CAS Arbitrator & FIFA Consultant Rodrigo Arias Grillo: Sports Integrity is More Than Match-Fixing

CAS Arbitrator & FIFA Consultant Rodrigo Arias Grillo: Sports Integrity is More Than Match-Fixing

First the NBA, then MLB, and finally the NCAA: over the past year, the United States has seen a steady stream of sports betting scandals make headlines. At this point, for most fans and industry observers, the question isn’t if there will be another scandal, but when, as they wait for the next shoe to drop.

When betting scandals hit the news cycle, they raise uncomfortable questions among the public, who are left wondering just how widespread the problem is and just how many of the games they’ve watched have been compromised by fixing, inside information, or someone gaming a prop market.

During an hour-long interview, CasinoBeats put those questions and more to sports integrity expert Rodrigo Arias Grillo.

Continue reading “CAS Arbitrator & FIFA Consultant Rodrigo Arias Grillo: Sports Integrity is More Than Match-Fixing”

Wondr Nation CEO Anika Howard on Digital Gaming: With Growth Comes Responsibility

Wondr Nation CEO Anika Howard on Digital Gaming: With Growth Comes Responsibility

Compliance. Mandates. Standards. Regulatory expectations. Those are just a few of the words that come to mind when the gambling industry starts talking about responsible gaming. We often see it presented as a cautionary tale while being relegated to the fine print of marketing and product design.

But Anika Howard, President and CEO of Wondr Nation, talks about it differently. She believes the industry sometimes treats its most important safety feature like a movie character written into the script, only to later be pushed into the background.

“I feel like with responsible gaming, it’s like, you’re putting baby in a corner,” she told CasinoBeats during a wide-ranging interview about what responsible gaming should look like at a time when the casino experience is increasingly digital, and we can carry a sportsbook in our pockets.

Continue reading “Wondr Nation CEO Anika Howard on Digital Gaming: With Growth Comes Responsibility”

Former CFTC Regulator Carl Kennedy on Prediction Markets, Insider Trading & Federal Oversight

Former CFTC Regulator Carl Kennedy on Prediction Markets, Insider Trading & Federal Oversight

With cease-and-desist orders flying, lawsuits piling up, state regulators and tribal gaming leaders pushing back, and a public still trying to figure out what exactly the fight is all about, prediction markets are now front and center in one of the most contentious legal battles over jurisdiction in recent years.

Watching it all unfold, it’s hard not to reach the conclusion that prediction markets currently sit in a legal no-man’s-land. To some, they’re nothing more than gambling. To others, they’re legitimate financial contracts.

That was the backdrop when CasinoBeats spoke with Carl Kennedy about the legal tug-of-war over prediction markets and what comes next. Kennedy is a partner and co-chair of Financial Markets and Regulation at Katten and a former regulator at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) who was a primary drafter of several rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act.

Continue reading “Former CFTC Regulator Carl Kennedy on Prediction Markets, Insider Trading & Federal Oversight”

Bloomberg’s Stake Report on Drake Raises More Questions Than It Answers

Bloomberg’s Stake Report on Drake Raises More Questions Than It Answers

When Bloomberg Businessweek’s article on Stake dropped on February 27, it attracted a lot of attention because it seemed to prove something many who’d watched Drake’s streams believed: there was no way all those jackpots lighting up the streams were just a normal run of good luck.

And for many reading the article, what Bloomberg said proved their suspicions were correct: the rapper and his fellow Kick star Adin Ross were hitting impossibly lucky jackpots on the crypto casino’s in-house slot.
Continue reading “Bloomberg’s Stake Report on Drake Raises More Questions Than It Answers”

‘The Pulse’ on MLB’s Betting Scandal & Baseball’s Integrity Test

‘The Pulse’ on MLB’s Betting Scandal & Baseball’s Integrity Test

When Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted back in November 2025 for allegedly rigging individual pitches to benefit bettors, the case appeared, at least on the surface, to be a limited betting scandal. However, as months have gone by and new details have come to light, it’s become much harder for Major League Baseball to keep the case in a box and classify it as an isolated incident.

Continue reading “‘The Pulse’ on MLB’s Betting Scandal & Baseball’s Integrity Test”