New Sports Betting Hall of Fame inductees on PASPA repeal

May 13, 2023 2:27 PM
Photo: Shutterstock
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports
May 13, 2023 2:27 PM
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports
  • United States

At last week’s SBC Summit North America, the newest members of the Sports Betting Hall of Fame were asked by IGT President of Sports Betting Joe Asher for their reactions when the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was repealed on May 14, 2018. Here what they had to say.

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Trish Lewandowski, Caesars Digital Sportsbook District Manager, who was then working for Bally’s in Las Vegas: “I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing. But people started coming in asking about sportsbooks in other states. I know a lot of people were preparing for it, because you thought, ‘Here’s the talent, all right here in Nevada.’ But then I had the opportunity to go to Pennsylvania to Rivers (Casino in Pittsburgh), a great group, with Rush Street Gaming, a great group, a great team. The kiosks! We didn’t have a single kiosk at Bally’s and when I walked in, and I think Jimmy Vaccaro (now at South Point Hotel Casino and Spa) will agree, it was amazing, the technology. It was culture shock.”

David Rebuck, New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement Director: I was in Atlantic City in my office. About a month earlier, we were at a meeting with some of my senior staff. We were getting ready for sports wagering, we were so optimistic we were going to win. I got a call from a lobbyist who said it was just announced by the Supreme Court: Jersey won 7-2. I was looking at my staff. The phone wasn’t not ringing. There was nothing in my alerts on it. (I asked my staff), ‘Did we win this case or not? I can’t call the attorney general, I can’t call the governor, because they would have called me by now.’

“I went back to the lobbyist and said, ‘Are you serious? Don’t tell me anything until it’s done.’ I thought maybe we weren’t going to win. But the day we won, there were cheers in the office. And then we got back to work, because we knew that we had to get it ready to go live.”

Nick Bogdanovich, Circa Sports Sportsbook Manager/Oddsmaker: “There was always a running bet at the William Hill office that PASPA would never be overturned. … It’s turned out that four or five players are dominating all these states that have it and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But it was pretty exciting when it was announced and obviously it changes sports betting completely. It’s a different animal now and everyone’s trying to figure it out. It’s definitely a sprint and there are four or five horses out in front — and some skinny little thoroughbreds in the back trying to chase them down.”

Michael Gaughan, South Point Casino Hotel & Spa Owner: “I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t want New Jersey to get it. I never thought it would happen. I never talked about it. But I had my eyes opened about how big this has become.”