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00:00Our top story today, just percolating here over the last 10 minutes or so at Cleveland Browns training camp as Shadour Sanders, who had such a great week last week and was in line to play a lot this week, too, for the Browns, maybe being the biggest story in the NFL, honestly, in the month of August.
00:15That could be questionable. He left practice earlier today, several reports say with an oblique injury. So Sanders held out from the practice today with the games going on on Friday would seemingly be very difficult to project him actually playing in a game this weekend.
00:32And with Kenny Pickett out and Dylan Gabriel out and Joe Flacco was really the only viable starting quarterback that could mean Snoop Huntley plays this week.
00:40So keep an eye on that point spread for that preseason game coming up with the Browns this weekend.
00:45Meanwhile, three major sports books in Illinois, FanDuel, DraftKings, and Fanatics, have decided to take matters into their own hands with the state's new per-wager tax by introducing transaction fees on each bet placed.
00:59If you raise the percentage, we are going to make our own money on charging fees to place bets.
01:05The Illinois Gaming Board clarified the per-wager tax applies to all bets regardless of outcome, including those made with bonuses or even refunded on stake.
01:15FanDuel and DraftKings facing the state's 40% revenue tax and 50% wager charge may incur additional tax liabilities with these new transaction fees as well.
01:25Meanwhile, for those of you who are using the pay system called Venmo, which is certainly very popular, I use it occasionally, I used to use it a lot more.
01:35I know one person who's not going to be using it anymore, that's University of Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer.
01:40Did you hear this one?
01:41He's responding to these old Venmo transactions that he labeled as sports gambling on purchases that resurfaced on social media on his page on Twitter, otherwise known as X.
01:51Mateer denied ever placing any sports bets and said those transaction descriptions were inside jokes among friends.
01:58The transactions were from 2022 when he was a freshman at Washington University.
02:04For those unfamiliar with Venmo, you can label your transactions what you're purchasing with.
02:09So who knows how this ends up?
02:12The last thing that you want to do, by the way, on Venmo is make your transactions private.
02:16But who, how, why, public, who would ever want everybody knowing what you are purchasing online?
02:22It seems ridiculous.
02:23Okay, ridiculous money in the National Football League.
02:26I don't know, would you call it that for James Cook?
02:28Four years, $48 million.
02:29A running back gets $30 million guaranteed.
02:32So that Kyron Williams deal did become the precursor to the James Cook deal.
02:38$30 million is just above what Kyron got.
02:41And they're talking about him potentially playing every down, first, second, third down.
02:45Of course, they have Ray Davis in their backfield, too, who actually kicked an extra point.
02:50Did you miss that this weekend?
02:51Here's Brandon Bean on getting the job, and the deal done said it was not easy.
02:56Yeah, I mean, these are hard.
02:57They're never easy.
02:59I think you just try and keep working at it.
03:02And, you know, obviously this, you know, this was something that we had conversations back in the spring.
03:09We had to put pause, you know, push pause and, you know, focus on the draft and other things.
03:14And something that we said we would try to revisit when we got to training camp.
03:18And, you know, unfortunately, you know, you never want to hold in or hold out or any of that stuff.
03:26You want it all.
03:27But at the end of the day, we, you know, we wanted – you guys know our motto here.
03:32We want to draft and develop and re-sign.
03:34And that starts with Terry Pagula giving us – I mean, you guys know all the money we've doled out this offseason, you know.
03:44And, you know, this is another draft pick that we're proud of and excited to extend.
03:49And fortunately, late last night, we got it across the finish line.
03:53Yeah, meanwhile, we'll wait to see what happens with the Buffalo Bills this week.
03:58Will Josh Allen play?
04:00Most indications point to yes this week.
04:03Najee Harris running back for the Chargers, finally doing drills in Chargers practice.
04:07He's been out of practice since the early part of July.
04:11He had an incident with fireworks back on July 4th.
04:14Also, Jets apparently without Sauce Gardner at their practice today, suffering a calf issue.
04:20No word on that.
04:21Aaron Glenn's going to talk here after practice.
04:22I'm sure we'll get that for you soon.
04:24All right.
