Ontario Lottery Survives Legal Challenge by the Mohawk Council of the Kahnawà:ke

The Ontario Superior Court handed a clean victory to Ontario’s internet gaming (“iGaming”) regulator and Attorney General last Monday, when it declared that Ontario’s regime for online gaming comports with Canada’s Constitution and Criminal Code. The much-anticipated decision disposed of a lawsuit that the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (the “Council”) filed in November 2022, alleging…

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Sports Betting Advertisement Numbers Actually Decreasing

Legal online sportsbetting, is still relatively new in America.[1] Over the last six years, as more states have legalized online sportsbetting, Americans have noticed more and more ads, leaving some feeling inundated with these ads.[2] But have Americans really seen more online sportsbetting ads, or have they only noticed more ads? Today, the American Gaming…

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Ad-Tech Europe: The Moving Target Marking Targeted Advertising

The European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) recently published an opinion on the legality of pay-or-consent models for online platforms offering services in Europe.  While the opinion is non-binding and limited to “large online platforms[1],” companies that offer platforms large and small in Europe should pay attention to the EDPB’s analysis—it will inform their future guidance…

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CFPB Banking in Video Games and Virtual Worlds

Converting your dollar to donuts,[1] or whatever in-game currency you choose, has never been easier. As microtransactions online become easier to execute and more prevalent, the in-game economies start to resemble traditional banking—minus the standard banking protections. This issue is not lost on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Earlier this month, the CFPB released…

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Ohtani-Mizuhara Scandal: A Case for Regulated Sports Betting, Not Against It

Shohei Ohtani finds himself at the center of a sports betting scandal and regulated sports betting naysayers have taken the opportunity to toot their own horns. The opening line of this LA Times article, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Hiltzik, states: “Question for Major League Baseball: How do you like your sports betting partnerships now?”…

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Pennsylvania’s Aggressive and Conflicting Approach to Skill Gaming and Versus the House Fantasy Sports Operators

The early part of 2024 has proven to be unexpectedly eventful in Pennsylvania in regards to sports betting, fantasy contests, and skill games. There is always an interesting dynamic- and sometimes tension- in regards to the different regulatory regimes and which one applies to a specific platform. For example, who takes ownership over a game…

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Say it Ain’t So, Oh!

The Shohei Ohtani betting scandal has receded from view for the moment, but its brief surfacing last week provided fundamental guidance on how not to manage a crisis faced by a professional athlete, while also giving rise to some serious issues for Major League Baseball (“MLB”) to address in the near future. Lawyers and publicists…

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A Positive Result of Legalized Sports Betting is Solution for Betting Corruption and Match Fixing

This month, Sportradar released its “Betting Corruption and Match-Fixing Report” (the “Report”) from the company’s Integrity Services Division[1] The Report covered approximately 850,000 sporting events and matches across 70 sports. Sportradar identified a total of 1,329 suspicious matches in 2023, in 11 sports in 105 countries. This represented a marginal increase over the 1,212 suspicious…

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Ifrah Law Interviews David Purdum on Sports Integrity

The stakes have never been higher for sports leagues and athletes to maintain the integrity of their contests. The mere possibility of thrown games, points shaven, or dishonest referee calls turns many bettors into pseudo-detectives, scrutinizing outcomes on behalf of their lost wagers. We interviewed David Purdum, an investigative journalist who writes on the sports…

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