Mobile Live Betting is the New Sports Betting Equation
Live mobile betting in Las Vegas is the new technological equation for the ubiquitous smart phone. Sports Betting on live games through your approved account via the smart phone app is a major attraction for many bettors.
The ultimate test for this betting format will be at T-Mobile arena for the NHL Golden Knights this fall but a more intensive test will occur at the new Raiders stadium in 2020.
In the past two weeks, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority conditionally approved a lease agreement with the Raiders and the NFL. There has been much debate about whether bettors will be able to use those mobile apps from within the stadium for in-game wagering or live betting. As for sportsbooks here in Nevada and offshore, along with a company that works on such betting applications, the response is: “Why would it be any other way?”
“This is all not new. It’s just finally reaching the highest levels of participation in Nevada,” said Rich Baccellieri, race and sports industry expert for Stadium Technology, a Las Vegas software company whose products are used by many Nevada sportsbooks. “You could make a case that the halftime wager of 30 years ago was the first in-game wager. ”In-game wagering (live betting), in its more modern form, has been available for several years in Nevada. Mobile apps have become the tool by which bettors place those wagers. These new style live wagers have many different props including:
- up or down totals depending on the score and time left
- favorite and dog changing odds from start of game
- point spread going from a minus to a plus and vice versa
- odds on who scores next
- other variables that could happen during live game
“Every time the NFL brings a game to England, it’s in a legal jurisdiction for in-play wagering. They’ve presented in-game wagering for their sports league for many years,” said Baccellieri, who was also a longtime oddsmaker in Las Vegas. “Now, the NFL is entering a legal jurisdiction in Nevada. I don’t know how they’d prevent it.”
Live betting could already violate US law
Because mobile and in-play wagering continue to increase sports betting buzz and account for a larger piece of the betting industry’s handle, they are crucial topics for regulators and lawmakers to investigate. Nevada sportsbooks already developed this live betting format without any problems about its legality. It would be highly unlikely to stop this new technology in Nevada.
However, any new legal legislation by the courts in favor of legalization of single game sports betting would probably not include any online betting which is a big question mark for mobile betting, which is legal inside Nevada state borders.
Two federal laws governing sports betting — the Professional And Amateur Sports Protection Act and the Wire Act — were both written long before the adoption of online betting or smartphone wagering. Technological advances usually extend beyond laws written by politicians who could not look ahead to the modern world. Old laws become obsolete and should be replaced like most things in this country. It is unclear if a repeal or an amendment of the former would include new restrictions. PASPA does not specifically address online or in-play betting.
A 2009 Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision did interpret the law as allowing for only the same types of sports betting that existed prior to PASPA’s enactment, and prohibiting all new forms of betting. Since in-play betting did not exist prior to 1992, it could be argued that in-play sports betting could violate federal law even in Nevada. If the new version of PASPA is merely amended as opposed to repealed, clarifying this interpretation could be vague but an important issue for debate. I can see why how this has become a Supreme Court decision with all the legal ramifications causing some turmoil. Who is the odds-on favorite?
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