Nevada gambling regulators may be poised to adjust sports betting rules to protect consumers and bookies from schemes involving underperforming players like those uncovered by the Justice Department last month involving organized crime and current and former NBA players.
In two sportsbook-related licensing requests Wednesday, Nevada Gaming Control Board members sought advice from license applicants on how to prevent cheating resulting from athletic underperformance and how it affects proposition gambling.
In October, 31 people were charged with fraud related to “insider trading” on sports betting. The Justice Department alleges that people placed bets knowing a player was injured or planning to sit out a game, knowing their stats would be below normal.
Players who knew when a teammate was injured or would sit out a game or people who deliberately underperformed to affect the outcome of a game passed that information on to players to win thousands of dollars.
Ban is not the answer
Joe Asher, president and CEO of Boomer’s Sportsbook, whose license application to establish a race and sportsbook at Ojos Locos Sports Cantina y Casino in North Las Vegas was recommended for approval Wednesday, said an outright ban on sports betting propositions is not the answer to the problem.
“When you read in the press about banning prop gambling, I think that’s a negative, because it just drives people into the black market or the unregulated market,” Asher said.
“But I think there’s room for regulation around this because what’s important is that in a given jurisdiction all operators play by the same rules and the same standards apply to everyone and betting offerings can have some consequence. So there’s no fear of ‘well, if we don’t offer this but our competitor will lose business to’ maybe we will lose.”
Board members also sought proposals from Dan Shapiro, chief development officer for Caesars Digital, who oversees William Hill, whose sportsbook would take over Betfred’s gaming operations at the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite.
Shapiro said William Hill employees are instructed to notify the control board when they discover suspicious betting patterns. He said the company’s books refunded money to customers on questionable bets on the UFC featherweight fight between Isaac Dugarian and Yadier del Valle in Las Vegas over the weekend.
The board of supervisors unanimously recommended William Hill’s licensing at Virgin River despite board member George Assad’s concerns that the company has a dominant market position in the state with about 100 books nationwide.
The board also unanimously recommended conditional approval of Boomer’s licensing of Ojos Locos. The applicant would have to appear in two years on the license because an investigation found unsatisfactory accounting by the management of Ojos Loco. There are no restrictions on Boomer’s run of the book, which will be the fifth Boomer’s location in the state.
Both licenses will be considered for final approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission on November 20. Both operators hope to begin operations at their respective locations on November 21, in time to bid for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Red Rock Licensing
The Board of Supervisors, meeting in Carson City, also recommended the key employee license for Bobbie Sue Rihel, vice president of the small property division at Red Rock Resorts Station Casinos.
If approved by the Gaming Commission, Rihel would oversee multiple Wildfire properties throughout the Las Vegas Valley. The board also recommended the licensing as a member, manager, officer and key manager of secretary and senior vice-president Jeffrey Welch and treasurer and senior vice-president Stephen Cootey for The Den LV, which is being acquired by Station and converted into one of its Seventy Six-branded pubs.
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