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00:00Now, naturally, the National Football League will not kick off for a couple of months.
00:03We are getting closer to that date.
00:05Can't wait for that.
00:06Some not so great news, though, for the Green Bay Packers, and particularly for their running
00:10back, Josh Jacobs, who was arrested last weekend in Wisconsin and is facing multiple
00:14domestic violence-related charges over an alleged disturbance Memorial Day weekend.
00:19Jacobs' attorney is saying that the allegations should be denied and saying that the matter
00:24is in the early stage of investigation, asking for fairness and restraint.
00:28The Packers are aware of the matter, too.
00:30An ongoing legal situation.
00:31We won't know anything for the time being, but certainly Jacobs is a very big piece of
00:36what the Packers are doing, but the bigger story is obviously a domestic violence alleged
00:41incident over the weekend.
00:42Meanwhile, in better news, the National Football League is seeing a very high-priced free agent
00:47or a high-priced player not even get to free agency.
00:50Derwin James is now the highest-paid safety in the National Football League.
00:54Three years, $25 million per year, and now becomes the highest-paid safety in the NFL
00:58for the second time.
01:00The guaranteed money on this one from Los Angeles is $57.5 million.
01:06Meanwhile, what will the future hold for former college football quarterback Brendan Sorsby?
01:11He has been reinstated after his 35-day inpatient rehab for his gambling addiction in Goodyear,
01:17Arizona, but the NCAA says that he's not eligible for the 2026 season.
01:22So he can essentially enter the NFL draft or maybe wait for another year of eligibility next season.
01:30But as of right now, the supplemental draft could be next in line.
01:35Sorsby can't play college football this year, but potentially next season.
01:39It is very complicated.
01:40If it sounds complicated, it is.
01:42So no college football this season for Sorsby, potentially the NFL,
01:45and maybe potentially college football after this season is complete.
01:49So we'll have to see.
01:50In the NBA last night, the Oklahoma City Thunder imposed their will on the San Antonio Spurs
01:54and stand one game from facing the New York Knicks as they win with Shea Gilgis-Alexander going off.
02:0032 points again, 9 assists.
02:03Chet Holmgren had 16-11.
02:05It was a very quiet game for Victor Wimbayama.
02:0720 points and 6 rebounds.
02:09In fact, Stephon Castle was the leading scorer for the Spurs last night.
02:13So the championship is in sight once again for OKC.
02:16Here's Mark Dagnos as he sees his club bouncing back in Game 5.
02:20Was there a point that you saw that start even, I don't know, the other night after that loss?
02:27You're still in San Antonio.
02:29I don't know.
02:29Just you sense sort of the mindset, that championship-caliber mindset these guys have?
02:34I don't really play psychologist on that stuff.
02:37You know, I don't know.
02:38I just have tremendous trust in the team.
02:40You know, I'm not really reading into much.
02:43But I just know this team really well.
02:45And I know that when we don't play well, we look in the mirror.
02:49We don't make excuses.
02:50We don't point fingers.
02:51And usually that's the best way to get yourself into the next opportunity.
02:55And so, again, they did a great job of, you know, taking, you know, we needed to look at that
03:01game
03:01and learn from it, but then flush it after that and understand tonight was a blank canvas
03:07and a new day, just like Game 6 will be a blank canvas and a new day.
03:11Mitch, how did you think Victor played?
03:13And can you do more to get him going?
03:16We're going to need to.
03:18He's got to take more than 15 shots, even with the free throws.
03:22And, yeah, he's going to have to score more than 20 points for sure.
03:27So is that his aggression or game plan or a combination of both?
03:31Yeah, a combination of both for sure.
03:32Okay, so you did a good job.
03:33We've got to do a better job.
03:37And that's, yeah, probably the easiest in terms of when you just surface level stuff
03:42that he'll definitely need to take more shots.
03:45But there's a lot of things all over the place where even when we had advantages
03:49and we just didn't make simple plays that take advantage of the opportunity in that possession.
03:56And in this type of game, you've got to be sure of everything you're doing
04:02in a very secure, mature way.
04:06Meanwhile, the Spurs are on the verge of elimination,
04:09but that means the Oklahoma City Thunder are on the verge of clinching the Western Conference.
04:14Here's Che Gilgis-Alexander, the NBA's MVP,
04:18on looking into the eyes of his buddies in the locker room
04:22and say they just care about one thing.
04:25You mentioned that you trust Chet.
