Sports betting Hall of Famer Joe Asher, CEO of Boomer’s Sportsbook, told the Nevada Gaming Control Board that some form of regulation may be needed to avoid the rigging of proposition bets on sporting events.
Asher appeared Wednesday before the Board to get approval for Boomer’s to add another sportsbook in the state. He was asked about the latest controversy in which Miami guard Terry Rozier of the NBA was arrested in October for illegal sports betting.
While a member of the Charlotte Hornets, Rozier is accused of telling a friend he would remove himself from the game, claiming a fake injury. The friend sold the information to bettors who won hundreds of thousands of dollars by betting the unders Rozier’s statistics for the game.
In a similar scheme involving his under performance, former Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter, a bench player, was banned from the NBA in 2024 and is awaiting sentencing after he admitted taking part in the prop bet cheating.
Nevada sportsbooks weren’t part of the scheme, though Board Chair Mike Dreitzer asked Asher for his input on prop bets and what can be done to make them safer.
Asher said the prop bet crimes were uncovered thanks to the legal and regulated market. When it comes to prop bets on the performance of individual athletes, “There’s probably some room for regulation, frankly,” Asher suggested.
Whether Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Jalen Hurts scores a touchdown is different from a prop bet on whether Jontay Porter attempts a certain number of three-point shots during a game.
“There’s a difference between a starter and lower-level athletes and between professional and college athletes,” Asher said. “There aren’t easy lines to be drawn around this. People like to bet on Hurts scoring or A.J. Brown reception yards and Patrick Mahomes passing yards. But those are different bets than how many points Terry Rozier is going to get.”
Asher warned that limits and allowing people to bet only the overs aren’t the answer.
“There’s talk in the press about outlawing prop bets, but that just pushes people into the unregulated market,” Asher said. “But I do think there’s some room for regulation around this. What’s important is that in a given jurisdiction, all the operators are playing by the same rules and the same standards apply to everybody.”
Asher didn’t specify to the Board what regulations would help, other than sportsbooks’ current obligation to report suspicious bets.
Board member George Assad said if they want to keep the federal government out of Nevada. the sportsbooks should be cognizant of any red flags.
“Jontay Porter, somebody you’ve never heard of, might get a couple of hundred dollars bet on the under and all of sudden, someone sees $30,000 to $40,000 across the screen. An obligation rests on that individual to notify his supervisor and tell the Gaming Control Board that something is fishy here. Assad said the people making these bets should be sweated by investigators for information on why they’re placing the wagers and for whom.
Asher responded that they don’t know what bets competitors are taking and sometimes the issue has to come to the light for the books to go back and look at what happened.
On a UFC fight in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Caesars Sportsbook and William Hill refunded losing wagers and other books took the bet off the board after suspicious activity in which Isaac Dulgarian dropped from a favorite of about -250 to about -150 over Yadier del Valle leading up to their featherweight fight. Dulgarian suffered a first-round submission loss.
“We had an incident this last weekend with the UFC in the press and we looked at what bets we had on the fight,” Asher said. “One stood out and we called the Enforcement Division. Operators have an obligation to report these matters to the Board and should do so. That way, the Board can alert the rest of the sportsbooks.
Asher suggested lines can be drawn around starters versus lower-level players when offering prop bets. He said Boomer’s has focused on starters in professional sports with no college. There’s a big difference, however, between prop bets offered on a lower-level college game and the national championship game.
“The line drawing is difficult, but there’s room to do something,” Asher said. “When you’re dealing with lower-level players, how much business are you really driving to the black market versus Jalen Hurts, Pat Mahomes, or Josh Allen in the NFL? A broad base of players are interested in that.”
Assad said the more bets offered the public, the more tax revenue for the state. Why should wagers be eliminated over one “bad apple?” It’s better to put it all out there and catch the bad actors betting on a lower-level player or they will get away with it somewhere else.
Dan Shapiro, a senior vice president and chief development officer at Caesars Digital appearing before the Board in relation to a William Hill sportsbook licensing at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, told the Board they’re looking at ways to make prop bets safer. He said the sports leagues have reached out to them to discuss the recent scandals.
“We’re not going to put up a proposition that we think is subject to tampering or fraud,” Shapiro said. “It’s something we look at all the time, evaluating our menu of props and getting feedback from regulators, customers, and the leagues.”
