” If this is truly the case, then bill A 5250 that was proposed by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow in a bid to legalize online poker, might finally be passed in the course of the year.

“Chairman Pretlow is a great champion for it, and now he has the partners to bring it through,” Vanel said in an interview with Online Poker Report. “The next few weeks will show some traction for the bill. With enough co-sponsors, I like it to get out of committee and onto the floor. I think we have a good shot at getting it through this year. My job is that I’m the guy who is going to whip these votes. That’s what I’m doing. I’m working these votes to get the bill on the floor, and I will be whipping votes on the floor.”

Vanel’s involvement, for one, makes the online poker community in New York more optimistic that they might finally be able to enjoy the games legally. The lawmaker’s attitude of fortitude is what has been missing all along in the New York online poker scene. He managed to get more than 60 Democrats in the Assembly to sign a letter that supported the inclusion of online poker in the budget. Now, the task at hand is to transfer all those signatures to co-sponsors of the bill and maybe get more on board.

“The budget effort didn’t work, but that happens with negotiations,” Vanel said. “What the exercise did is make us see that there’s more support for online poker than we previously thought.”

Suppose the proposed bill is passed at the Assembly, “it will have no problem getting through the Senate.”

Two More States Considering Sports Betting Legalization

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Currently, there are sports betting bills being discussed by lawmakers in at least 18 states, a number which is now poised to grow by two. Media outlets in both Arizona and Minnesota have recently reported that lawmakers in both statehouses have been considering legislation pertaining to sports betting even though neither has produced a bill to date.

The only issues, so far, will be the timing, as the 2018 legislative calendar is nearing its end, as well as tribal interests in both states which will certainly make such legislative efforts quite complicated.

What’s Going On in Arizona?

Arizona is known for its thriving (but separate) sport and gambling industries – all four United States professional leagues have Phoenix-based franchises and the state also hosts 20 tribal casinos, a lottery, as well as two horse racing tracks. Pro-sports betting legislators in Arizona intend to use tax revenue from the industry to allocate more funds to the state’s teachers.

Senator Sonny Borelli will be supporting the legislation mainly because of geography and the fact that the state needs the money.

“We’re sending all of our money to other states right now on sports betting,” he said.

The idea of legalized sports betting in Arizona has received a fair share of criticism and opposition with Sen. Dave Farnsworth, one of the legislators who oppose the idea saying that more gambling is the last thing the state needs. He believes that he has the support of a good number of lawmakers which may see his take on the bill passed in case the federal prohibitions are relaxed.

Furthermore, any expansion of gambling in the state must put tribal agreements into consideration – the report overlooks this. There is less than a fortnight until the Arizona lawmaking calendar runs out which makes the possibility for progress significantly slim during this session. Fortunately, Arizona state laws do not allow for daily fantasy sports and the tribes have not allowed legislation to change that to advance and thus their approval may not be needed regardless of what the state decides on sports betting.

What About Minnesota?

Even though it also has both tribal and commercial gaming operations, unlike Arizona, the tribes do not share their gaming revenues with the state of Minnesota. Everything is likely to be smoother for the state since the state is not bound by any contractual restrictions as far offering its own gambling products is concerned. However, its state statues would need to be amended.

Rep. Pat Garofalo who is leading the pro-sports betting campaign in Minnesota cited “huge public demand” in the state and as such, he has been quite vocal about the need to prepare for the much anticipated Supreme Court ruling.

“People are going to have an expectation that they’re going to be able to engage in safe, fair, and regulated sports gambling,” Garofalo said, presuming the Supreme Court will lift the ban on sports betting. “We’re going to have a lot more people gambling on sports by the end of this year. It’s just a matter of whether they’re going to be doing it in a safe, regulated environment in Minnesota or whether they’ll be using offshore sportsbooks.”

PA to Permit Online Gaming Licensees to Host Multiple Skins

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The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) published its most recent rules and regulations that govern is imminent online gaming licenses. The new rules and regulations will allow the state’s online gambling licensee to host multiple ‘skins.’ This means that non-Pennsylvanian companies will have the opportunity to participate in the state’s lucrative online gambling market. However, the licensees will be forced to piggyback the skins on their casino domains.

The contentious question about skins or the ability of a casino to host affiliate operators has been looming of the board for quite some time and now that it has been addressed operators can start preparing. In essence, it emulates New Jersey’s approach where one casino is allowed to partner with and offer services from other operators.

In Pennsylvania, the lobbyist efforts on the issue of skins have proven to be very fierce with online operators such as 888 Holdings advocating for it and Parx Casino and Penn International arguing that no third-party sites should be allowed. 888 Holdings has successfully implemented a model of such kind in New Jersey where it has piggybacked its local casino license to favour its partnership with Caesars Entertainment.

