Abstract
The conference season continued well into the spring with an emphasis on sports betting in the U.S. Sports Betting Community (SBC) launched their inaugural trade show and conference in New Jersey, ground zero for the activity in the U.S. (In full disclosure, I consult with SBC on their activities in the Americas). This first edition of Betting on Sports America had over 1,500 attendees at their multisite event, which also included a primer on sports betting management, as well as a day-long conference related to sports betting.
It was interesting to see the full ecosystem of sports betting gathered in one spot. It included operators (commercial and lotteries), suppliers of all types, media outlets, investors, sports information suppliers, regulators, policymakers, and punters, among others. The event also featured the first ever sports betting Hall of Fame awards for America. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was one of those recognized for his role in challenging the PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) legislation over a seven-year period. The state of New Jersey repeatedly lost but persistently appealed until they prevailed in the Supreme Court, the one that really counts.
At deadline for this issue in early June, over 14 state legislatures in the U.S. have passed some sort of legislation authorizing sports betting. Many states have now reached the end of their legislative sessions for 2019 so that pace may slow down until the legislatures again gear up in January 2020. But I would anticipate that this will give many in the industry time to take a breather and renew their research on how it's working in the states that have authorized it. This should allow adequate time to address the concerns that may have arisen among legislators and, hopefully, help create even better legislative proposals that can be pre-filed near the end of the year. It may also allow stakeholders in those states more time to rally the troops and come up with improved education and advocacy plans.
In many states that have not yet passed legislation this year, the process may have been complicated by other issues such as the expansion of gambling via video lottery terminals (VLTs), new casinos or, in a few, creation of a state lottery. In other states, concerns like the sports data requests of the leagues complicated matters. There may be a few states that have longer sessions, so we may still see a few more states pass sports betting; but, in many others, we'll need to wait until 2020 for another tranche of bills to pass.
Continuing to update readers on sweeping gaming law changes in Argentina, Gonzalo Masot and Tomás E. García Botta give Gaming Law Review a review of how state and city governments in Buenos Aires are viewing this activity and moving forward. It's a unique relationship and approach that will test gambling and tax regulations in unconventional ways.
Justine Cavaciuti has provided a detailed look at France's National Competition Law and what it means for land-based casinos from a compliance viewpoint in that country. And Dr. Alan Littler and Julia Hörnle, who were involved in the development of a report for the European Commission, offer up an evaluation of regulatory tools for enforcing online gambling rules and channeling demand towards controlled offers.
In our case reviews, we cover the Konami v. High 5 Games case, as well as an analysis of that decision by Jason Rantanen. In addition, Kevin K. Washburn has written an analysis of the Pueblo of Isleta v. Grisham case titled “Free Play Held Not to Be ‘Revenue’ for Purposes of Tribal Revenue Sharing with a State.”
Lastly, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) law school faculty, noted gaming attorney, and Gaming Law Review Editorial Board member, Tony Cabot, offers up an interesting commentary that explores whether Donald Trump could get a gaming license today and why it matters.
We're pleased to say that we have some very relevant roundtable discussions and interviews that have recently been completed and will be published in upcoming issues of Gaming Law Review, so keep an eye out.
And, as always, we encourage submissions from others in the gaming industry. If you'd like our matrix of the types of content that we accept for submission along with word counts and deadlines, please request that at