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00:00Let's get to our top story of the day. The biggest story in terms of scandal in the NBA
00:05involving sports betting last year comes with free agent Terry Rozier. Now it looks like he's
00:09got to forfeit most of his salary for the 2025-26 season because of his role in that sports gambling
00:15scheme. That's what they have ruled earlier this year that Rozier should have received a salary
00:20because NBA rules didn't allow unpaid leave in cases like this. But as of right now, despite
00:26him pleading not guilty, right now it looks like he's going to have to return that salary.
00:31And of course, he has no future playing in the NBA ever again. But he can watch the game
00:35tonight between the Knicks and Spurs. And man, this line is certainly climbing. As of right
00:40now, San Antonio has moved up to six and a half point favorites tonight against the Knicks
00:45with a total of 215 and a half, which is down from opening night in the NBA Finals, which
00:52was 218 and a half. Let's get to some audio here and hear from Carl Anthony Towns and says
00:58that he doesn't think about taking a 2-0 lead and says the Knicks are thinking that the series
01:03is now 0-0.
01:05The difference between leaving here 1-1 and 2-0, you know, knowing that they've come back
01:09in a few series already, how important is it to not give them, you know, any hope or
01:13any momentum and kind of putting your foot down here and taking that 2-0 lead?
01:17I mean, for me, I don't think, I don't think of anything like that. The 1-1-2-0, I
01:21just
01:21think it's 0-0. And the next game is the most important game of the year. So just continue
01:26to stay in the present, not worry about what the future may look like, not worry about what
01:29we've done in the past, just cancel all that out and just worry about the present. Tomorrow
01:34we step on that court, should be the same determination, desperation, energy level and physicality
01:40needed for a game 1-1.
01:43Meanwhile, the other side of the coin, of course, is Victor Wimbayama, who didn't have
01:48his best game in Game 1, just says the Spurs need to play how they played during the regular
01:53season, and that should tell the story.
01:55Now, what do you think normal means for you guys?
01:59Normal means trusting each other, trusting the basketball guys, trusting the game plan,
02:05executing, and not relying on talent so much to make shots or to save the day.
02:13You know, I mean, we've been playing a certain way all season, and we've been successful this
02:20way, and there's no reason to change the day the finals start.
02:25The biggest injury, meanwhile, in Major League Baseball has officially occurred.
02:30It is to Yankees All-Star and MVP Aaron Judge.
02:33He's going to miss four to six weeks with a stress fracture around his rib area.
02:40The Yankees do believe that he will return at some point this season.
02:44There was some discussion that he had met with a doctor that was involving thoracic outlet
02:48surgery, which naturally would end his season.
02:51But as of right now, that does not appear to be the case.
02:55Aaron Judge going on the IL through the All-Star break without a doubt.
02:59Meanwhile, so the Yankees are going to have to win with pitching, and they got it yesterday.
03:02Carlos Rodon led New York to a two-to-one win.
03:06Rodon struck out seven in six innings.
03:08Jazz Chisholm also had a nice offensive game, driving in some runs.
03:12Here's Jazz on the pitching performance of his starter.
03:15Jazz, what did you think of Carlos today?
03:17Oh, no.
03:17He was back to himself today.
03:19He was out there, good tempo, hitting all his spots.
03:23He was really good.
03:24You say back to yourself, you mentioned the tempo and the spots, but anything about his
03:28stuff aside from the pitches he was throwing that stood out?
03:33No, I just felt like he was out there with his swagger.
03:35You know, he was that bulldog rooster, you know, that we always call him.
03:40But like, he was just, he was out there.
03:41He felt good, and he threw the ball really well.
03:44Dodgers and Diamondbacks end up splitting their four-game series because the Diamondbacks won
03:49last night, scoring two runs in the eighth to outlast the Dodgers three to two.
03:55It was Cattell Marte's shot that turns out to be the difference maker, walking off the Dodgers
04:02with a three to two win.
04:03And here's Torrey Lavello on the split of the series and the walk-off home run.
04:08He's a beast.
04:09He's an absolute beast.
04:10And he's looking to do something amazing at the most critical time of the game.
04:17So it's just his personality.
04:19And I saw Scott warming up.
04:22I knew what the rotation was going to be.
04:24I knew that there was going to be an opportunity for Cattell to get on that side of the plate
04:28where he's been swinging a real hot bat.
04:30And I just felt like if he was going to be able to get a pitch, he could end the
04:33game
04:33in one swing of the bat.