Ultimately, the PGCB opted not to restrict its online market and instead decided to permit its interactive gaming certificate holders to partner “with multiple licensed interactive gaming operators to offer interactive games the Board has authorized the interactive gaming certificate holder to conduct.”

The PGCB further clarified that it was not going to restrain third-party operators from inking deals with more than one Pennsylvania gaming certificate holders. However, this is on condition that the third-party companies will no offer online gambling to the Pennsylvanian market “independent from an interactive gaming certificate holder and the interactive gaming certificate holder’s webpage or the webpage of an entity within the interactive gaming certificate holder’s organizational structure.”

On the same note, the licenses or any of their partners “may only offer interactive gaming in this Commonwealth through the interactive gaming certificate holder’s webpage or the webpage of an entity within the interactive gaming certificate holder’s organizational structure.”

The mentioned clauses clearly indicate the fact that third-party operators will have to piggyback on the domain names of the license holders. Fair enough. The board will begin accepting interactive gaming applications from the state’s existing brick-and-mortar casinos later this month.

Paul Chaloner Calls for Better Esports Betting Education

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Renowned broadcaster and Esports veteran Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner is calling for better Esports betting education as the industry is now at a critical stage of its growth. The Esports industry is no newcomer to controversial scandals one of the most prominent being underage betting.

Chalone who recently joined new Esports betting platform, Luckbox, as an advisor believes that there is mostly lack of understanding in the Esports community pertaining to the risks of gambling. As part of his new role in the yet-to-be-launched Esports betting platform, he hopes to contribute to changing this.

“We can educate them along the way – that’s the key part for me. I don’t want to see underage gambling and I don’t want to see irresponsible gambling. I want people to be educated so they understand what they’re doing and the risks involved. And I think we can do that together with Luckbox,” he said.

Luckbox will be launching primarily with the intention complying with the highest level of gambling jurisdiction which will set it apart from all the other gambling operators.

Already a Billion-Dollar Gambling Industry

The past couple of years have seen the rapid of growth of Esports with a number of professional sports leagues, players and businessmen have backed and bought into competitive gaming teams around the globe. Naturally, Esports betting was bound to follow and with the likes of Mark Cuban at the helm, it certainly has a long way to go.

Currently, the major Esports leagues are projected to be worth $906 million – a figure that encompasses advertising, media rights, merchandise, game publisher fees, sponsorships and tickets. Unbeknown to most people, especially outsiders and newcomers, the gambling market around these Esports leagues has also risen meteorically and can be said to be quite robust.

According to a recent report by software analytics company Narus and research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, excluding the vast majority of the United States where sports betting is still illegal, global figures for Esports betting have been projected to be somewhere close to $6.7 billion. From here on out, the sky is the limit.

Online Poker Excluded from New York State Budget Again

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Internet gambling has once again been excluded from the New York state budget despite having passed the Senate vote in January for the third straight year. Therefore,   and they will have to continue driving off-state to get in on some poker fun.

While the New York Senate has from time to time shown some love for the poker community in recent years, it is no secret why all the online poker bills never seem to get far in New York. The bill has been passed by the Senate a number of times but it cannot become a law until the Assembly and the governor give their approvals. The Assembly, for one, has shown very little support for online gambling and even refuses to vote on it.

Land-based casinos in New York have been struggling financially for a while now and it was anticipated that they would borrow a leaf from the neighbouring Atlantic City where online gambling has helped to the revenues of their struggling casinos. Apparently, the state is not interested in boosting land-based casino revenues.

New York hosts four non-tribal casinos all of which are in dire need of financial aid. The $440 million Seneca County-based Del Lago Resort Casino, for instance, has been asking the state to bail it out of its huge debts. The casino expected revenues of up to $263 million during its first year of operation – it, however, fell short of the revenue projections by a staggering $100 million.

“This casino developer pushed to have a New York casino for years, including on the Syracuse state fairgrounds,” state Sen. John DeFrancisco said. “So he knew exactly what he was getting into. If he’s losing money, that’s his problem to fix, not the taxpayers.”

This certainly proves that the state’s struggling brick and mortar casinos are not going to benefit from revenue boost from online gaming anytime soon.

Banking on Sports Betting?

 

Should the United States Supreme Court abolish the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), each state will be able to license sportsbooks within its borders. New York, like many other states, is considering supporting wagering on professional sports in case the Supreme Court rules in favour of sports bettors.

Atlantic City Casino Job Fair for Veterans Set for April 19

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According to reports by local media, a casino job fair for veterans is scheduled for April 19 in Atlantic City. This follows the entry of two more casinos into the Atlantic City casino market – the two will begin operating later this year and they are hoping to staff up before their official launch dates.

The April 19 casino job fair will be held from 9 am to 3p at the offices of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission that is located at the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Veterans who are looking for new job opportunities have been advised to get ready for the event especially because it is tailored specifically for them. These veterans have been invited to pre-register and attend the job fair where there will be a number of casino job opportunities made available for them.

