US Sports betting in states outside of Nevada may be nearing reality. But that doesn’t mean it will be a business success. Even as major professional sports leagues like the National Basketball Association open their eyes to the multibillion-dollar opportunity with the sports wager industry, their ideas on how to get a piece of the action may impede the ability to attract gamblers away from illegal betting and offshore markets. The NBA, in particular, is being “short-sighted” in requesting a 1 percent cut on all bets, says Twitter v.p. of Analytics Jeff Ma. Ma, who was one of the leaders…

Wagers might generate between about $9 million and $61 million in state tax revenue if lawmakers decide to make Massachusetts sports betting legal, the Gaming Commission said Thursday in a white paper that mapped out how the Legislature might think about introducing another new form of gaming in the Bay State. Massachusetts, like many other states, is waiting to learn if the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down any or all of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which limits which states can offer legal sports betting. A decision in the case Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association could…

The Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been formally charged with a doping offense by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after testing positive for the banned substance Meldonium. He is now likely to be stripped of his mixed curling bronze medal, won with his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova last week. There are also growing questions about the International Olympic Committee’s decision to invite 168 Russians to compete here under a neutral flag, despite the country’s massive state-sponsored doping program in Sochi four years’ ago. But as Krushelnitsky was leaving the Winter Olympics on Monday morning his Olympic Athletes of Russia team-mates…

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the US has said that 80% of its athletic directors are opposed to expanding legalised sports betting in the country. The state of New Jersey is currently heading up an effort to overturn the federal 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). PASPA makes it unlawful for governmental entities to sponsor, operate, advertise, promote, licence or authorise betting, gambling or wagering schemes that are based on games played by amateur or professional athletes. Nevada is the only state in which PASPA does not apply, but the situation may change should the US…

New Jersey gaming officials, Atlantic City casinos and the state’s racetracks are revving up to offer legal sports betting as the United States Supreme Court prepares to release a potential landmark decision in the coming months. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement is encouraging businesses and individuals interested in sports betting to apply for a casino service industry license ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, which could be released as early as March 5. “The Division of Gaming Enforcement recognizes it needs to be prepared to investigate and license businesses and individuals seeking to enter the New Jersey gaming…

Routinely criticized for being behind the times, West Virginia is getting ahead of the curve when it comes to sports betting. In anticipation of the scuttling of the federal prohibition on expanded sports wagering, a West Virginia Senate committee has advanced a bill that, if it becomes law, would legalize sports betting at the state’s various casinos, and via mobile apps that would be used by people located in West Virginia. Both the NBA and Major League Baseball have criticized aspects of the bill. “We appreciate the Legislature’s work on the subject of legalized sports betting; however, we do not…