04:34So certainly fun to watch.
04:36His reaction is always entertaining, but he deserved that moment.
04:40Also in the National League, the Phillies have put themselves in the wildcard spot by beating
04:45the Padres six to four.
04:46They end up sweeping San Diego for the second time in a week.
04:51How about that?
04:51Zach Wheeler, eight strikeouts in seven innings pitched.
04:54He recapped his strong outing against the Padres.
04:58Fastball is playing well.
05:00Struggled a little bit with the sweeper, but a few were good.
05:03And a lot of split fingers today.
05:05That was working for me.
05:07So, you know, I've faced these guys so much that I just kind of went about it a tiny bit
05:13differently.
05:13You know, I usually throw a lot of sinkers in the righties.
05:16And today we just kind of stayed away or tried to, a couple of them tailed back in.
05:20But, you know, it was flying good, even though it was tailing back over the plate.
05:24And, you know, it may not get me on that one, but I feel like if I would get that
05:28one there,
05:30JT's had that, you know, he should have called sweeper.
05:31But if I executed that pitch away, I think we would have got him again, or at least the
05:36setup for something else.
05:37So, you know, other than that, it went really good.
05:41Speaking of walk-offs in the National League, it was an interleague battle between the Cubs
05:45and A's going to the Cubs.
05:48They win as home favorites.
05:49They actually trailed 6-3 heading into the ninth inning, but scored four runs to win it.
05:55Pete Crowe Armstrong hit a home run in the game and had a walk-off single as Chicago beats
06:02Sacramento 7-6.
06:03Here's Dansby Swanson, who had a hit to tie the game at 6.
06:07I think that's, that is this group, right?
06:10Just the pass the baton, take your at bat, be committed to one another.
06:16Like, that ninth inning was, like, the true embodiment of this group.
06:21And it was so fun to be able to see it kind of come out.
06:23Like, we definitely needed it.
06:25It was a big game for us.
06:28And to be able to win it in that fashion is something that you can definitely build momentum
06:32on moving forward.
06:33Momentum is what the Baltimore Orioles have as they beat the Red Sox and take the series
06:39against Boston.
06:408-2 the final yesterday as Brian Baio, the Red Sox starter, gave up eight runs in five
06:48innings and was optioned to triple A after the game.
06:52But the Orioles seemingly had a hot start and have playing better as of late.
06:56Here's their skipper, Craig Albernaz, on the hot start.
06:59Early inning struggles this year.
07:01How much fun was it to get six runs right off the bat?
07:05Yeah, absolutely.
07:06It was a great job by our offense coming out ready from pitch one.
07:09Obviously, Wardy setting the tone.
07:11And, you know, it was a great job granting our bats, getting good pitches to hit, running
07:15the bases aggressively.
07:17You know, and to give, you know, any starter.
07:19But Rod's, you know, a six-run cushion before he even steps on the mound.
07:22Really good.
07:24Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants desperately needed a series win.
07:27They got it yesterday against the Brewers.
07:29Final score was 12-9.
07:31That's right.
07:32The Giants, who generally don't score a lot, put up a 12 spot on Milwaukee.
07:36Here's manager Tony Vitello on his offense going off.
07:40Bryce getting on base nonstop.
07:43You know, and Luis had a great day, too.
07:46So it's good.
07:47Rafi came out here with something.
07:49So the whole group was great.
07:49The only way you win a game like that is if our offense was as electric as they were.
07:54And then you probably needed to sprinkle in some good defense, too, which were there
07:58were several good defensive plays.
08:01Looks like the fans of the National Hockey League are in for a special treat because this
08:06series between Vegas and Carolina could go the distance.
08:10Both games right down to the wire.
08:12Last night, an overtime game as Carolina, the Hurricanes, beat the Golden Knights by a final
08:17of four to three.
08:19Seth Jarvis scored the game-winning goal in overtime for the Hurricanes.
08:22Game three will be played in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
08:27And as you can see with the odds, this is really close.
08:29Carolina, a light favorite, about minus 125, 130 in some spots.
08:34Vegas, a little bit of plus money.
08:36Who knows who's going to win this series?
08:38But I have a feeling it could be headed to seventh.
08:42Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:44Game two of the finals is tonight.
08:45Sam McCullin will be watching tonight because he roots for the Knicks as they take on the
08:49Spurs.
08:50But we root for good stories here on the show.
08:52And you can find those over at legalsportsreport.com as Sam joins us to close out the week.
