THIS WEEK IN SPORTS BETTING NEWS – DECEMBER 31ST, 2021

Chris Altman Sports Betting Expert

5 minute read

US Sportsbooks · Bonus Codes · Betting News · Special Update

OHIO SPORTS BETTING IS NOW LAW

After a surprise compromise between the Ohio State Senate and the House, HB 29 was able to earn enough signatures to make it to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk earlier in December 2021. Now, DeWine has put ink to paper, and sports betting is legal and on the books in the Buckeye State.

Licenses are expected to be available after the Ohio Casino Control Commission establishes license requirements and frameworks necessary for operators to enter the market. The timeline for this happening is a bit murky, but there is a hard date set by the text of HB 29: sports betting licenses must be made available by January 2023.

After that point, licenses will be made available on a provisional basis through June 2023, likely involving “soft launches” with a limited number of customers or operating hours. The details of this provisional license process remain undecided, but what is certain: betting, to begin by 2023, will include bets on esports and traditional sports, but fixed odds wagers on horse races will not be allowed.

NJ CASINOS GET A TAX BREAK

Four out of the nine Atlantic City casinos were reportedly ready to close their doors after looking at revenue streams over 2021, noting that tax requirements would hemorrhage money moving forward into 2022. The alarm was sounded by Steve Sweeney, a (departing) member of the NJ State Senate and a proponent of legal betting in the state.

A pre-existing law would allow AC casinos to make payments to Atlantic City, Atlantic County, and the NJ school system, but would still require casinos to make property taxes based on their revenue streams.

The Casino Association of New Jersey stated that this new measure, passed by Gov. Phil Murphy in December 2021, will protect casinos at risk of closing by reducing the overall burden of these payments. Without the bill, their payments would be set to rise by 50% of their overall revenue, as opposed to a $10-$15 million payout to the county, city, and school districts.

The bill reducing this overall tax burden was signed on December 21, 2021, and is expected to protect the jobs of thousands of casino and gambling employees in Atlantic City.

SPORTS BETTING PRODUCTS ANNOUNCED IN WESTERN CANADA

Scientific Games, a leading provider of betting technology and backend services in the US, will be entering the market in Western Canada. Tedda Sandercock, Western Canada Lottery Corporation’s President of IT, has announced a partnership between Scientific Games and the WCLC.

Said partnership a wider availability of sportsbooks in Western Canada, particularly Alberta, whose provincial gaming authority has also announced plans to partially open up their market to commercial operators. This means that not only the Alberta provincial lottery will be able to provide sports betting in the provinces (through PlayAlberta)– the market will open up to a limited number of commercial entities.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba will also benefit from the WCLC’s partnership with Scientific Games, as betting opportunities are less prevalent there. Bets will be limited to $100 wagers at the outset of the legal betting program spearheaded by WCLC and Scientific, which is taking a slow approach to introduce Western Canadian gamers to the online sports betting market.

ONTARIO GOV’T. SUPPORTS LEGAL SPORTS BETTING FRAMEWORK

Ontario’s provincial auditor released a recent report warning of the dangers of expanding a legal sports betting framework to commercial operators (including so-called “gray market” or “offshore” vendors), which seemed to slow the progress of that expansion. Those delays pushed the release of commercial apps in Ontario well into 2022, but other officials have indicated more confidence in the program.

Doug Downey, Ontario Attorney General, had an official statement released from his office:

“Ontario is committed to creating a competitive new online gaming market to help protect consumers. Ontario has carefully designed the online gaming model so as to achieve that objective in compliance with the requirements of the Criminal Code that apply to Ontario.”

The key words here being compliant and competitive: it’s clear from this statement from Ontario’s AG that the law is on the side of the commercial sports betting program, and the executive powers of Canada will defend Ontario’s ability to bet with commercial operators.

When those bets will actually be available, however, remains uncertain: best estimates put the release of commercial sports betting licenses in Ontario in early 2022 at best. Until tax rates are solidified and licensure processes become more clear, we’re not expecting (but quietly hoping) that Ontarians will be able to bet on the NFL’s Super Bowl in February 2022.

Written by Chris Altman, our US Sports Betting Industry expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.

Chris Altman

Chris Altman is a sports betting writer and content expert with almost a decade of experience. He's covered everything, but his current focus is on reviewing sportsbooks and online casinos and keeping tabs on sports betting legislation. Chris has been with VegasInsider since 2019 and has freelanced in the sports betting content industry for years. More from Chris Altman