SportsHandle: That was the week that was in US sports betting

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

Connecticut Lottery Gets 15 Bids For Sports Betting

Connecticut Lottery officials announced Monday that they had received 15 Request for Qualifications (RFQ) responses as bids to offer sports betting as of last Friday’s deadline.

The lottery issued the RFQ April 12 to “qualified and experienced sports betting solution providers for online and retail sports wagering systems and services.”

“We are pleased to see significant interest from companies who would like to partner with the CLC to bring our online and retail sports betting offering to market,” Rob Simmelkjaer, chairman of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, said in a statement.  “Our staff and board will now begin a process of carefully reviewing the qualifications of the submitting parties as we work towards choosing the right partner in this important initiative for our state.”

Full story here.

Churchill Downs Is Horse Racing’s Biggest Brand — But Is The Company Trampling The Sport?

In February, 326 acres of prime real estate went up for sale in the Village of Arlington Heights, an affluent suburb located about 30 miles from downtown Chicago. As described in a press release, the available property’s “ideal location in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, together with direct access to downtown Chicago via an on-site Metra rail station, presents a unique redevelopment opportunity. We expect to see robust interest in the site and look forward to working with potential buyers, in collaboration with the Village of Arlington Heights, to transition this storied location to its next phase.”

Full story here.

Is The Barstool Online Sportsbook A Success Or Failure In Michigan? Well …

Michigan was, is, and continues to be the canary in the Barstool Sportsbook coal mine.

For the Penn National Gaming sportsbook, Michigan was the second state in which it launched after Pennsylvania. The big difference with this launch — which happened Jan. 22 — was that Barstool was at the starting gate with everyone else. In Pennsylvania, they were late to the party. In Michigan — and thanks to Barstool Sportsbook’s face, Dave Portnoy — they were the party. Portnoy and his team descended into Michigan and decamped at the Greektown Casino. And when Portnoy wasn’t on his Twitter live feed or placing bets, he was out in the community, helping local businesses and sampling pizza.

Full story here.

NY Gaming Commission Clears Up Some Complexities In Mobile Sports Wagering Process With Detailed FAQ Memo

Though New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the 2022 fiscal year budget into law last week, the rollout of mobile sports betting in the Empire State still remained shrouded in ambiguity despite the breakthrough.

Besieged by requests from stakeholders to clarify a number of pressing issues, the New York State Gaming Commission responded swiftly with a detailed Friday afternoon news dump. The commission, which has been tasked with running the competitive bidding process for awarding the state’s mobile sports wagering contracts, issued a 10-page memo April 23, shortly before the end of the work week. The memo contains 92 questions and answers posted by the commission in an attempt to assuage stakeholder concern on how the intense selection process will work.

Full story here.

Hold Your Bets: Florida’s Tribal Sports Betting Compact Is Rife With Roadblocks

Last week, a gaming compact that lays the groundwork for legal sports betting in Florida was signed between Seminole Tribe Chairman Marcellus Osceola and Gov. Ron DeSantis. But a word of caution to anyone who thinks they’ll be able to lay down a wager any way other than maybe in person at a Seminole-operated casino this year: Slow your roll.

The compact between the tribe and the state is only the first step to legalizing sports betting, and it is fraught with issues that could lead to the U.S. Department of the Interior denying it or to any number of potential stakeholders taking legal action. A tribal-state compact means those two parties have agreed to what sports betting operations will look like in a state, but it does not expressly legalize it, nor does it necessarily take into consideration what other stakeholders might want or need.

Full story here.

Colorado Appears To Be ‘Punching Above Its Weight’ On The Eve Of Sports Betting Anniversary

As the one-year anniversary of legal sports betting in Colorado approaches, there are clear signals that the Centennial State is batting above its expected average.

Around this time last year, mobile sports betting debuted in Colorado when four sportsbooks launched on May 1, 2020 – BetMGM, BetRivers, DraftKings, and FanDuel. The timing was not propitious. Weeks earlier, the doors of every retail casino statewide closed, forced shut by the COVID-19 pandemic. A freeze of the majority of top global sports left the books with slim pickings – limited to offerings on obscure sports such as Korean baseball, table tennis, and sumo wrestling.

Full story here.