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00:00So without further ado, let's get to our top story, which is a big one for the sports betting
00:05company, as you know, called DraftKings, making a significant announcement, but not really giving
00:12too much away with it. I'll explain. Tuesday, DraftKings says that they've acquired a Commodity
00:18Futures Trading Commission license derivative called RailBird. Let me put this in layman's
00:23terms. They want to get into the predictions market, does DraftKings. They're seeing all
00:27these other companies launch in states where sports betting is not legal and prediction markets
00:32apparently is unregulated and operating, saying that we are excited about the additional opportunity
00:37that prediction markets could represent for our business. This is from Jason Robbins. He's the
00:42co-founder and CEO. Also saying that RailBird's team and platform combined with DraftKings positions us
00:49to win in the incremental space. So what does it mean? It means get ready to see DraftKings open
00:55up the prediction markets in states where they don't have legal access to sports betting.
01:00Stay tuned. Last night in the National Basketball Association, the Golden State Warriors ended up
01:05getting a win against the Los Angeles Lakers. Nice games from both Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry,
01:12and both perfect at the free throw line, by the way, last night. Curry and Butler going 100%
01:18from the line. Butler 16 of 16, by the way, in free throws. Wow. All right. So Golden State gets off
01:24to a good start in L.A., although it looks to me like the game could have been closer based on a few
01:29breaks for the Lakers. That's not exactly the way that it turned out. Let's hear from Steph Curry on
01:34getting off to a better start this season. Not getting too ahead of ourselves. You know, we know how
01:40we started last year and know where it went from there. It's just for us, every game is an opportunity
01:46to get better. You know, that's the greatest answer you wanted in the sense of we're just plotting our way
01:52through night after night. The way the preseason went this year is kind of interesting because
01:58there's three totally different styles that we played in a row, Portland, L.A., the Clippers.
02:04This week is kind of the same vibe with Denver and Portland back to back. So just for us is how
02:12can you switch the game plan quickly to understand how Denver plays, knowing their tendencies, knowing
02:17how great Jokic is, him and Murray. So like, and then some of the additions they have, but
02:22take a game at a time and enjoy, you know, this process.
02:27That group that was out there for most of the fourth to generate good shots, that's just the
02:33reality of who those guys are right now. And that's not an excuse for, you know, a lack of toughness,
02:46a lack of just on court. Hey, let's, let's figure this out and play a little harder.
02:54Maybe the first game of the season in the NBA is going to end up being one of the best
02:58crazy overtime to overtime last night between the Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder.
03:05Shea Gilgis Alexander, the reigning MVP, got his ring and the Thunder got their win, but it wasn't
03:10easy. 125 to 124, the final, as much as you could possibly ask for in the first game of
03:17the season. That's what ended up happening. But a nice opening, by the way, I thought for
03:21NBA on NBC as well. You can see they got their championship rings. And in case you missed
03:26it, they got a ring. Their championship rings have a little ring inside the ring. We're going
03:30to have to dive into that at some point too. Anyway, here's SGA on the opening ceremonies
03:35and getting the victory. You had the ring ceremony before, but just curious, you were, you showed
03:41as much joy as I think we outwardly see from you during that whole thing. What was that like
03:45for you? Yeah, it was surreal. Yeah. I don't know how to describe it besides that. It was,
03:52it was super fun though. Seeing the banner raise was cool too. Knowing that it'll be up there
03:58forever. And we were the first group to bring the city championship is a, it was a pretty special
04:03feeling. And we had plenty of opportunity to win it. And we made enough mistakes to lose
04:09it. And that's what ended up happening. But, oh, there are plenty of positive takeaway,
04:13like you said. I think, you know, some game plan specifics that got away from us in the
04:18second half, especially in the zone with Gilgis Alexander. You know, forced him to certain
04:23areas and he got away from that. He did a good job in the first half and kind of kept him
04:26a check and then just, you know, missed free throws and fouling shooters. And, um, and then
04:32some of the late fouls that we had fouled to give, um, we wanted to hit and trap some guys
04:37we didn't. So plenty of takeaways. We've got to be able to play and, and follow some instruction
