00:00Washington lawmakers passed a bill called the Sports Wagering Integrity Act that allows betting on in-state college teams and
00:07adds protections for athletes from betting-related harassment as well.
00:12I don't know how you go about doing that necessarily. You know, take away social media from everybody. Good luck
00:17to you.
00:18But obviously not every state. Most, in fact, do not allow you to bet in-state on college teams that
00:23participate in those same states.
00:25Massachusetts, where I am, for instance. So good idea, bad idea for the state of Washington.
00:32I would have to say it's kind of a no-brainer idea at this point because we just talked about
00:37prediction markets.
00:38They're doing college sports betting in Washington right now completely legally, completely fine.
00:44Meanwhile, the sports books in the states are not allowed to do it because the state has sports betting laws.
00:48So I kind of think it's one of those examples where we talk about the spread of prediction markets, catalyzing
00:55more states to, you know, create fairer sports betting rules or more lax sports betting rules,
01:01where they're looking at if, you know, this activity is being done on another platform we're not taxing, we might
01:05as well create rules around it for the people who follow the rules in the state.
01:08So I think that's what you're seeing in Washington.
01:10This bill is headed to the governor this week, which would allow, you know, betting on the in-state teams.
01:16Unfortunately, it wouldn't take effect till about 90 days after the legislature adjourns.
01:20So, you know, Gonzaga, who's expected to make March Madness, as they do every year, I think even Eastern Washington
01:25is supposed to make it for the first time in like a decade.
01:28You couldn't bet on them this year, unfortunately.
01:31You know, Washington, obviously a big college sports state, but next year you could.
01:34So hopefully, you know, Eastern Washington repeats and making the tournament and hopefully Gonzaga is there again.
01:40And then on the harassment piece before we head out, Adam, yeah, it's kind of one of those measures you're
01:46seeing where states are trying to at least show that they have a concern about this.
01:51It would be a misdemeanor under state law to harass somebody and, you know, an athlete or a coach and
01:56threaten bodily harm.
01:58But again, it's hard to prove.
01:59So a random angry tweet wouldn't qualify, but a message sent to them that says, hey, I'm going to carry
02:05out direct violence with belief from the state that that violence could be carried out.
02:09That would qualify.
02:10So we're still trying to figure out how that will all work, but, you know, at least seems like a
02:14step in the right direction, if nothing else.
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