A harsh new bill in New York would make sweeping changes to the state’s gambling landscape. Despite tax revenue from sportsbooks reaching almost $3bn in the Empire State since the market went live in January 2022, Assemblymember Robert Carroll went ahead and introduced the legislation to the Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee.

wouldn’t be able to mention free bets, odds boosts, and other similar types of offers

The bill would introduce a daily betting cap of $5,000, only allow people to make up to five deposits in a 24-hour period, and significantly curtail advertising of these products. Marketing materials wouldn’t be able to mention free bets, odds boosts, and other similar types of offers.

The bill would also stop all sports betting ads between 8am and 10pm or during live sports events. Most of these types of marketing materials run in these timeframes.

Lawmakers who oppose the proposal believe that if passed, it would significantly hurt tax revenue as high-stakes gamblers would go across state lines to New Jersey or use offshore sportsbooks to place their action.

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Lawmakers in North Carolina want to cash in on the massive success of the legal sports betting market since it went live in March 2024. Handle hit a record $685m last month, largely because of the massive interest in March Madness.

A proposal submitted to the state Senate on Monday aims to double the tax rate from the current 18% to 36%. If this change comes into effect, North Carolina would only be behind the flat tax rates of four other states.

lawmakers think that doubling the tax rate would bring in an extra $53m during the 2025/2026 fiscal year

In the first year of legal sportsbooks, the eight licensed operators contributed over $135m in tax revenue, which is significantly more than the pre-legalization estimates. Lawmakers think that doubling the tax rate would bring in an extra $53m during the 2025/2026 fiscal year.

Sportsbook operators didn’t waste any time in fighting back against the idea, with DraftKings sending messages to customers in the Tar Heel State to oppose the measure:

North Carolina isn’t the first state to consider hiking sports betting taxes. Illinois was the first to do so when it changed its model to a tiered system up to a maximum of 40% in July. The governors of Ohio and Maryland failed recently to double their taxes in their own jurisdictions, while New Jersey and Massachusetts are currently considering proposals.

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Despite its position as the king of US gambling, Nevada is one of just five states without a lottery. While Alabama, Hawaii, Utah, and Alaska are very conservative when it comes to gambling expansion, Nevada has never had a lottery due to the power of the casinos. They don’t want anything to potentially cannibalize their revenues and, as a result, have vehemently lobbied lawmakers over the years when the issue rears its head.

The most recent legislation aiming to introduce a state lottery died on Friday despite getting significant support in the previous session. Both chambers passed AJR5 in 2023, which meant that the public would have voted on the matter next year if it got approval in the 2025 session.

ongoing economic uncertainty tied to President Trump’s tariffs

This did not come to fruition, with the committee deadline day passing on Friday without it progressing. Talking to the Nevada Independent, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager explained the failure, citing ongoing economic uncertainty tied to President Trump’s tariffs and the extensive federal funding cuts as reasons for the bill’s demise.

Polls indicated that the measure had support from locals, with the Nevada Public Opinion Pulse survey conducted in March 2024 finding that 75% of people from both sides of the political aisle supported lottery legalization, with only 13% opposing it.

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Budget vote ruffles feathers

The majority of the United States’ market-leading sports betting operators, including FanDuel and DraftKings, face being turfed out of Kansas following a budget amendment that could shutter the sportsbooks by 2027.

state legislators approved a budget provision

The unexpected curveball came after state legislators approved a budget provision that stops the six operational sports betting firms from negotiating or extending their existing licenses “during the 2025 or 2026 fiscal years.”

Sports Betting Alliance President Jeremy Kudon took to X to calm nerves, stating the licenses under threat run until 2027:

Kudon, however, did pour scorn on the Kansas House of Representatives decision. 

Trouble with the lawmakers

The SBA chief said Kansas lawmakers should essentially be taken to task for their actions potentially affecting the two market leaders and the other sportsbooks in the state, namely BetMGM, Fanatics Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, and ESPN Bet. 

“They had no idea when these contracts expired and were willing to take your favorite OSB apps away from Kansans.”

Kudon declared the SBA was “not going to let that happen,” while later posting in the comment: “How is it legal for states to push one book only?”

While the long-term future of Kansas’ sports betting market is not as secure as it was before the legislative session on April 11, Kansas bettors will see no immediate change to the vertical.