04:42and it hurt us in the key moments. Let's get to some football. We're going to get some updates
04:48on injuries today in the national football league, get a clearer picture. We got some pictures
04:52yesterday coming in. Of course, there's a Thursday night football game. So naturally
04:56we're going to learn a little bit here. We'll get to the Vikings in just a minute. They play
04:59Thursday night. Uh, first yesterday, Woody Johnson at a separate event outside of the
05:04NFL made some interesting comments following the team's, uh, struggles. In fact, Johnson,
05:08of course, has been under fire as have the jets. They haven't won a game this season
05:12and their quarterback play has been pretty poor and, uh, Johnson essentially, uh, you know,
05:17making a little sarcastic joke. It sounds like with the media about the quarterback
05:21play. What's your confidence level in Aaron to turn it around? Well, it looks like he's
05:27turning around parts of it. You know, it's hard when you have a quarterback with, uh, you
05:32know, with a rating that, uh, that we've got, you know, it's, I mean, he has stability, but
05:38something just is not jiving. But if you look at any, any head coach of the quarterback like
05:44that, you're going to see similar results. If you will cross the league, you have to play
05:48consistently with, you know, at that position and, uh, and that's what we're going to try
05:55to do for the remainder of the season. So what gives you hope then? I just think defense,
06:01special teams are doing better. Defense is pretty good. And if we could just complete a
06:08pass, it would look good. You know, we've got to complete some, you got to convince them
06:13that you can do something. Otherwise it's hard to have, uh, you know, have a game that,
06:19uh, you could win. I like it. Keeping it simple. Just got to complete passes by the way. Tyrod
06:25Taylor is supposed to potentially start this week for the jets. Uh, looks like he's questionable
06:30going into the game with a knee issue. So it could be Justin Fields again. Meanwhile,
06:33the Vikings make a decision on Thursday night. It's going to be Carson Wentz. It looks like
06:38their head coach, Kevin O'Connell wanted to turn potentially to JJ McCarthy, but he told
06:42the media yesterday he's not ready. I wanted to give you guys just an update earlier this
06:46morning. Uh, we did put, uh, JJ McCarthy through an on-field workout, uh, just to see, uh, if
06:52he had a chance, uh, to, to make it this week. Uh, you know, JJ, the medical staff, myself,
06:58we're all kind of encouraged about where he's at and the progress he's making. Um, but he's
07:02just not there. Um, and if this was a Sunday game, maybe it would, would be a little bit
07:07of a different story and we could push it throughout the week and, and, uh, see where he's at towards
07:11the end of the week. But really I look at today almost as, uh, the combination of,
07:16uh, Wednesday, Thursday, but really it is a Friday on the timeline of coming up on being
07:2048 hours out from the game. So we wanted to have a plan at the quarterback position and
07:25it'll be very similar to last week. Carson will start Max will be the backup and JJ will
07:30be available in the case of emergency as the third. Um, and, uh, like I said, encouraged
07:36about where he's at, um, and, uh, very much looking forward to continuing, uh, his progression
07:42and hopefully having a chance, uh, to go next week and, and, uh, we'll keep you guys posted
07:47on that. Meanwhile, the tush push continues to be looked at and figuring out better ways
07:53to officiate it. Troy Vincent, the executive vice president of the NFL says they're going
07:57to keep working on it, figure out how to do it. This could be the last year of the tush
08:01push. It certainly feels like it. All right. A fine for players not being hurt, but pretending
08:06they are Texas a and M $50,000 for faking an injury in their game this past week for
08:13defensive back Tyreek Chappelle, also Clemson's wide receiver, Bryant Wesco out for the remainder
08:18of the season, 500 yards, six touchdowns. He's good. Arizona state also find $50,000 for
08:24fans storming the field this past weekend. Welcome back to newswire here on sports grid,
08:29big news in the world of sports betting and things that are not sports betting here in
08:34the United States. Let's bring in Sam McQuillan from legal sports report. DraftKings Sam makes
08:40an announcement that if all these other companies are going to be operating in states that are
08:45not legal to bet on sports, we're going to jump on in and do the same thing. I would imagine
08:50FanDuel probably will follow suit as long as these prediction markets, Sam, which feel
08:55like gambling and they're not gambling or, uh, I don't even want to say legal, but unregulated.
09:00Then I think DraftKings has no choice to jump into the field. Don't they?
