News In Brief: December 30, 2024-January 3, 2025

When lawmakers return to Oklahoma City to begin the 2025 legislative session on February 3, another opportunity to legalize sports betting will be waiting for them. 

Senate Bill 125, authored by Republican state Senator Dave Rader, would amend the state’s Model Tribal Gaming Compact to allow tribes to offer retail sports betting and mobile wagering. The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission would promulgate rules and regulate tribal sports betting.

Rader’s bill would tax sports betting at 5 percent of the first $5m of annual net revenue, 6 percent of the next $5m in revenue, and 7 percent of any revenue above $10m. The tribe is entitled to keep an amount equal to state payments from the operation of sports pools.

Oklahoma tribes hold gambling exclusivity, meaning at least four tribes would need to agree to amend their compact agreement to offer wagering on sports. SB 125 should have a difficult time getting through the Oklahoma legislature given the struggle to pass any sports-betting-related bills since Republican Kevin Stitt became governor in 2018. 

Last year, Republican Senator Casey Murdock’s proposal did not move beyond the Senate Appropriations Committee. Senate Bill 1434 would have had the Oklahoma Lotter Commission regulate sports betting.

As of January 1, 2024, advance-deposit wagering (ADW) companies are no longer permitted to accept wagers on horse races from Michigan residents, according to the state gaming regulators. 

In Michigan, simulcast and ADW are required to be tied to a live race meet, and there are no racetracks in the state licensed to conduct live “thoroughbred or standardbred” horseracing. The Paulick Report states the last thoroughbred race run in the state was at Hazel Park in 2018.

The Northville Downs standardbred track has been conditionally approved to run two harness racing meets between April 29 and June 30 and August 12 to September 27, but the track has not received full licensing approval from the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB). 

Racetracks need to receive approval to run 30 days of live racing to operate simulcasting and ADW. Northville Downs closed on February 4, 2024, after hosting a ten-day meet and was ordered by the MGCB to freeze its simulcast purse account.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has reduced the fine it assessed NorthStar Gaming in October after the company provided regulators with information and was found not to have violated geolocation rules established by Standard 3.02.

“As a result, the AGCO has withdrawn the C$10,000 portion of the penalties relating to Standard 3.02 and NorthStar has agreed to pay the remaining penalties,” the AGCO said in a statement.

In October, the AGCO fined NorthStar Gaming C$30,000 for failing to ensure that its site, NorthStarBets.ca, was accessible only to players in Ontario and other violations.

The remaining C$20,000 of the penalties were for NorthStar’s failure to respond in a timely manner to AGCO’s repeated requests for information about the alleged access to the site from outside Ontario.

Land-based casinos in Ohio are now able to accept mobile driver’s licenses for age and identity verification, according to state gaming regulators.

Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati, Hollywood Casino Columbus, Hollywood Casino Toledo and JACK Casino Cleveland will be able to accept the licenses, which residents can add to their Apple wallets. Patrons can show the mobile license on a phone or Apple watch.

“From a regulatory perspective, accurate, safe and secure identification for entry into Ohio’s casinos is foundational to ensuring the integrity of casino gaming,” said Tom Stickrath, chair of the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC).

“The Ohio Mobile ID leverages cutting-edge technology to provide a simple and secure method for verifying age and identity,” Stickrath said. 

Ohio driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet offer a convenient and secure companion to the physical plastic card but do not replace an individual’s physical card.

Residents of Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, California, Puerto Rico, and New Mexico may also present a mobile driver’s license.

A bill that revises down the penalty for underage gambling in New Jersey to a civil penalty, as well as requires any fines from such an offense be used to fund problem gambling treatment, has been advanced in the state's Assembly.

Assembly Bill 5086, co-sponsored by Representatives Anthony Verrelli, a Democrat, and Claire Swift, a Republican, was approved by a 6-0 vote by the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee and sent to the full Assembly for further consideration.

New Jersey law requires persons to be at least 21 years old to gamble in land-based casinos, with iGaming and sports-betting sites, or play the state lottery. Under current state law, anyone under the age of 21 who gambles at a casino or simulcasting facility is guilty of a misdemeanor disorderly persons offense.

Under the three-page bill, offenders found guilty of underage gambling would face a fine of up to $500 for the first offense, up to $1,000 for the second offense, and up to $2,000 for any offense thereafter.

The bill also categorizes offenders of underage gambling as those age 21 or older who permit an underage person in their care to place a wager. Any “licensee or employee of a casino who allows someone under the age of 21 to gamble" would be subject to the same civil penalties as the offenders themselves.