- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Inside Gaming: AGA Estimates $90B in Illegal Football Bets; Maryland Casinos Up
- Updated: September 9, 2016
This week’s installment of Inside Gaming starts with a report regarding illegal sports betting timed to coincide with the kickoff of a new football season, shares news of Maryland casinos thriving in 2016, tells of a Swedish gaming company’s acquisition of TonyBet’s Lithuanian operations, and passes along a rumor regarding high rollers losing big at baccarat in Las Vegas this summer.
AGA Estimates More Than $90 Billion To Be Wagered Illegally on Football This Season
The National Football League kicked off a new season last night with a Super Bowl 50 rematch, with the Denver Broncos again defeating the Carolina Panthers in a close one, 21-20. The result no doubt pleased gamblers who bet on the Broncos moneyline and/or against the spread (as the Panthers were favored).
Meanwhile the American Gaming Association this week reports that the great majority of those who bet on last night’s game — and who will be betting on both NFL and college football throughout the season — will be doing so illegally. The AGA “is estimating that fans across the country will bet $90 billion on NFL and college football games this season,” but adds that “$88 billion — or 98 percent — of all bets will be made illegally.” In fact, the AGA subsequently upped its estimate to $95 billion in total wagers and $93 billion bet illegally.
The AGA provides such estimates regarding illegal sports betting on a regular basis, in part so as to highlight problems associated with illegal sports betting and to encourage legislators to revisit the current federal ban against sports betting, i.e., the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992.
Explaining the methodology that produced its estimate, the AGA adopts information gleaned from a report of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, matching it with GDP growth while also comparing amounts wagered legally in Nevada sportsbooks. The latter, says the AGA, is “the best available indicator of what proportion [legal sports betting] might make up in the illegal market.” Usually estimates of illegal wagering are around 40 times (or more) the amount wagered legally.
“It’s really hard to gauge those numbers,” said Director of Race and Sports for Boyd Gaming Bob Scucci this week on Chad Millman’s Behind the Bet$ podcast. “It’s hard to verify. I mean, we all know that there’s a lot [of illegal betting], so trying to put a hard number on it — if they’re counting every friendly wager, every bar room bet between two guys, I guess they can reach those numbers.”
In other NFL-related news, speculation continues to swirl regarding the possibility of the …
