Sticking a finger in the eye of the sports leagues that have won the first legal decision to prevent the State of New Jersey to offer sports betting, New Jersey is allowing casinos to offer daily fantasy sports games as an alternative. According to the New York Times article, the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement published regulations establishing standards for casinos to offer fantasy sports tournaments
for money. Even though players will pay money to play and can win cash, New Jersey won't regulate these games
as gambling, dovetailing with federal law that distinguishes between
fantasy sports and sports gambling.
From a gaming industry perspective, these games are not envisioned to be money makers for the casinos on their own. They will be used as marketing tools to help attract players that will hopefully stay and play other games, eat at the restaurants, etc. From New Jersey's perspective, this may open another front in the battle over sports betting, showing the court that what the sports leagues are doing with fantasy sports really isn't all that different than sports betting. Don't be surprised if the casinos expand the offering to include college sports in addition to professional sports, hoping the NCAA tries to legally stop the activity. That may be the legal trap being set by New Jersey.
The Times article does quote how this could be good for casinos as people will feel comfortable online with a trusted entity. The person who said that from a online gambling advocacy group obviously doesn't know anything about fantasy sports. Over 30 million Americans play fantasy sports now, predominantly online, with large players such as CBS and Yahoo. They aren't going to switch to some Atlantic casino website because a state government says it is OK. The federal government back in 2006 said it is OK.
Don't read too much into this development as a great positive for fantasy sports. Think of this development as another chess move in the battle for sports betting in New Jersey. If New Jersey wins, that is the big development as that will allow any state to offer sports betting if it desires.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
New Jersey Sports Betting Loses in District Court
Although not totally unexpected, a Federal judge ruled against the State of New Jersey with regard to its challenge to the constitutionality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). So, with this ruling, New Jersey can not proceed with implementing sports betting. As it stands, sports betting is still allowed in just four states: Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana.
Don't expect New Jersey to quit - an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is almost a given. Whoever loses there will almost certainly appeal to the US Supreme Court. This is a multi-round fight, but the first round goes to the NCAA and sports leagues.
Read more about this issue here.
Don't expect New Jersey to quit - an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is almost a given. Whoever loses there will almost certainly appeal to the US Supreme Court. This is a multi-round fight, but the first round goes to the NCAA and sports leagues.
Read more about this issue here.
Friday, February 8, 2013
NFL Post-Season Game Shows Utility of Pari-mutuel Fantasy Sports Approach
This is a repost of the results discussion of ProContest's NFL Post-season fantasy sports game. It's being posted here as not everyone is able to become a registered user of ProContest. The games are interesting with regard to seeing how the innovative pari-mutuel approach employed by ProContest is enabling games that have promise to offer differentiated value to fantasy sports enthusiasts.
As the site matures and gets critical mass, it's quite possible that the odds that develop as people make their entries in and of themselves may become valuable with regard to other prognostication and handicapping efforts.
Here's the post from ProContest's blog:
The results are shown below. The odds posted are the final WIN odds.
Category / Race (Win (1st), Place (2nd), Show (3rd) – w/odds) (Raw metric in parenthesis)
Overall, we continue to learn as we try out various games. As ProContest moves forward, customers should find enjoyable games that offer high prize to entry fee ratios as well as games that can have as many as 1 in 4 entries winning prizes. Although not nearly as popular, we may run contests later this spring and summer for the Arena League and the Canadian Football League. Keep up with what is going on at ProContest by signing up, or just registering for email updates at www.ProContest.com.
As the site matures and gets critical mass, it's quite possible that the odds that develop as people make their entries in and of themselves may become valuable with regard to other prognostication and handicapping efforts.
Here's the post from ProContest's blog:
With last week’s Super Bowl (a very
good one, blackout notwithstanding), the NFL post-season game is
complete. Although there were only 11 total games, compared to 35 for the
NCAA bowl season game, the game performed very well. In this game, the field of entries was very
inclusive, such that named entries (other than the field entry) did finish in
the money in most of the finish positions, but certainly not all. We’re finding that the ability to select the
Other/Field category, and have that category include some good players, may
prove to be a very popular feature of ProContest’s games. This feature is easily incorporated due to
ProContest’s patented pari-mutuel fantasy sports approach, unique among the
“daily” fantasy sports sites.