Legal twists

Currently, Kansas’ sports betting laws allow for a maximum of 12 sportsbooks, all of which must partner with one of the state’s four land-based casinos.

The casinos are, however, managed by the state government-run Kansas Lottery. To add a further legal twist, the new budget provision prevents the state lottery from engaging in license renewals.

According to reports, the amendment states the lottery will not be allowed: “to negotiate or enter into any contract or extension or renewal of an existing contract for the management of sports wagering with any lottery gaming facility manager.”

This new budget provision expires on June 30, 2026, at which stage sportsbooks would normally expect regulators to extend their licenses. Lawmakers could give the big six operators a scare and instead vote to extend the provision when it expires.

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A US Senator from Nevada has written a letter to the Trump administration to ask questions about the impact tariffs and other recent policy changes will have on tourism in the country. Catherine Cortez Masto questioned the tariffs and the “increasingly aggressive” policy of border protection and budget cuts at tourism-related federal agencies.

She doesn’t believe there’s enough transparency regarding President Donald Trump’s executive orders and the actions of Elon Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency.

requesting an analysis of the way in which the changes will impact tourism

Cortez also believes that the recent changes are having a “devastating” impact on the tourism sector. She is requesting an analysis of the way in which the changes will impact tourism and the knock-on impact on economic output figures.

She has also requested information on what Trump will do to mitigate these drops and help tourism, such as attracting more international sports events like the Formula One race that takes place annually in Las Vegas.

Finally, she asked for the visa processing to be made more seamless to allow foreign travelers to move around smoothly and quickly.

Nevada’s economy relies heavily on tourism, and some recent numbers are concerning. Air travel figures were significantly down in February, and the trend is expected to continue. Canadians are supposedly boycotting US travel in retaliation to tariffs imposed by Trump.

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First blood to Kalshi

Kalshi has drawn first blood against multiple state gambling regulators after a federal judge tossed a cease-and-desist order. The action would allow the prediction market provider to continue offering sports and politics betting events in Nevada. 

federal judge sided with Kalshi’s lawsuit brought last week

A federal judge sided with Kalshi’s lawsuit brought last week against the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s order. According to a Wednesday Front Office Sports report, US District Court Judge Andrew P. Gordon has issued a minute order granting “in part, Kalshi’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.”

Judge Gordon also quashed the Nevada Gaming Commission’s counterclaims for an immediate temporary restraining order against Kalshi and a preliminary injunction that it halt all sports betting events markets in the state.

The federal court’s decision means that Kalshi can continue operating its polarizing markets in Nevada while the case gets litigated.

Pivotal victory

Nevada has been one of the loudest voices against prediction markets, making Kalshi’s victory in the state with long-established regulatory powers a very significant one. 

Judge Gordon’s ruling will take the wind out the sails of five other states that followed Nevada’s suit. Regulators in New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, and Montana have also issued cease-and-desist orders to Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com. 

intrudes upon the federal regulatory framework that Congress established”

Last week, Kalshi filed a lawsuit claiming Nevada’s prohibitive order “intrudes upon the federal regulatory framework that Congress established for regulating futures derivatives on designated exchanges.”

FOS cited a Kalshi spokesperson praising the federal court for blocking Nevada “from trying to prevent Kalshi from offering prediction markets.” 

“We are grateful for the court’s careful attention to this matter and recognition of Kalshi’s status as a CFTC-regulated exchange. On to the next step.”

Feds vs state saga

The NGCB’s cease-and-desist order to Kalshi stated that its Contracts For Difference (CFDs) resembled sports wagers. The regulator said it had not licensed the New York firm to run a sports pool. 

Kalshi’s retaliatory lawsuit focused on the argument that CFDs fall under the federal control of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and, as such, are not beholden to state regulatory decrees.  

According to FOS, the NGC “did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”

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Senate leader dashes hopes

Alabama’s bills aiming to legalize gambling, including sports betting, electronic games, and lottery, have died at the hands of Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger.

sports betting does not have the votes”

The leader of the Alabama Senate on Monday issued a statement that “sports betting does not have the votes to pass in the 2025 legislative session.”

Gudger stated that Alabama had multiple more important issues than gambling that required addressing before the legislative session ended. 

Not enough

Gudger’s statement dashes the hopes that a gambling bill that failed by just one Senate vote in 2024 would get across the legislative line in 2025. He stated:

simply too little, too late, and has too few votes to pass.”