09:04Yeah, that's definitely the vibe we're getting across the industry right now, where you have
09:09DraftKings just after FanDuel made a similar move, uh, announcing that they're acquiring
09:13Railbird Exchange yesterday, which is a CFTC licensed exchange, which will allow DraftKings
09:20to launch a new product. It's going to call DraftKings predictions, which, you know, as you
09:24guessed it, is a prediction market, um, in states where there is no legal sports betting.
09:30Now, importantly, the release DraftKings put out yesterday did not mention that it would
09:34be doing sports, uh, prediction markets. You know, there's other markets, of course,
09:38you can bet on things like what will President Trump tweet about today. You can even bet on
09:42a prediction market, whether or not DraftKings will launch a prediction market this year.
09:47Uh, DraftKings not saying they're getting into sports yet. Although, uh, a lot of analysts
09:51that I've talked to who watch this for financial reasons have said, no, they're definitely going
09:56to launch a sports prediction market before the end of the year. And, you know, check
10:00the calendar. We only have about a month left. So, um, there could be even more big news in
10:04this space. Um, kind of, you know, any day, we don't really know when it's going to come,
10:08but this is really important because, you know, companies like Kalshi and Polymarket have
10:12been offering these sports prediction markets, which as you say, some people say it is sports
10:17betting. Some people say it's not sports betting. The CFTC has not gotten involved.
10:21You have a number of states suing. I think six have filed lawsuits to say it is sports
10:25betting. But meanwhile, these companies have taken, you know, just a tremendous amount of
10:29volume. Kalshi is now worth about $5 billion, similar number for Polymarket. And it's all
10:35on the back of, you know, the sports betting that's being offered in states like California
10:40and states like Texas, where DraftKings and FanDuel haven't been able to get in. So DraftKings
10:45announcing yesterday that it's acquiring this exchange and it's going to the election market
10:50kind of gives it some leverage to switch it on whenever maybe it does want to do it.
10:54Now, some states have warned as well that if DraftKings or FanDuel or anybody else does
10:58these sports prediction markets, those states are going to view that as unlicensed sports
11:02betting. And that could jeopardize their licenses in places like Arizona, places like Ohio, Nevada,
11:08and I'm told a growing number of states are going to issue that same guidance as well.
11:11So it's sort of a leverage thing right now where DraftKings, you know, their stock has been
11:15taking a hit as Kalshi and Polymarket have been doing sports betting in states that DraftKings
11:20can't, while DraftKings is now preparing to do it, but obviously doesn't want to piss off
11:24states as well. The CFTC, meanwhile, has really not weighed in at all. So maybe that will come
11:30down the road too. But yeah, this could all really just rapidly change in about a month
11:35because, you know, before the new year, there's not much time. So FanDuel, DraftKings, both kind
11:40of making similar plays here. Yeah, it's a fascinating story to see how this goes. I cannot
11:45imagine nothing is ever said on this subject, but that's where we are right now. It's really wild.
11:50Okay. Well, while this is happening, it looks like the government definitely has their eyes on some of
11:57the right prizes, as we would say here, because through legalized sports betting, they've been
12:01able to follow some of these potential illegal moves that have been making in the sports betting
12:07markets. And I know that, Sam, a story broke late last week about some potential irregularities
12:12in college basketball. And the regulated market maybe was able to help figure this out. But is
12:18there more coming with the story? Are they legitimately finding that there could be some
12:23illegal business going on with the student athletes as well?
12:27Yeah. Anytime the FBI and the U.S. Attorney Office is involved in a sports betting case,
12:34there's definitely, you know, some serious things are going to shake here. There's
12:37definitely more to come. You had this integrity monitoring firm called IC360, which works like
12:43you mentioned, Craig, with the regulated sports betting market to identify any suspicious betting
12:48patterns. They found what they're calling an illegal gambling syndicate, basically a ring
12:53that organized a very similar pattern of bets across 13 states and Canada targeting small conference
13:00schools in college basketball. These are schools like Eastern Michigan, Temple, New Orleans. And I
13:06don't think it's any coincidence that over the past year, we've also seen athletes at those schools
13:10suspended or banned for being allegedly involved in illegal gambling, manipulating their performance.