04:27You'll bet on him 10 times out of 10.
04:28I'd imagine you feel that way about a lot of guys on this team, the whole group.
04:32Just what is it about these guys?
04:34Obviously, you've grown alongside them throughout the years.
04:36What is it about them that gives you the confidence
04:38that they can all respond the way they did?
04:41How hard they work.
04:46The intentions they have out there on the basketball court
04:48and the type of teammates they are.
04:51I know wholeheartedly everyone's intention on the basketball team is to win the game.
04:56No other agendas.
04:58Nobody cares about anything else besides winning.
05:00And everybody works their tail off to get to that
05:02and be the best version of themselves doing so.
05:06And yeah, that's all you can ask from a teammate.
05:09Nothing else you can ask for.
05:10Work hard and give it your all to try to go out there and win.
05:13We have a group full of guys like that.
05:15All right.
05:16So this weekend, potentially, we'll see if the Spurs or the Thunder advance
05:21to play the Knicks in the championship.
05:23Meanwhile, no championship in store, at least for the time being, for the Chicago Cubs.
05:26Can you lose 10 games in a row and play in the World Series?
05:29We're going to find out because the Cubs lost yesterday again, this time 12-1.
05:34The Pirates were at home in favorites.
05:36Brandon Ashcraft completely shut them down.
05:39But the Pirates took a 5-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back.
05:44So things have hit rock bottom, according to manager Craig Council.
05:48Yeah, look, I mean, someone's just got to step up and get hit in those spots.
05:52I mean, there's not much more to say than that.
05:56You know, you've got to conduct a big league at-bat.
06:01It's the at-bats you want.
06:03Those are the at-bats you want to have during the course of a game.
06:08And you've got to deliver.
06:10That's, you know, that's the name of the game.
06:13You know, we're kind of having the same inning over and over again.
06:18And it's about delivering in those situations.
06:20And until we do, we're going to be talking about the same thing.
06:25Five straight losses again.
06:26Meanwhile, for the New York Mets, all their good feelings are gone.
06:29They did score two runs, though, in this game.
06:31Juan Soto hit a home run.
06:32Not much else happening.
06:33Chase Byrne shut them down.
06:34Five and a third at eight strikeouts, seven to two the final.
06:37How about the Texas Rangers finally exploding on offense?
06:40They had eight runs in the first inning and beat the Astros by a final of 10-7.
06:44Home runs from Jock Peterson and Evan Carter.
06:46The difference.
06:47They were no hit the day before, but the offense broke out, says manager Skip Schumacher.
06:52Skip, baseball is a funny game.
06:54So what's going through your mind as you're watching all of those eight runs score there
06:58in the first inning?
07:00Yeah, it doesn't make any sense sometimes.
07:02You're trying to, you know, think about different ways to win games.
07:06Last night, late at night, again, this morning, and then we come out and, you know, walk and slug.
07:14So it's just kind of a crazy, crazy game.
07:17But I think the first inning, again, set the tone.
07:20Just kind of, you know, last night we had bases on and didn't score.
07:25This time we had bases loaded.
07:26I think Nimmo getting that first hit kind of, you know, I don't want to say sigh of relief,
07:32but just kind of, you know, got things going.
07:34And then Berger with the bases loaded knock was awesome.
07:38And I think that's when, you know, everyone just kind of got contagious.
07:43And it was really good to see everyone.
07:46It felt like almost everybody get a hit or square a ball up tonight.
07:49So, yeah, good day for the offense.
07:52Good offense also for the New York Yankees yesterday.
07:55The struggling Royals continue to fall.
07:57They got a 15 spot put on them yesterday.
08:02Bellinger, Grisham, Volpe, all with home runs for the Yankees.
08:05And Cam Schlittler continues his Cy Young pace with six innings pitched of one run ball and six strikeouts.
08:11Also, the Braves beat the Red Sox 7-6 as the Red Sox keep losing at home.
08:16And the Braves got four hits from Michael Harris II.
08:19In the Stanley Cup Finals, we do have one team advancing to the championship.
08:24That would be the Vegas Golden Knights.
08:26They're going back for the third time in nine seasons.
08:29They beat the Avalanche in a sweep 2-1.
08:32Tonight, we have one game in the Eastern Conference Finals.
08:35Carolina takes on Montreal.
08:37The Hurricanes lead the series 2-1.
08:40And they're favored tonight, minus 150 on the money line.