08:57Sam, thanks for coming on the show.
08:58OK, really interesting story that you guys posted here over at LSR, which is basically some
09:04representatives around the country want some clarity about prediction markets.
09:09And they want it from the CFTC.
09:11Are we in charge?
09:12Are you in charge?
09:13Who's making the decisions here?
09:16And, you know, quite frankly, I think that this is fair.
09:18We got to get some clarity as to if states can run it.
09:22Is the government going to run this thing?
09:23What exactly is the future hold?
09:26Yeah, it seems to only really be questions and questions and more questions right now,
09:31Craig, in this prediction market space, which there's three major developments this week
09:36in Washington, mainly, where it's becoming you notice it's becoming increasingly political.
09:43It's becoming increasingly charged.
09:45You're seeing, you know, last week you saw President Donald Trump take to social media
09:51to tout the CFTC's regulation or jurisdiction rather over prediction markets, allowing them
09:58to exist in all 50 states and allow people to basically do sports betting under these kind
10:04of different rules, while obviously on the other side, you have all the states, I think,
10:08you know, almost 20 now suing to stop it.
10:11You had three Congress men and women this week, all Democrats notably, asking the inspector
10:17general to investigate the agency, the CFTC, their legal rationale and the resources when
10:23it comes to prediction markets.
10:25This letter basically lays out, you know, the case and says, you know, under Trump's 10
10:30year, you know, you have to look at when sports event contracts became a thing.
10:33It was only three days after he was sworn into office.
10:37That's when Kalshi first launched sports event contracts.
10:40And, you know, kind of after that, everyone else followed.
10:43Now it's 85% of its business.
10:45This letter kind of says since then, the CFTC has like rapidly expanded what it believes
10:52its jurisdiction to be.
10:53It obviously used to just be overseeing derivatives and financial trading and futures of grains.
10:59It's a little betting.
11:01It says it's now expanded that, you know, rapidly into sports event contracts, which takes a
11:06lot of resources and time and dedication.
11:09Meanwhile, the agency just had major staff cuts.
11:12It's down about 30% since Trump took office.
11:15And it continues to launch these lawsuits, too.
11:18We've seen now the CFTC sue six states defending its jurisdiction to regulate these products.
11:24At the same time, the letter also lays out that it's actually walked back efforts to actually
11:29regulate them.
11:30So it basically says they're spending a lot of time and money and resources on defending
11:35the right to oversee the products while simultaneously not actually overseeing them.
11:41You know, obviously there's been a number of, you know, high profile scandals or cases rather
11:46that's popped up in the space.
11:48And we've seen other lawmakers on Capitol Hill introduce bills to try to rein in the space.
11:53At the same time, this week, also Republicans from the House Financial Services Committee
11:59had a private meeting with Kalshi, Robin Hood, and Polymarket, as well as the American Gaming
12:05Association, which has been very staunch against the, you know, allowing these products to do
12:12sports betting on their platforms.
12:14It was reportedly a private investigation, which came just a day after a report that
12:19former Congressman George Santos is now being investigated for allegedly betting that he
12:25would not attend the State of the Union address from the president earlier this year, but then
12:31bragging that he was going to.
12:32And then I think about three minutes into the speech, tweeting out that he had logistics
12:35problems.
12:36So now the Department of Justice is reportedly investigating him as well.
12:41You know, Trump pardoned him a couple of years ago after I think it was found that he lied
12:45about, you know, being a Wall Street traitor and he was, you know, kicked out of Congress.
12:48So we're, this is all becoming more political and more questions are being asked.
12:53And right now there's not a lot of answers.
12:55I think kind of everyone is looking to the courts to figure that out.
12:58But at the same time, we have, you know, over a dozen lawsuits playing out across different
13:03states.
13:04And I don't know if we're going to get answers on this anytime soon, but it certainly looks like
13:08there's a lot more questions kind of every day in Washington.
13:10I wouldn't be surprised, you know, in a month from now, when we come back talking about the
13:15next crazy development or ask or scandal, it's, it just seems like it's happening every day
13:20now.
13:20It's pretty crazy.
13:21Yeah, indeed.
13:22All right, Sam, the news is out and it's not a surprise that FanDuel and DraftKings still
13:27lead over all of the other sports betting operators and providers.
13:32DraftKings shifted into first place.
13:33I know in 2026, maybe late 2025.
13:37Beyond that, you can read the story at legalsportsreport.com.