Some of these available job opportunities will require the approved applicant to obtain licenses from regulators but, according to Jim Plousis, the head of the New Jersey Control Commission, the process should not take that long. The approved applicants will be able to begin working within as little as a couple of weeks.

“It’s called ‘Bet On A Vet’ and the 8 casinos down here and the two that are looking to open up soon will be here and hiring veterans,” Chairman Jim Plousis said in an interview with KYW Newsradio. “Registrations don’t take that long. We can have them done in a couple weeks and then people would be able to work.”

Veterans are further encouraged to bring their resumes and be dressed appropriately for spot interviews. In addition to this, veterans’ services will be provided to people who might need them.

The new casino operations that will launch in a few months on Atlantic City’s Boardwalk will create as many as seven thousand new job opportunities in the city. Still, all the seven operational casinos in Atlantic City will participate alongside the yet to be launched casinos at the job fair.

Think this is the right opportunity for you? Check out the applications here.

Big Fish Casino Offers Illegal Online Gambling, Rules Court

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Last Wednesday, Judge Milan D. Smith of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a 2015 district court ruling filed against then Big Fish Games’ parent company Churchill Downs Inc. by Cheryl Kater.

Kater’s lawsuit claimed that she bought and lost Big Fish Casino’s virtual chips worth over $1000. While the chips do not have any monetary value, players require them in order to play the online casino’s suite of games that includes roulette, slots and blackjack. Players who run out of these chips will either need to wait until the game offers or free chips or hasten things up by purchasing more. Cheryl Kater hoped to recover the lost chips arguing that the said chips represented “something of value” under the Washington Gambling Law. Her lawsuit was junked by a Seattle U.S. District Court judge.

Judge Smith, however, overturned the earlier ruling on March 25 on grounds that “the virtual chips extended the privilege of playing Big Fish Casino,” which implies that it fell under the Washington state law’s definition of “something of value.”

“Without virtual chips, a user is unable to play Big Fish Casino’s various games,” Judge Smith wrote in his opinion. “Thus, if a user runs out of virtual chips and wants to continue playing Big Fish Casino, she must buy more chips to have ‘the privilege of playing the game.’ Likewise, if a user wins chips, the user wins the privilege of playing Big Fish Casino without charge. In sum, these virtual chips extend the privilege of playing Big Fish Casino.”

Based on this opinion and the definition of gambling according to Washington state law, the appeals court pointed out that Big Fish Casino constituted illegal online gambling.

A Wake-Up Call for Social Casinos

Online gambling is still deemed as an illegal activity in most U.S. states but operators such as the now Aristocrat-owned Big Fish Casino have been providing online gamblers in the country with legal alternatives. In the wake of this Court of Appeals ruling, it is possible that the spotlight might shift to other online gambling operators through similar lawsuits from displeased players – federal law gives anyone who loses “a thing of value” to an illegal gambling operations legal grounds to reclaim whatever they have lost.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Kater’s lawsuit will be returned to the Seattle district court where Big Fish Casino’s former owner, Churchill Downs, will be given another opportunity to argue the case.

New York Introduces Sports Betting Bill to Protect Casinos

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A recent legislation proposed by New York Senator John Bonacic seeks to regulate the state’s sports-betting industry in order to protect its casinos. The Republican senator has been a significant figure as far as New York’s gaming industry is concerned – he has earned a reputation for having a rather hardline stance on gaming regulations. This proposed legislation now puts him in somewhat of an advantageous position to push for demands pertaining to the sports betting industry in general.

However, New York is not the first state to introduce such a bill. A number of states have already put forward similar legislative bills and are now waiting for their implementation once the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) is overturned.

If, or when, PASPA is overturned, Bonacic’s bill will come into immediate effect and this will mean that there will be tremendous changes to the way casinos dispense their profits. According to the senator, if each and every casino was to be legally authorized to offer sports betting, then the proposed bill will impose a lawful obligation on the casinos requiring them to hand over a percentage of their profits to the state. The proposed figure currently stands at about 8.5 percent of the casino’s total gross revenue.

In addition to this, suppose the bill is passed and PASPA is abolished, New York will be looking at a new revenue stream with figures ranging from $10 million to $30 million. These figures are huge enough to convince the New York state legislators to vote in favor of such a legislation.

Bringing New York Up to Speed

Bonacic and some other state finance committee members have raised concerns regarding the static nature of the New York’s bid to get other states to buy into the idea of imposing stricter sports betting legislation. It is not news that the state of New York has often lagged behind when it comes to keeping up with essential matters in the gaming world. This is usually due to lack of action and Bonacic and his counterparts find this to be very frustrating.

He believes that if such a legislation is to be pursued by New York’s legislature, the state will be able to adequately keep up with all the other states that are pursuing similar sports betting regulations with renewed vigour.