“With 12 meeting days remaining in the session, both budgets still awaiting approval, and other important bills and measures demanding focus and attention, the comprehensive gaming bill released today is simply too little, too late, and has too few votes to pass.”

Sen. Greg Albritton’s “trimmed down” new bill perhaps had the highest chance of success.

Albritton’s two-fold package introduced last week included a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval and a highly detailed 141-page bill.

Albritton’s plan allowed for legalized online sports betting, a state lottery, and tribal casinos. He admitted, prophetically, that he was still short of votes required to get his bill past the 34-member Senate.

The other bill tossed for 2025 is Rep. Jeremy Gray’s proposal to legalize sports betting and create an Alabama Gaming Commission to regulate the new vertical. 

Bleak outlook

Despite Albritton’s downplayed bill, the Senator reacted with frustration in a statement. He stated: 

“We’ve been struggling with this for 25-26 years already… I don’t see anything changing.” 

Albritton added that it “doesn’t matter what the bills says, period. If the word ‘gaming’ or ‘gambling’ shows up on the page, it’s a ‘no’ vote.”

The post Alabama Sports Betting Dead in Water After Senate Leader Declares Insufficient Votes appeared first on Vegas Slots Online News.

Sweden’s parliament has backed the move to terminate land-based casino gaming in the country.

The majority in the Riksdag carried the vote through, which means the days of Sweden’s last state-owned casino in Stockholm are numbered. The parliament vote confirmed the law will take effect from January 1, 2026.

The Riksdag stated retail casinos in Sweden “no longer serve their purpose,” citing profitability issues and dwindling visitors to Casino Cosmopol.

State-owned Svenska Spel Sport & Casino holds the monopoly for Sweden’s retail casinos and operates Casino Cosmopol under state mandate.

emotionally tough because it means that an era will end”

Svenska Spel Casino Cosmopol CEO Ola Enquist said the state’s retail arm agreed with the government’s reasons for the directive, but stated: “….it is of course emotionally tough because it means that an era will end when the casino in Stockholm eventually closes.”

“Our focus right now is to support our employees and at the same time stay open and continue to take care of our guests.”

Opposition to the shuttering of the vertical came from market regulator Spelinspektionen, which has claimed before that the move could prompt a rise in illegal gambling.

While Spelinspektionen has yet to respond to the Riksdag’s announcement, it added it would need additional funding to brace for the expected rise in unregulated brick-and-mortar gambling. 

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Silver bullet bill?

An Alabama lawmaker has filed a new no-frills gambling bill to include sports betting, electronic games, and lottery.

“a very trimmed down” new bill 

Alabama’s gambling bill only failed by a single vote in the Senate in 2024. After tabling “a very trimmed down” new bill for 2025, its author Sen. Greg Albritton revealed his hopes for progression of the compromise two-part bill with understated confidence.  

“It’s the least amount we can do that I think is economically viable.”

The senator had kept his fat-free bill on the down low until publishing it Thursday. He admitted, however, he was still short of votes needed to pass the bill in the 34-member Senate 

Albritton’s legislative package includes both a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval in a September 16 ballot, and a highly detailed 141-page bill. 

What’s the plan?

Albritton’s tweaked bill allows for legal sports betting, iGaming at Alabama’s ex-greyhound tracks, state lottery, and “a compact that would allow the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to have four casinos.”

Under the bill’s iGaming component, sports betting and digital gambling would be subject to a 24% tax on net revenue “an excise tax on each gambling machine, and a sports wagering tax on each bet.”

a public lottery firm would control Alabama’s state lottery

Digital gambling would be legal at five ex-greyhound tracks in Jefferson, Macon, and Mobile counties and one bingo hall in either Greene, Houston or Lowndes counties. Under the proposed bill, a public lottery firm would control Alabama’s state lottery.

It also proposes Baltimore Governor Wes Moore negotiate a revenue-sharing agreement with the Poarch.

Moore’s nod would authorize Class III gaming, or full-scale casinos with table games at the tribe’s existing three electronic bingo casinos. These are located in Atmore, Montgomery, Wetumpka, and at Birmingham Race Course and casino.

The bill would also establish an Alabama Gaming Commission to license, tax, and regulate gambling complete with a law enforcement arm.

The whys

Giving his reasons for the new bill, the Alabama lawmaker said gambling was “rampant in Alabama and needs to be regulated” and that state budgets needed the juice amid uncertain economic times. 

