During last month’s Capitol Hill hearing on sports betting, a congressman referred to the recent moves by states to create laws and regulations governing the activity as a “race to the bottom.”
That comment didn’t sit well with David Rebuck, the Director of New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement.
During a panel discussion Tuesday in Las Vegas at the Global Gaming Expo, Rebuck didn’t hold back, saying that the four states that have legalized sports wagering since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in May opened the market nationwide have been careful in crafting laws that protect customers and maintain integrity.
“That comment is fear mongering at its worst,” Rebuck said. “It’s complete nonsense. The illegal market in the U.S. is massive. It’s big and in your face. That (statement) is the race to the bottom right there.”
Rebuck, who has overseen the division since 2012, tempered a few more choice words, citing the advice of New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.
“I was warned by the AG to be careful,” Rebuck said.
Susan Hensel, Director of Licensing for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, echoed Rebuck’s remarks, saying federal intervention into sports betting was not needed.
“We want to get it right, rather than being first,” said Hensel, whose state has so far accepted five applications from casinos wanting to launch sports betting activities. She expects Pennsylvania to become the fifth state – following Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi and West Virginia – to offer legal sports betting to its casino market, possibly within the next month.
Meanwhile, Matthew Morgan, director of gaming affairs for the Oklahoma Chickasaw Nation, said the tribe can’t do anything about sports betting until state lawmakers propose changes in the model compact governing tribal gaming activities. That requirement, however, didn’t stop the Chickasaw Nation from creating a marketing partnership agreement last month between the tribe’s WinStar World Casino and the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
“This is something we are watching very closely in Indian country,” Morgan said. “We see (sports betting) as a tremendous revenue opportunity for our members.”
The discussion on the main stage of G2E at the Sands Expo and Convention Center focused on “how States and Tribes are Preparing for Legal Sports Betting.” Much of the information, however, had already been discussed in other panel sessions at G2E’s sports betting symposium.
“If you didn’t know about legal sports betting, you’re probably been asleep for the last 36 hours,” Rebuck said.
He told attendees that New Jersey had its sports betting laws and regulations in place by the time the Supreme Court made its ruling to toss aside the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. New Jersey brought the initial legal challenge to PASPA that, after weaving its way through the court system, ultimately resulted in the repeal.
“The governor wanted us to be ready to go,” he said. New Jersey now has eight land-based sports betting operations and eight mobile sports betting sites. He expects more to follow.
Rebuck announced that New Jersey will report its September gaming revenue on Friday, which will include sports betting results to cover the first month of the NFL season as well as NCAA football. But he would only provide a small preview on Tuesday.
“We will not disappoint the industry,” he said.
New Jersey’s venture into sports has had a couple of rough spots. Two weeks ago, FanDuel had to pay a New Jersey man $82,000 over a disputed sports bet that was ruled the operator’s fault. Rebuck said the incident was due to human error, and company and state regulators have since enhanced their safeguards.
Rebuck said the sports leagues have been unsuccessful in gaining “integrity fees” – a percentage of the wagers – “and will continue to be unsuccessful.”
Hensel said the integrity fees never came up in conversations Pennsylvania had with leagues when the state’s sports betting law passed in 2017.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