08:49Let's bring in Sam McQuillan from Legal Sports Report.
08:51He's here with us on this Wednesday to go over the latest in prediction markets and also some potential new
08:56bills heading into the legislature.
08:58Sam, great to have you here on Newswire.
08:59Okay, so we start off with a story here.
09:02Very interesting here that there is this company called Fair Predicts making comments about some of the prediction markets and
09:09their space.
09:10Very specifically, Calci sort of throwing out a derogatory comment toward this.
09:15Calci not really happy with the way that this is.
09:18But I guess I would ask you, Sam, and of course, you could read the story at LegalSportsReport.com.
09:22Tell me more about Fair Predicts and why what they say has such a big impact on what they're talking
09:28about.
09:29Yeah, it's a lot of finger pointing in this space right now amid one side saying you're lying, you're deceptive.
09:37The other side saying, no, actually, you're lying, you're deceptive, which is kind of what you have happen when there's
09:42a new big industry or product that kind of begs regulation.
09:46Everyone scrambles to get a piece of it.
09:48And Calci certainly is the biggest prediction market right now operating.
09:53It has a ton of lawsuits where states are alleging what it's doing is sports betting.
09:57Calci says what it's doing is actually federally legal and permissible in all 50 states.
10:02That's the whole thing.
10:03And then you have this group called Fair Predicts, which calls itself a nonpartisan market watchdog group dedicated to exposing
10:12companies that it says are doing false advertising,
10:15insider trading, money laundering, and holding them accountable sort of in the public eye.
10:21It launched the six-figure ad campaign just recently.
10:25It actually coincided with a Senate hearing on regulating prediction markets.
10:29But the campaign is called Calci Lies.
10:32So it's no surprise that Calci's not happy with it.
10:34But it basically says that Calci falsely advertised itself as being a platform where there's no house, where all the
10:42trading is peer-to-peer.
10:45You're betting against your friends and neighbors rather than a sports book itself.
10:49It's one of those kind of big marketing ploys that Calci has pushed out there as an alternative to sports
10:56books, which it calls predatory.
10:57But Calci Lies, the campaign, is saying that actually that's not entirely true.
11:03Calci owns its own market maker on the exchange called Calci Trading, which profits from every customer loss, wins.
11:12So it's essentially participating in the exchange that says it's purely peer-to-peer.
11:17And also on top of that, it has a lot of Wall Street firms trading on the exchange against casual
11:22bettors, taking advantage of them, being predatory with their pricing.
11:26Those firms also own a big stake in Calci.
11:29So it's had this big advertising campaign trying to expose Calci for its lies, it says.
11:35And Calci hit back this week and sent it a letter basically asking it or telling it, rather, to stop
11:41immediately claiming that these were defamatory statements and lies, which could hurt Calci's business.
11:47This is something that could escalate into a lawsuit down the line if Calci or if the company doing the
11:56advertising fair predicts does not comply, rather.
11:59Calci says it, in fact, is not a house.
12:02It says that this trading arm that exists on the exchange really functions just to provide liquidity and actually doesn't
12:09profit from exchanges, from trades at all, and actually operates at the loss.
12:14It says it's just one of those big market makers it has on there to make sure that there is
12:19the other side of that trade when people go to place a bet.
12:22It also asserts that a substantial amount of trading activity is not done by those Wall Street firms.
12:28So it is more peer-to-peer than this group is kind of accusing.
12:32So it's sort of a legal step right here before a potential lawsuit, but it is significant in the fact
12:39that you have Calci firing back at one group saying, spending a lot of money trying to tell people that
12:45it's misleading people.
12:46So, you know, we have a ton of lawsuits that are left to play out.
12:49We have laws that may be made, may be not made.
12:52So we'll see where kind of everything ends up.
12:53But this definitely is kind of just another crazy step in this process of prediction markets we've been talking about
12:59for over a year now, Craig.
13:01Yeah, definitely so.
13:02And, you know, the stories in sports betting continue to move on.
13:06And, you know, with more availability for prediction markets come potential harassment from people to student athletes and just athletes
13:13in general.
13:13And in Louisiana, Sam, it would appear that they want to try and bring this to a head, put it
13:18to an end.
13:19But I guess I would ask you, even with legislation that says that they want to ban folks who harass
13:24athletes for sports betting, like what exactly can they do here?
13:29Like, I mean, find their email address, find their accounts.
13:32It seems pretty convoluted here for me to think that this is going to do anything more than just do
13:36a, you know, kind of a paper threat to get people to stop.