Category / Race (Win (1st), Place (2nd), Show (3rd) – w/odds) (Raw metric in parenthesis)
Passing Yardage (Favorite – Manning
P DEN 4:1)
- Flacco J BAL 27:1 (1140)
- Other/Field QB (Kaepernick C SF) 9:1 (798)
- Brady T NE 5:1 (664)
Flacco came in first as a 27 to 1
shot – huge! If Denver had pulled out
their game against Baltimore, Manning very easily could have finished in the
money. So, those entries that selected
players with a good chance of going deep in the playoffs benefited from that
extra game. Kaepernick (Other/Field) and
Brady placed and showed while only playing 3 games.
Rushing Yardage (Favorite – Rice R
BAL & Other/Field RB 4:1)
- Gore F SF 5:1 (319)
- Rice R BAL 4:1 (306)
- Foster A HOU 14:1 (230)
This was a pretty tight finish for
win and place, with the starting Super Bowl running backs finishing 1-2. Foster showed with a respectable total while
only playing 2 games. Rice was the
favorite, didn’t win but finished in the money.
Receiving Yards (Favorite – Welker W
NE and Other/Field WR 6:1)
- Other/Field WR (Boldin A BAL) 6:1 (380)
- Crabtree M SF 10:1 (285)
- Welker W NE 6:1 (248)
This race was interesting. This category going in might have been the
category that could have the field entry finish in more than one money position. As it turned out, top tier receivers like
Crabtree and Welker performed when it counted.
However, both the field entry and Welker were the favorites and both
finished in the money. Like Flacco,
Boldin benefited from playing 4 games.
Welker just played 2 games and still put up 248 receiving yards.
Opponent Yardage (Favorite – Minnesota
& Washington 3:1)
- Minnesota 3:1 (326)
- Washington 3:1 (380)
- Cincinnati 24:1 (420)
This race was looking to find the
least opponent yardage, so handicapping who would likely bow out of the
playoffs the quickest while not giving up much yardage was key. Minnesota and Washington were the favorites
and finished 1-2. However, with
Minnesota facing Green Bay and only giving up 326 yards might have given folks
a clue that Green Bay might be in trouble when facing San Francisco the next
week, which did happen as Green Bay was soundly defeated. For next year, we might consider using
average yards per game as the metric, which will make handicapping a bit
tougher.
Overall, we continue to learn as we try out various games. As ProContest moves forward, customers should find enjoyable games that offer high prize to entry fee ratios as well as games that can have as many as 1 in 4 entries winning prizes. Although not nearly as popular, we may run contests later this spring and summer for the Arena League and the Canadian Football League. Keep up with what is going on at ProContest by signing up, or just registering for email updates at www.ProContest.com.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Horse Racing in Montana Continues to Die the Slow, Painful Death – With Deepest Thanks to the Montana Board of Horse Racing
This is a bad week for supporters of live horse racing in Montana. The Montana Board of Horse Racing, in its infinite wisdom, made key decisions that are certain to mark the de facto death of the 2013 racing season before it starts. This will be the second straight year that racing aficionados and bettors will have to look elsewhere. Unfortunately, the drive to California or New York where racing still lives is a bit of a long drive in a 1975 Chevy on the interstate.
It is a simple problem for the Montana Board of Horse Racing: generate revenue to regulate and protect the sport it runs. Now, the only things running are the Board Members’ mouths. The horses certainly are not running, nor are they likely to with the current Board’s actions. Track operators, owners, trainers and spectators are getting the shaft, and if it is any indication when someone creates a monster, the villagers will start coming out with pitchforks and torches.
With the estimated increase of three racing days to eight, given current revenue estimates, the Board seeks to soothe the savage beast, somehow hoping to give the impression to someone that they are actually running a racing season. Given that, the Board’s action to authorize twenty- five days of racing at their January meeting even though they admit there is not enough funding to support it seems odd. The hard numbers speak for themselves. California, for example, runs four major tracks (Golden Gate, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Del Mar, not including the fair circuit), with racing basically year-round. This also does not include substantial harness and Quarter Horse racing. No one claims that Montana may be compared directly to California, but what the Montana Board of Horse Racing is doing is akin to putting a Band-Aid over a gushing artery. It is time to stop the bleeding before horse racing is fully and finally dead in Montana. It is more than a shame - it is a tragedy of mismanagement over an industry that has over a 100-year history in the state.