04:24The best story in sports right now, right, unequivocally, has got to be the Milwaukee Brewers.
04:30Folks, they've won 11 games in a row.
04:33A huge feat in Major League Baseball.
04:35Four runs off Paul Skeen's two.
04:3714 to nothing the final.
04:40Who hit home runs in the game yesterday?
04:41Bryce Terang.
04:43Caleb Dervin.
04:43How about this kid?
04:44Andrew Vaughn.
04:45The guy from the White Sox, former first-round pick.
04:47He's been great.
04:48Christian Jelich.
04:49And also, Sal Freelich.
04:50Yes, he had a home run, too.
04:52After the game, Freelich talked about this long winning streak for the Brew Crew.
04:55Sal, how do you describe being a part of this last, not just 11 games, but really the last couple of months?
05:02Yeah, it's been fun going out winning games.
05:05Everyone's clicking offense seems to be rolling, and, you know, I really think it starts with our starters in bullpen.
05:13They've done a great job.
05:14I think, obviously, you see we're scoring a ton of runs, but there's a lot of zeros and ones on the board every game, and that's a credit to them.
05:21How big is it to set the tone like that against schemes with a leadoff on them?
05:24Yeah, you know, I wanted to make sure I went up and had a quality of bat first and foremost, and I think it was just a little bonus that I was able to get one of the fans there.
05:32When you put together a streak like this, it's the consistency and reputation, but how do you do that in a game where there's so many different, facing different kinds of pitchers from a bat to a bat and from start to start?
05:42Yeah, I mean, that's our job, I guess.
05:47There's a lot of credit that goes to our hitting coaches, you know, Buffy, Connor, E.T., game planning these starters every day, bullpens on new teams that come in.
05:56Like, you know, we go up there fully confident, ready to go, committed to our plan, our approach, the one they give us, and as you can see, it's been working out.
06:05Shohei Ohtani homered for the fourth straight game, but it really hasn't made a difference.
06:10For some reason, the Dodgers cannot beat the Angels.
06:13They've lost all five times to them, including yesterday.
06:16They rallied to beat them 7-6 in 10 innings.
06:20Dodgers seemingly at a breaking point with the Angels.
06:24They can't beat them, but how about a breaking point in the season?
06:27Here's Dave Roberts on that.
06:29I feel like a just, I don't want to say breaking point or anything, but kind of does it feel like things are starting to kind of build up when it comes to the losses
06:37and maybe the pressure of getting back on track is coming a little quicker?
06:42You know, I don't know.
06:44I think that it's, you just got to play better baseball.
06:47You know, we got doubled off tonight.
06:50We got doubled off in a triple play situation.
06:56You know, just some things that we're also not helping ourselves, right, by playing good baseball.
07:01I think that tonight, I thought I saw some good things as far as Henriquez was really good tonight.
07:10You know, Emmitt found a way to get through five innings.
07:13But yeah, I mean, we still got to be better on all fronts.
07:17And now it's a new season.
07:21So, you know, you look at the standings and we just got to play better baseball and find ways to win games.
07:27Meanwhile, the New York Mets have a new all-time home run leader.
07:33It is Pete Alonzo.
07:34He passed Daryl Strawberry last night.
07:36Two home runs and the Mets beat the Braves 13-5.
07:40Also, big night for Roman Anthony of the Boston Red Sox.
07:44He's been great.
07:45And the Sox beat the Astros 14-1.
07:48Yankees get a big win yesterday as well.
07:50Judge, Stanton each go deep, 9-1 over the Twins.
07:53Mariners win their eighth in a row.
07:55Oh, 1-0 win over the Orioles.
07:57And Ketel Marte hit a home run for the Diamondbacks as they beat the Rangers by a final of 3-2.
08:02In December, sports betting goes live in the state of Missouri.
08:06It may be the only state to legalize sports betting in 2025.
08:10But the good news is we have Sam McQuillan in the house to talk about that.
08:13And also get to the very latest in New Jersey as well.
08:16Sam, thanks for coming on Newswire.
08:18Let's dive right in.
08:19December 1st is coming quick.