13:17These were bets that took place last year from December to January. So only a small amount of time.
13:23But it said that they targeted these first half point spreads at these smaller schools. You know,
13:28of course, maybe those can fly under the radar versus programs like Duke or UNC, where there's a lot more
13:33attention kind of paid to it. But the flip side of that is if there is a regular betting patterns at
13:38smaller schools, that's going to be flagged pretty easily. One of the guys who's been named in this
13:43case, actually, as a potential suspect, is a Mississippi man named Marv's Fairley, who sells picks
13:48online. And he's also he has also relation to Shane Hennon, who is a co-conspirator in the Jonte Porter
13:56NBA case, if you remember that Jonte Porter, suspended for life last year for manipulating
14:02his performance on different games. So they think that this ring kind of has bigger ties to different
14:06things going on behind the scenes and gambling that's maybe not so legal, not so great. But I
14:12would say, you know, this could be a case of the regulated market working like it's supposed to
14:16catching bad actors. This could also be a case of, you know, just as sports betting becomes more
14:22more mainstream and more a part of our daily lives, you know, it promoting this kind of behavior as
14:26well. So I want to make sure that we're not saying that, you know, this is all great that this is being
14:31caught. It's definitely not good that it's being caught. It's good that we are catching it. But the
14:35fact that we keep talking about stuff more and more like this is is not a good thing. So we'll see what
14:40shakes in this case. Again, there's no formal charges have been filed. We don't know what will happen
14:45yet. But I imagine we'll get some more pretty soon. All right, finally, let's get to Illinois and a new
14:51bill basically being pushed here. Is there a chance sports betting taxes change, Sam, in that state?
14:58Yeah, Illinois is an interesting case. It raised taxes on sports books this past year, which then
15:05FanDuel and DraftKings passed down to bettors with their surcharges famously, and it's been a very high
15:10tax state. As soon as the city of Chicago saw that, they had the idea, why don't we get our own money from
15:15sports betting on top of what we already get? The city gets about 2% of all betting revenue that comes
15:21from the state's tax. But recently this summer, some lawmakers proposed charging a 10% handle tax
15:28on top of that, which would just be crippling for sports books and potentially change the way they do
15:33business beyond the surcharge in the state. This week, the sports books got a win because lawmakers
15:39filed a bill that would essentially block Chicago from doing that. It would clarify that only the state
15:44of Illinois can impose a tax on sports betting and not a city. So, you know, the tax has not been
15:50adopted yet. It has not been passed yet, but this bill is kind of a blocking measure that would prevent
15:55it from going in place if, in fact, it did. The people who filed it are actually representatives
16:01of Chicago, so they're from the city. They're kind of saying, you know, this is really going to cripple
16:05the industry if we do this even more. I think it's really important when we talk about this stuff
16:09because so many places want to keep taxing sports betting more and more and more, which is well
16:13within their right. But there gets to a point where the bubble bursts and sports books either don't
16:18want to do business or they change the way they do it by passing it down to the customers, which
16:22obviously we've already seen in Illinois. Now, importantly, legislature is not adjourned or they
16:28haven't met yet. So nothing on this bill can move until January 2026 when they get in session.
16:33But more than anything, it's kind of a blocking measure getting out in front of this thing
16:37to prevent Chicago from putting what would be a very, very heavy tax in place.
16:41Yeah, definitely. So, you know, Sam, the other thing that we're closing in on, by the way,
16:44December 1st, Missouri opens up sports betting, where it's probably, I would guess, the only
16:50legalization in a new state this year and maybe even next year, too. I did see the story about
16:54Nebraska as a possibility of moving forward here. But in preparations for that, I'm assuming
17:00that that's our biggest sports betting story of the year still yet to come.
17:04Yeah, it's crazy. We have a sports betting state going online in less than a month. And the only
17:09thing we're talking about is prediction markets. So that should show you where the whole industry
17:12is thinking right now. Yeah, definitely. So and we'll see if anything changes with prediction
17:17markets in the future. My guess is we'll hear FanDuel getting into the prediction market business in
17:22the next week or so because they just follow each other these days. All right, Sam, enjoy the NBA
17:27start for your team tonight and we'll catch up again soon. Thanks again. Yeah, thanks, Craig.
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