The Board’s debt service cripples it, but at the same time it is not creating enough revenue to support live racing. With response to naysayers that there is new leadership and direction on the Board, this current Board conducted fewer meetings in 2012 than 2011. This Board has not published meeting minutes on the MBOHR website since April of 2012 - so much for openness and transparency.
What happened this week should not have been a surprise. On Monday, an advisory panel for the Missoula County fairgrounds recommended scrapping the existing horse racing facility, and hence horse racing in Missoula. Specifically, the panel recommends not considering horse racing in future development plans for the fairgrounds. If the county commissioners adopt that recommendation, the racetrack will be likely torn down and the area redeveloped for other purposes. When will another track bite the dust? The Board should heed this rather severe wake-up call and answer to the industry. The Board needs to consider proposals for additional revenue streams from investors and entrepreneurs now. Without racing days, without tracks, no one wins a purse, the vendors don’t sell their hot dogs and brew, and Little Johnny doesn’t get a race day with his dad this year. This poor outcome is the fault of the Board of Horse Racing, and not the state's horse racing industry. Pull out your pitchforks - the monster is on the loose.
The Montana Board of Horse Racing consciously and openly refuses to pursue approaches that still have a great chance to generate as much as several hundred thousand dollars a year in supporting live racing in Montana, not to mention still servicing the existing debt. Circle the wagons to save Montana horse racing. Maybe the Missoula facility will not be lost after all. If the horse racing industry in Montana does not wise up soon and realize what is really going on, it may be too late to salvage horse racing in the state.
Stories on this continued Montana debacle can be found here and here.
It is a simple problem for the Montana Board of Horse Racing: generate revenue to regulate and protect the sport it runs. Now, the only things running are the Board Members’ mouths. The horses certainly are not running, nor are they likely to with the current Board’s actions. Track operators, owners, trainers and spectators are getting the shaft, and if it is any indication when someone creates a monster, the villagers will start coming out with pitchforks and torches.
With the estimated increase of three racing days to eight, given current revenue estimates, the Board seeks to soothe the savage beast, somehow hoping to give the impression to someone that they are actually running a racing season. Given that, the Board’s action to authorize twenty- five days of racing at their January meeting even though they admit there is not enough funding to support it seems odd. The hard numbers speak for themselves. California, for example, runs four major tracks (Golden Gate, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Del Mar, not including the fair circuit), with racing basically year-round. This also does not include substantial harness and Quarter Horse racing. No one claims that Montana may be compared directly to California, but what the Montana Board of Horse Racing is doing is akin to putting a Band-Aid over a gushing artery. It is time to stop the bleeding before horse racing is fully and finally dead in Montana. It is more than a shame - it is a tragedy of mismanagement over an industry that has over a 100-year history in the state.
The Board’s debt service cripples it, but at the same time it is not creating enough revenue to support live racing. With response to naysayers that there is new leadership and direction on the Board, this current Board conducted fewer meetings in 2012 than 2011. This Board has not published meeting minutes on the MBOHR website since April of 2012 - so much for openness and transparency.
What happened this week should not have been a surprise. On Monday, an advisory panel for the Missoula County fairgrounds recommended scrapping the existing horse racing facility, and hence horse racing in Missoula. Specifically, the panel recommends not considering horse racing in future development plans for the fairgrounds. If the county commissioners adopt that recommendation, the racetrack will be likely torn down and the area redeveloped for other purposes. When will another track bite the dust? The Board should heed this rather severe wake-up call and answer to the industry. The Board needs to consider proposals for additional revenue streams from investors and entrepreneurs now. Without racing days, without tracks, no one wins a purse, the vendors don’t sell their hot dogs and brew, and Little Johnny doesn’t get a race day with his dad this year. This poor outcome is the fault of the Board of Horse Racing, and not the state's horse racing industry. Pull out your pitchforks - the monster is on the loose.
The Montana Board of Horse Racing consciously and openly refuses to pursue approaches that still have a great chance to generate as much as several hundred thousand dollars a year in supporting live racing in Montana, not to mention still servicing the existing debt. Circle the wagons to save Montana horse racing. Maybe the Missoula facility will not be lost after all. If the horse racing industry in Montana does not wise up soon and realize what is really going on, it may be too late to salvage horse racing in the state.
Stories on this continued Montana debacle can be found here and here.
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