08:21I know the state of Missouri would have loved to have sports betting legal in September.
08:26They couldn't do that.
08:27But they will get the bowl games in.
08:28And they'll get the college football playoffs.
08:30And certainly, they'll get the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl as well.
08:34But they could be, I guess, the only ones, it feels like, Sam Wright, to go online this year.
08:39Yeah, definitely.
08:40When you talk about, you know, you have like 38 states that have already legalized sports betting.
08:44There's just not that many left.
08:45And the ones where it hasn't been able to happen, it's been the same kind of issues and roadblocks.
08:51You know, the Utahs of the world, the Georgias of the world doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon.
08:56So what's the latest in Missouri?
08:59See, as you mentioned, Craig, Missouri has a December 1st launch date where it has to go live in December by that date.
09:07Sports betting has to be up.
09:08So before then, you have a procedural process.
09:10You have rules that have to be passed, rules that have to be, you know, regulated back and forth with the applicants coming in.
09:18And you also have to approve the applicants coming in.
09:20Today, there is a meeting going on where three sports books that are applying for licenses.
09:26You've got Circa, DraftKings, and FanDuel all making presentations to the state why they deserve to get one of two untethered sports betting licenses.
09:35Now, that word untethered is important because there are licenses up for grabs if you partner with the state's casinos or the state's pro sports teams.
09:45But to do that, you have to, you know, agree to a deal with these entities and essentially pay the money and make less doing it.
09:51So you've got DraftKings and FanDuel, obviously two of the biggest sports books.
09:54If they don't get one of these untethered licenses, they could easily partner with one of the state's sports teams, one of the state's casinos.
10:00They have that relationship in place.
10:02For a company like Circa, which is much smaller, they kind of brand themselves as taking money from professional bettors, less, you know, kind of commercial bettors where they're not limiting people.
10:14And they're, you know, more of an option out there if you want to get a lot of money down as opposed to being a big business that squeezes more money out of their customers.
10:21This is important for them because they don't have as much capital as those other two companies.
10:25But for those other two companies as well, it's also about, you know, squeezing out competition, making sure that a smaller sports book like Circa maybe can't compete in the state.
10:35You've already got BetMGM and Bet365 that have partnered with the casinos and the sports teams in the state.
10:41They obviously come from companies with a lot of money, so it's not a problem for them there.
10:45But also today, you know, not just the, you know, application process.
10:49You're going to hear about the rules that are being put in place where you have this back and forth.
10:54You know, maybe a company says, you know, here's why this rule shouldn't exist.
10:57Here's, you know, how things work.
10:59You know, kind of this period where you hammer things out before it really goes live.
11:03So you've got a couple other key dates to watch here as well.
11:06On Friday, we should hear when the winner is announced for one of these untethered licenses.
11:11And then in September, you're going to have the final application for the rest of the licenses, the partner with the casinos and the sports books.
11:18November 30th, the rules should take effect.
11:20And then hopefully it's smooth sailing December 1st.
11:22You've got a launch and we're talking about a brand new big market that launches right kind of at the heart of college football season, bowl games, as well as NFL playoffs.
11:31The other big story in sports betting this year has been these sweepstakes and prediction markets.
11:36And I know, Sam, you have an update in New Jersey as it gets ready to basically decide whether or not they're still going to be online and live here over the next few months.
11:46What's the latest there?
11:48Yeah, really interesting development in New Jersey.
11:50A bill that would ban sweepstakes, casinos and sports books was already passed by the Senate.
11:55It actually would have taken effect tomorrow, Thursday, with or without the governor's signature.
12:01He's declined to act on it.
12:02So there's a 45-day deadline.
12:04If he doesn't take action, it goes into effect.
12:05But because the Assembly is in a recess right now, that deadline is basically on hold until lawmakers come back, which could be in November.
12:13We don't have an exact date for when the Assembly will reconvene.
12:16So it's kind of this strange loophole that gives the industry, the sweepstakes industry, essentially more time to lobby for a veto, to hopefully try to do something to get the governor to take action.
12:26Now, I don't think that's likely, but it does kind of create this window for these sweepstakes, casinos and sports books,
12:31which are essentially these unregulated online platforms that offer casino-style games.
