4 minute read | May.07.2024
Proposed Changes to Sports Betting in Connecticut
Underdog and PrizePicks Return to Florida
Former Iowa Collegiate Athletes File Lawsuit Against State
Update on Proposed College Prop Bet Bans
Pennsylvania Bill Seeks to Prohibit Credit Cards for Online Gaming
Legislators in Connecticut are considering two significant changes to the state’s established sports betting market. First, some lawmakers are highlighting the recent success of the men’s and women’s basketball teams of the University of Connecticut in an attempt to legalize wagering on in-state college sports. One possibility would be following Massachusetts’ lead and allowing betting on in-state schools in tournaments, but not in regular-season play. However, Governor Ned Lamont continues to oppose wagering on UConn or other in-state universities.
Additionally, the Connecticut Committee on Public Safety and Security has proposed restrictions on gambling-related marketing. The measure (Substitute House Bill 5284) would ban the use of celebrities in gambling-related advertising and would prevent advertisements from being directed at places where the “majority of viewers or participants is presumed to be under the age of 21.” The bill would additionally require that lottery and keno systems be evaluated and certified by an entity chosen by the Department of Consumer Protection.
After previously ending their DFS Pick’em games in Florida in response to multiple cease-and-desist letters sent by state regulators, Underdog and PrizePicks have now relaunched in the state with new peer-to-peer offerings. These include the Underdog Pick’em Championship Game and the PrizePicks Arena, both of which place individual customers in groups competing for a prize.
An Underdog spokesperson highlighted the fact that operators have been permitted to continue offering their fantasy games and described the company’s new game as a “strictly peer-to-peer fantasy contest” that follows “the new blueprint state officials have established.”
A group of 26 former college athletes in Iowa recently filed a lawsuit against state law enforcement leaders, accusing them of violating the athletes’ constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. The plaintiffs, primarily former University of Iowa and Iowa State athletes, allege that state investigators failed to obtain the necessary warrants before illegally inspecting their cellphones as part of last year’s high-profile probe into unauthorized sports betting among college athletes. The suit alleges that investigators used a software program named Kibana to uncover the account numbers of individuals placing bets from inside university athletic facilities. The players are claiming that they were misled by investigators into believing that they were not targets of the investigation. Nineteen of the 26 athletes pleaded guilty to underage gambling. All those charged were suspended for at least one year by the NCAA.
Respondents named in the suit include the State of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and additional individual agency officials.
Following up on a previous article in this newsletter, additional states have now weighed in on efforts to eliminate prop bets on college athletes. In North Carolina, Rep. Marcia Morey (D), a former Olympic swimmer and NCAA staffer, introduced HB 967 to that end. A companion bill in the Senate, SB 788, was filed by Sen. Julie Mayfield (D). In addition to banning prop bets on individual college athletes, the bill also would eliminate in-person wagers at stadiums for up to eight hours before and after any college sporting event. Republicans in North Carolina have, to this point, not joined in any efforts to ban prop bets in the state’s newly burgeoning sports betting market. Rep. Jason Saine (R) said that while he would welcome efforts to combat harassment, he would not “reward bad behavior by limiting people who are behaving the right way.”
In Kentucky, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) reported receiving a letter from NCAA President Charlie Baker asking the state to consider imposing a ban on college athlete prop bets. The KHRC indicated that it is currently reviewing the matter.
In Montana, state Lottery Director Bob Brown issued a letter in response to the NCAA request sent to that state in which Brown indicated that Montana would not be banning college player prop bets. In his statement, Brown emphasized that Montana has not experienced any of the issues that have been present in other states.
Senator Wayne Fontana (D) recently introduced a bill seeking to eliminate credit cards as a payment option for online casinos in Pennsylvania. Fontana cited a statistic that the average credit card debt among Pennsylvanians is over $5,600. He claimed that a ban on the use of credit cards could prevent iGaming patrons from falling into additional debt. Fontana’s legislation currently has six additional co-sponsors—five fellow Democrats and one Republican.
Iowa, Massachusetts and Tennessee currently do not allow credit cards to be used for online gambling. Credit card bans do not prohibit the use of debit cards or other methods of payment.
If you have questions about these developments, please feel free to contact the authors, Behnam Dayanim, Jeremy Kudon, Brad Fischer, Sarah Koch, or Rachel Miller.