Albritton stated that people were gambling in the halls of the Alabama Senate prior to Super Bowl LIX and that the sports betting vertical was “occurring in junior highs. It’s eating us up. If we don’t get control of it, we’ll be in serious trouble.” In addition, the senator said the urgency came from “federal money drying up.”

“We have an economy that is questionable right now.”

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Sweepstakes casinos live on in Mississippi, as the state’s House of Representatives did not agree to the bill the Senate sent over in February that would have banned the form of online casino gambling. More specifically, the House did pass SB 2510, but only after amending it to legalize mobile sports betting. And therein lay the problem.

it went back to the Senate, where the amendment was rejected

SB 2510 passed easily in the Senate just a couple months ago, but in the House, House Gaming Committee Chairman Rep. Casey Eure inserted the sports betting portion, essentially trying to resurrect a mobile sports betting bill he had previously introduced. Because the bill was amended, it went back to the Senate, where the amendment was rejected.

It wasn’t quite over, though, as a conference committee was convened to give it one last shot. In a conference committee, select members of each chamber get together to try to hammer out a compromise bill. The House wants mobile sports betting for revenue purposes – the state already has retail casinos and sportsbooks – but the Senate is against it for fear of hurting retail casinos.

In the end, the members of the conference committee could not reconcile their differing viewpoints and figure something out in time for the conference report filing deadline of March 31.

So for now, sweepstakes casinos live on in the Magnolia State. They could still be banned by the state gaming regulator, something that has happened in other states, but until that happens, they are available to gamblers in Mississippi.

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The quest for Steve Cohen to rezone land for his planned $8bn casino beside the New York Mets’ Citi Field rumbles on.

his jurisdiction doesn’t contain Citi Field

Despite the project getting pushback from some lawmakers, Senator John Liu revealed that he plans to introduce a bill that would allow the area to be designated for commercial usage instead of its current parkland status. While his jurisdiction doesn’t contain Citi Field, part of the planned Metropolitan Park project would fall within his area.

Cohen, who is partnering with Hard Rock International, intends to give back to the local community in return for support. This includes $100m to improve infrastructure in the area over the course of a decade if his plan doesn’t get over the line.

If Cohen gets one of three highly coveted downstate casino licenses, his team will develop a skypark to try bring locals together. The clock is ticking, with the New York State Gaming Commission set to make its final decisions by the end of 2025.

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The UKGC has just announced new promotional restrictions for licensees, capping bonus wagering requirements at 10xbonus.

Duncan Garvie, gaming regulation expert and Head of ADR for Casino Reviews, believes this is “catastrophically bad policy.” He provided his detailed opinion on the changes to VegasSlotsOnline News.

Duncan Garvie, Head of ADR for Casino Reviews:

This catatrophically bad policy hobbles the regulated industry’s ability to compete with the black market. It is everything that I’ve spoken against in the last few years. Regulation that sounds good, but has not considered the deeper consequences of the policies. History has already shown us what will happen when this restriction comes into place.

On the surface of the conversation, limiting wagering requirements obviously sounds like something that’s good for consumers. Everybody likes free money. The lower you push down wagering requirements the more like free money gambling bonuses become.

But this fails to take into consideration that the reasons that wagering requirements increased in the first place.

How Wagering Requirements Have Changed

In the early 2000s, when I first started playing, bonus wagering requirements routinely used to be 10xbonus. In the late 90s they were even lower than that. The industry didn’t start out wanting larger wagering requirements. They prioritised making the bonus terms attractive to players.

with low wagering requirements it was actually the player that had the advantage

Wagering requirements started to increase, in parallel with the introduction of other bonus restrictions like game limitations, because smart players became aware that with low wagering requirements it was actually the player that had the advantage any time that they were given a bonus. And with the rise of the internet, that information soon became widely available.

“Bonus abuse” as the industry likes to call it, became widespread, and with the rise of fraudulent practices like multi-accounting, bonuses started to represent a significant threat to the profitability of the sector. Like it or not, gambling is a business. For operators to remain profitable, they have to be able to sustain an advantage over players. Offering the chance to win to the individual, but knowing that across all players they will profit.

The industry’s response to the growing number of players who had a mathematical edge over the house due to bonuses was to add bonus restrictions that reduced their exposure. Some games started to be excluded from bonus play. Maximum bet caps were introduced. And wagering requirements rose.

