Category: Gambling Features

Original reporting, analysis, interviews, and long-form features covering gambling, sports betting, casino regulation, and prediction markets.

ARB Interactive CEO Patrick Fechtmeyer: Indiana Should Tax & Regulate Sweepstakes Gaming

ARB Interactive CEO Patrick Fechtmeyer: Indiana Should Tax & Regulate Sweepstakes Gaming

Indiana wants to ban sweepstakes gaming. ARB Interactive co-founder and CEO Patrick Fechtmeyer wants Indiana to regulate it instead. ARB Interactive owns Modo Casino and recently acquired Publishers Clearing House (PCH).

When legislators signaled they were moving forward with legislation to close the door on sweepstakes-style gaming platforms, Fechtmeyer traveled to Indiana to make the case himself.

Fechtmeyer’s pitch was direct and to the point: regulation, not prohibition, would protect consumers, capture tax revenue, and keep younger users from taking their dollars to offshore sites. Lawmakers weren’t convinced, but Fechtmeyer isn’t backing down.

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Former DraftKings Sportsbook Manager Matthew Bakowicz: ‘Super Bowl Is The Betting Industry’s Biggest Recruiting Day’

Former DraftKings Sportsbook Manager Matthew Bakowicz: ‘Super Bowl Is The Betting Industry’s Biggest Recruiting Day’

In the days following the Super Bowl, every year, seemingly without fail, betting headlines follow a familiar script: record handle, billions wagered, unprecedented engagement. But inside sportsbooks, it’s a different story.

The game’s value isn’t measured so much by the amount of money that flows through sportsbooks on Sunday. Instead, it’s measured by who shows up and, even more importantly, by who comes back once the novelty of the big game wears off.

To get a better understanding of what Super Bowl Sunday numbers actually mean inside a sportsbook, CasinoBeats spoke to Matthew Bakowicz, director of the Sports Management Program at American University’s Kogod School of Business.

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Match-Fixing Expert Declan Hill Reacts to NCAA Betting Scandal: ‘I Have Seen This Hundreds of Times’

Match-Fixing Expert Declan Hill Reacts to NCAA Betting Scandal: ‘I Have Seen This Hundreds of Times’

After federal prosecutors unsealed a sweeping NCAA point-shaving indictment yesterday, questions quickly followed about whether the case represents an isolated incident or something more systemic in a sports world already on edge after repeated betting scandals.

For some sports fans, the allegations reinforced a long-held cynicism about sports: games are fixed and serve as entertainment more than real competition. For others, the indictment seemed to confirm the opposite: corruption exists at the margins but only affects a small fraction of games.

For match-fixing expert Declan Hill, the answer is clear: the case reads like a familiar international template, not an outlier, but a pattern that has been repeated countless times across global sports.

“This is a carbon copy match-fixing scandal,” Hill said. “I have seen this hundreds of times around the world.”

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Milliseconds Matter: Why Inside Information is Sports Betting’s Biggest Vulnerability

Milliseconds Matter: Why Inside Information is Sports Betting’s Biggest Vulnerability

Take a look back at some of the biggest betting scandals of the last few years, and you’ll notice something surprising: they weren’t just about what happened during the game; they were about what a handful of people knew before everyone else.

There’s the former NBA role player banned for life, who later pleaded guilty to a wire-fraud conspiracy tied to prop-bet manipulation. And there are the two Major League pitchers indicted for allegedly throwing predetermined pitches outside the strike zone to benefit a small group of insider bettors.

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New Campaign Promises a Fabulous Vegas, Only Time Will Tell if Tourists Buy In

New Campaign Promises a Fabulous Vegas, Only Time Will Tell if Tourists Buy In

Mention Las Vegas to just about anyone, and images of the Strip with its bright lights, casinos, and unmatched energy likely come to mind. But beneath the shine, Las Vegas isn’t having its best moment. Although it might not be obvious to the average visitor, the city has been quietly battling a slowdown.

According to data from CoStar shared with CasinoBeats, Las Vegas has recorded seven straight months of year-over-year declines in hotel occupancy compared to 2024 and is on track for an eighth consecutive month, based on preliminary September figures. Average daily rates (in other words, how much a hotel earns per room) were also down during six of those months.

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