13:40What else can you tell us about this, this report?
13:43Yeah, there's a firm called Eilers and Kraycheck, which hires professional testers to give grades
13:50to different sports betting apps twice a year.
13:52And they put out this report, which historically has been kind of indicative of how well the apps
13:58actually do in terms of market share and, you know, their popularity in America.
14:03DraftKings has now led the report for, you know, consecutive times as the number one app
14:08leading in four out of five categories.
14:10That includes things like how fast the app works, how just overall the user experience
14:16feels.
14:17Of course, the reward system and bonuses, you know, pricing is also factored in as well.
14:23So historically, whenever DraftKings has led, it's also been, you know, number one for that
14:27cycle in terms of, you know, having the most bets that people have placed and also, you
14:32know, leading all the other apps in revenue.
14:34FanDuel wasn't close behind in second place, which, you know, if you know anything about
14:38U.S. sports betting, isn't a huge surprise.
14:41It's been DraftKings and FanDuel kind of historically for the last couple of years.
14:45More of the interesting kind of changes are that Fanatics is now third.
14:50It's been the fourth kind of straight report.
14:52So second year, full year, Fanatics being in third.
14:56The testers noted that it has a really good kind of reward system.
14:59Fanatics has this fan cash system where you can use, you know, earn points on what you
15:04bet and, you know, use that to buy merchandise or jerseys or pick rewards.
15:08So that was kind of their first innovative thing when they launched.
15:11Also, obviously, Fanatics is privately owned.
15:14So it has a little bit of a different kind of just business dynamic and pressures that maybe
15:19the other apps don't have.
15:21But the thing that kind of stood out to me, Craig, was that BetMGM, which we used to talk
15:24about, is kind of knocking on the door of, you know, maybe they'll get to first or second.
15:29They certainly were third for a long time.
15:31They're now eighth, according to this report, not only in kind of app performance and how
15:36well they're doing overall, but also we've seen around the country their market share has
15:40slipped as well.
15:42Obviously, it's pretty notable that BetMGM, along with Caesars, is one of the only, you
15:46know, sports betting apps that has not gone into prediction markets so far.
15:50This report doesn't take that into account, the prediction market stuff, but it kind of
15:55is, you know, important context with how well these companies are doing.
15:58MGM as well as Caesars are both up for a sale right now.
16:01So I think they obviously don't want to be having their online gaming arm slipped at this
16:07time.
16:07And then, of course, the last thing I want to mention here is that Bet365 is also slipping,
16:13which has kind of gone against the grain.
16:15It's, you know, dealt out a lot of promos and entered new states and spent a lot of money
16:19trying to expand in the U.S. at a time.
16:22And it kind of looks like every other sports betting app is not expanding.
16:25So just kind of some small, interesting developments to watch as the space keeps developing.
16:30Same story of DraftKings and FanDuel at top.
16:32And then kind of everyone else is shuffling around a little bit.
16:35The state of Arizona, real quick, Sam, appears to be opening up the door for maybe additional
16:40sports betting operators here.
16:42Why are they making this move?
16:45Yeah, Arizona has had sports betting since 2021.
16:50The Department of Gaming just kind of, you know, meets every year and figures out if it
16:54wants to open up to more applicants.
16:56It's a good question.
16:57Why are they making this move at this time?
16:59They used to have 18 total sports books.
17:01Now they only have 13, a lot of exited the space over the last couple of years.
17:06But most of the market is still dominated by FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, and BetMGM.
17:11So it's kind of, it's a question mark of who could be entering the space at this time.
17:15But if you know anything about U.S. sports betting, it's kind of when you least expect
17:18something to happen is when it does.
17:20That's what happened certainly when FanDuel entered the space and PointsBet exited.
17:24So this could be opening up the market for kind of a mystery entrant into Arizona, which
17:28has been a really key state for sports betting operators, low tax rate and a lot of betting.
17:33So we'll have to keep watching and see who enters or, you know, if anyone ever does it
17:36all.
17:37But yeah, it's definitely kind of scratching your head as to why now, you know, we'll
17:41see, I guess.
17:43Yeah, maybe, maybe numbers are just simply down in Arizona and they think that this is
17:46a way to get people to sign up new accounts, deposits, perhaps.
17:50Sam, thanks again.
17:51Good luck to your Knicks tonight.
17:52We'll talk after the weekend.
17:53Appreciate it.
17:54Thanks a lot, Craig.
17:55You too.
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