13:40And maybe that's just the idea.
13:41Maybe that's the idea.
13:42Just by putting it out there, it gets people to consider this a deterrent more than anything else.
13:49Yeah, I think that's definitely the idea here, Craig.
13:51You hit the nail on the head.
13:52It's going to be impossible to prevent everyone from harassing athletes.
13:57But we can certainly try to take measures.
13:59And I think that's what a state like Louisiana is doing, especially when you look at the bill.
14:03They passed it unanimously in the legislature, which doesn't happen often.
14:07If you pretty much know anything about politics or if you read a newspaper, you know that it's really hard
14:11to get lawmakers all on the same board.
14:14They passed this bill, which would make it so anyone who harasses an athlete, a coach, or anyone associated with
14:21a team or sporting event,
14:22they would make it so they're added to a list of excluded bettors where they cannot bet in the state.
14:27That would direct the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to expand the list that already includes people who have been found
14:34to be cheating on a sport or a sporting event or those accused of gambling crimes.
14:40So I think the legislature is probably looking at just what more can we do to safeguard against this issue,
14:46which certainly has been a hot topic over the years.
14:49You know, just a few years ago, the NCAA released a report that found a significant amount of college athletes
14:54receive abusive messages related to sports betting specifically beyond just being harassed in general.
15:01There's been a lot of, you know, kind of rallying from players in the Big Ten, especially to for the
15:07NCAA to do more to protect athletes.
15:09And the NCAA has in turn lobbied states to do more.
15:13So if I'm a state like Louisiana, you know, maybe thinking we can't solve this issue entirely,
15:18but we can, you know, make a small measure if it's out there, something that, you know,
15:22doesn't really cost anything to do to kind of safeguard better against this stuff.
15:26There's a similar bill that's circulating in New York and West Virginia that passed a similar measure a few years
15:31ago.
15:31So I wouldn't be surprised if I see more states doing this where there are some sort of penalties for
15:36people who harass athletes,
15:37especially for sports betting or consequences where you can no longer bet on sports.
15:41Again, it's not going to solve the issue, but it's, you know, maybe it can deter people.
15:45Maybe it can just be that much more of teeth on a really kind of serious issue that is definitely
15:51not going away,
15:52especially as sports betting expands and especially as we talk about prediction markets as well and kind of expanding that.
15:58All right.
15:58Now let's move into Canada, Sam, and end here.
16:01Alberta is about to launch some online casinos here, and July 13th appears to be the date.
16:08I see that little picture there of Bet365, so they're a focus for us here.
16:14And naturally, Alberta probably embracing this, but, you know, they're certainly a lot more careful there
16:19and more calculated they are here in the United States.
16:23Yeah, no states are launching sports betting this year in the United States,
16:28but the industry is really going to be paying attention to Alberta, Canada,
16:32which on July 13th is going to go live with online casino as well as sports betting markets.
16:38So Bet365 being the latest name to join the list of applicants,
16:43there's been about 31 brands already that have registered,
16:47so a lot more than you would see typically in a state like where I am, New York.
16:51There's only about 12 sports books you can choose from here.
16:54It could be upwards of 75 when all is said and done.
16:57There's only one other province in Canada which has launched legal sports betting kind of in this fashion,
17:04and that's Toronto, or Ontario, rather.
17:06And it's had a lot of brands register there.
17:10Alberta is roughly the same size as a state like Colorado or South Carolina,
17:14which would make it about the 22nd largest state in America.
17:19So it's still a significant market that's to launch for a lot of these sports betting brands,
17:23and I think that's why you see a brand like Bet365 be interested in launching there.
17:28It's one of the biggest brands in the world and actually has really taken a lot of steps to up
17:34its game in America
17:35and launch in more states at a time when the industry is kind of shrinking and not really doing that.
17:40So I think Alberta will be really interesting to see, especially for a brand like Bet365,
17:46how much they invest there, how much they look to expand and take advantage of a new market
17:51at a time when a lot of the industry is looking for ways to save money.
17:55Sam, as always, great stuff.
17:57I would say good luck to your Knicks in the finals,
17:59but I think I'm going to have a chance to say that to you next Monday
18:02and even maybe next Wednesday as the finals don't start for a bit.
18:05But thanks again for coming on the show.
18:07Yeah, it's crazy. We've got a lot of time. We try to enjoy it.
18:10We do.
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