12:37They allow people to make picks, much like a sports book, using virtual currency.
12:41But players can also, you know, play with real money that they deposit, as well as kind of this virtual currency that you can earn through promotions and different programs.
12:50So they operate this way to be ruled or be under the kind of the sweepstakes law that governs the U.S.
12:58as opposed to state sports betting laws or state online casino laws, which are much more strict.
13:04And, you know, a lot of players out there say that they basically do this because it feels like a casino.
13:09You know, it feels like a sports book.
13:10I think 90% of players say that the games likely are gambling.
13:14You've had states like New York, Louisiana, Connecticut, Nevada, California.
13:18There's a lawsuit all now kind of cracking down on these games in New Jersey, really just being the latest.
13:23But meanwhile, these two trade groups, which are really pushing to keep the games, the Social and Promotional Games Association, as well as the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance.
13:32This gives them more time to kind of, you know, make good on their issues or really outline their argument that they say the bill was kind of passed without hearing any, you know, industry stakeholder, any feedback from the sweepstakes themselves, from the industry, and really appeasing kind of the, you know, casino interest in New Jersey.
13:51Obviously, it's a big casino state.
13:53So if they can maybe make a better argument here, that could, you know, throw a wrench into things.
13:58Otherwise, I would say whenever, you know, the recess is over and the assembly gets back together, it probably will go in effect and be banned in New Jersey.
14:06But in the meantime, they're allowed to keep operating until it takes effect.
14:10Let's close it out with a discussion that really helps responsible gaming, especially with this company called BetBlocker that allows people who simply don't want access to ads and be able to go online and bet.
14:23Maybe it's, you know, something to do with the individual personally, a new partnership involved there.
14:28And I just wonder, Sam, if this is the wave of the future, too, because I know that there are a lot of folks out there who may have had experiences in the past and have just decided that betting is not for them.
14:38Yeah, definitely so, Craig.
14:39I would say this is where the industry is trending.
14:41You've got BetBlocker, which is a free voluntary gambling blocking service, which launched in the United Kingdom in 2019.
14:49They block access to over 118,000 gambling sites and over 1,500 apps.
14:55Essentially, when you want to block yourself off or, you know, you think you have a problem or you're overdoing it, you can either schedule a cooling off period where you can access these sites later on.
15:05You can schedule a period of the year, maybe football season where you know you're going to go overboard or you can just indefinitely block yourself, not just from one app like a DraftKings or a FanDuel, but from all these sites out there, as well as a lot of offshore and unregulated sites, which is very important because, you know, when people don't have access to the legal market, they usually have access to the unregulated market.
15:26So yesterday, they announced a partnership with ROGA, which is the Responsible Online Gaming Association.
15:32We've talked about a couple of times on the show.
15:34It's this new group that's being pushed by the top eight U.S. sportsbooks.
15:39I think they represent about 90% of the market that they've created to kind of pool resources together to combat problem gambling as a unit, as an industry, as opposed to just kind of on their own, which is pretty important because it's hard enough to get one kind of company on the same page with itself.
15:55So getting eight on the same page is a really big development in this space as well.
16:00The fact that they've partnered with BetBlocker, which kind of does the technology they've been talking about for them.
16:05They've talked about having one sort of online clearinghouse where if you're blocked from one sportsbook, you can't go to another.
16:11They've likened it to getting kicked out of a bar if you've had too much to drink.
16:14That means you can't go and walk into another bar and cause a problem there.
16:18So, you know, it's a small stepping stone.
16:20I think it's kind of hard to get these technological, a lot harder to get these things done than you would think, especially when you have all these companies coming together.
16:29But, you know, them partnering with a company that's been doing it for years in the U.K., I think is really important.
16:34And hopefully it builds on more progress here when we talk about responsible gaming, when we talk about problem gambling, gambling and what the industry can do to combat a problem that sometimes people see it benefiting from.
16:45Sam, as always, great stuff. Thanks for coming on the show. I'm sure we'll catch up later in the week. Thanks for coming on Newswire.
16:52Yep. Appreciate it, Craig.
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