SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.

A Biden-Harris Administration, Democratic Senate Paints Rosier Picture For Sports Betting Nationwide  

Could a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration be a positive for legal sports betting in the U.S., and online gaming more broadly? While gambling regulation is far down the list of U.S. priorities, the Nov. 3 presidential, Senate, and House elections will at some point have consequences for the industry. Taken as a whole, potential policy shifts and initiatives under a Biden-Harris administration appear more likely to create favorable conditions for industry proponents than exist right now.

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We’re Open: Virginia Lottery To Begin Accepting Sports Betting Applications Thursday

Virginia regulators appear to be right on schedule with launching sports wagering, preparing to accept applications this week with the permanent rules now posted in the Virginia Register. According to the Virginia Lottery website, operators, suppliers, and vendors may submit online applications beginning Oct. 15. The application window will be open until the end of October. Paper applications will not be accepted.

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NJ Sets Sports Betting Record, Shows How Casinos Can Keep Afloat—And Then Some—During Pandemic

Atlantic City casinos were only open to 25% capacity again last month, yet the nine casinos took in 3% more gross gaming revenue than they did the previous September when there were no such limitations.

How is that possible? It’s all thanks to online casino gaming.

While brick-and-mortar slots and table game revenues were down by $33.9 million (to $190.6 million) compared to September 2019, online casino brought in $87.6 million in September 2020, $46.5 million more than a year ago.

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It’s No Bluff — Live Poker Begins Returning To PA Casinos This Week

For Pennsylvania aficionados of live poker, it has been seven long months since they last held cards in their hands, folded, called, raised, bluffed, and — hopefully — at night’s end took a rack of chips to the cage to cash out.

They’ll be back at it soon.

The first announcements of planned poker room reopenings came this week from Mohegan Sun Pocono and Mount Airy Casino Resort, which aim to accept players under new operating guidelines starting at noon Friday.

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Century Casinos Adds Third Colorado Online Sports Betting Partner In Tipico

Century Casinos has secured an online sports betting partnership with German-based sportsbook provider Tipico, marking the company’s third sports gambling alliance with a sportsbook operator in the Centennial State.

The partnership is a 10-year agreement that includes a one-time market access fee, as well as a minimum annual revenue guarantee and a percentage share of net gaming revenue payable to Century Casinos each year. The company owns and operates two Colorado casinos — Century Casino & Hotels in Cripple Creek and Central City. Previously, Century Casinos signed two other internet sports betting partnerships in Colorado with Circa Sports and bet365.

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STATS Perform Outage Wreaks Havoc Across DFS Platforms

An outage that lasted through the weekend and continued into Tuesday originating at data provider STATS Perform significantly disrupted daily fantasy sports contests across multiple platforms and is still in the process of being resolved.

Platforms big and small reported delays for live in-game scoring throughout the weekend, which affected DFS contests starting Saturday for college football and continued into Sunday for NFL, MLB, and NASCAR contests. Many companies put out multiple tweets via their main Twitter feeds and customer service accounts alerting users to the outages and potential delays in live scoring and payouts, but that did not stop customers from venting their frustrations over the lack of statistical information and payouts.

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$3 Billion In National Sports Betting Handle Within Reach As September Figures Come In

Three states with legal, regulated online/mobile sports betting — Indiana, Iowa, and West Virginia — have reported their September sports betting handle figures already, and the two leading mobile betting states — New Jersey and Pennsylvania — are due to share their numbers toward the end of the week.

But we don’t have to wait for those two major Northeastern states to report to be able to confidently say this: September 2020 will smash all national sports betting records.

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