Raven Rising

About Raven Rising

As the annual US Sports Equinox nears in the coming weeks, a contingent of professional sports leagues made waves on Tuesday with the release of a groundbreaking collaboration aimed at curbing harassment of athletes from frustrated bettors.

At a time when sports betting and predictions have reached a fever pitch, the majority of the country’s most prominent sports leagues, along with their player unions, sent a memo dated 15 September to a contingent of 35 state gaming authorities. Among proposed regulatory actions, the leagues recommend mandatory lifetime bans for individuals deemed to have “abusively harassed or issued threats of violence” against any professional athlete.

The leagues, including the National Basketball Association and the National Football League, submitted the memo as Texas Senator Ted Cruz works assiduously to pass a landmark federal framework for college athletics. While the NCAA is not a signatory to Tuesday’s letter, the advisory also urges states to pass mandatory bans for individuals who threaten “amateur athletes” along with coaches, officials and team personnel.

What is Raven Rising?

Four of the investigations – those involving Resorts World Las Vegas, MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and the Venetian – centred around AML violations related to illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who was placed on the state’s exclusion list in April. The other case involving Wynn Las Vegas did not pertain to play from Bowyer.

Wynn forfeited $130 million to the federal government for a slew of proxy betting violations, which was “believed to be the largest forfeiture by a casino based on admissions of criminal wrongdoing”, per federal prosecutors.

Internally, the board has also been hard at work revising and overhauling several sets of regulations, including rules for gaming salons, AML reporting and now technical standards. Dreitzer represents the fifth NGCB chair to take office since 2019, and the partial term he inherited runs through January 2027.

About Raven Rising

A quarter of respondents said they use both prediction markets and sportsbooks depending on the event they’re considering wagering on. While the 35% reduced use figure may sound like a warning shot to gaming companies, a variety of other studies and surveys indicate that when bettors can choose between a sportsbook and an all-or-nothing exchange, they frequently opt for the former.

While sports event contracts are currently the tentpole category for the prediction market industry, data indicate bettors and traders are embracing other categories.

Fullstory points out that while 62% of consumers have dabbled in sports event contracts, 42% traded economic or financial derivatives on a prediction market while a comparable percentage transacted in an election or political event contract. More than a quarter traded at least one entertainment or pop culture derivative.