Without these terms, bonuses become a massive liability for the sector. One that jeopardises the business model upon which the industry remains profitable.

Historic Parallels – How a New Jersey Lawsuit Made Blackjack Worse for All Players

History has shown us what happens when we restrict the industry’s ability to protect itself from winning players. In 1979, legendary card counting pioneer Ken Uston was barred from New Jersey casinos. This wasn’t a new experience for him. He’d been barred from casinos all over the world because he was a skilled, winning player. But this time he didn’t let the matter lie. Mr Uston took the casino to court, contesting that they were discriminating against winning players.

In the end the New Jersey Supreme Courts ruled that casinos could not backoff card counters.

How did the industry respond to this? They couldn’t allow players to consistently beat them, as that undermined their ability to sustain a profitable business. And now they weren’t allowed back off winning players, meaning they couldn’t target the players that were causing the problems. So they did the only thing they could do. They made the games worse for all players. They added more decks to their games and they shuffled more often. This increased the house edge over all players and detracted from the gaming experience for everyone. All so that Ken Uston couldn’t get backed-off.

every player that has sat down at a blackjack table in the state since has faced a more detrimental ruleset

I have a great deal of respect for Ken Uston as a pioneer in the field of advantage gambling, but his lawsuit in New Jersey handcuffed the industry, preventing them protecting their games. And in doing so, every player that has sat down at a blackjack table in the state since has faced a more detrimental ruleset.

History Repeats and Consumers Lose

What we’re seeing with the UKGC’s incoming restriction on wager requirements will have exactly the same consequence. 10xWR are unsustainable for gambling operators. And there are two responses to this that the industry will have to take:

i) Bonus offers will become far less attractive;

ii) Game RTP settings will be reduced to provide the house a greater edge over players.

Gambling will end up costing consumers more due to these regulations that are intended to improve the ecosystem for players.

Public Consultations Don’t Result in Effective Regulation

This move highlights the core limitations with basing policies on public consultation. Public consultations ask a question in a vacuum. Consumers are presented with a choice, without understanding the wider context or consequences of their decision. Respondents make a surface-level assessment of what is in their best interests, and all too often it ends up backfiring.

Public consultations are relied upon to give decision makers plausible deniability for the decisions that they reach. Rather than reaching informed decisions, based on evidence and knowledge of the likely outcomes, regulation morphs to the outcome of public consultation, regardless of whether or not this actually achieves what it was intended to achieve.

And the Black Market Wins!

Sitting behind all of this is the black market. And illegal gambling operators win big with the introduction of this type of restriction on the legal market.

The legal market is already struggling to compete with the black market, which can offer bigger and better bonuses due to lower overheads. With the introduction of this wagering requirement cap, the headline bonus offers that the legal market will be able to provide will degrade again, which will result in players migrating to the black market.

How to Make Bonuses Better

The Gambling Commission appears to have two core justifications for the introduction of this restriction:

i) That wagering requirements are confusing to players (“Such high wagering requirements could confuse consumers”)

and

ii) That high wagering requirements cause harm by leading players to play for longer than they ordinarily would (“lead them to gamble for longer, and faster, than they are used to”)With complete candor, I do not see how it can be argued that this policy reduces confusion for consumers at all. Is multiplying by one number a significantly different process to multiplying by a different number?

the more effective road is to make the wagering requirements clearer in promotional advertising

The only plausible grounds that I can see to claim that the cap makes wagering requirements less confusing would be that player’s don’t expect wagering requirements to be higher than 10x. If that is the argument that is being made, the more effective road is to make the wagering requirements clearer in promotional advertising.The second grounds for these policies, that of wagering requirements encouraging players to over play, is addressed simply by placing restrictions on bonus expiry dates. It’s not the wagering requirement itself that leads players to gamble for longer than they ordinarily would, it’s the fact that the promotion has a ticking clock built into it, meaning that if you don’t complete the wagering requirement within the state period, the bonus expires and you lose everything. If the desired result is to prevent players being forced into overplaying, then removing the expiry data and let players complete the wagering requirements at their leisure.

The Road to Hell…

The Gambling Commission is clearly well intentioned with its approach to this policy, but the likely outcome is bad for consumers, bad for the licensed market, and a win for illegal gambling. I sincerely hope the Gambling Commission will re-evaluate this policy before it comes into force.

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