If you are ever going to pursue a life of crime, it would be wise to keep your wits about you and not brag about your criminal activities to anyone. For Wisconsin teenager and now convicted felon Joseph Garrison, keeping his wits about him was not in the cards. After stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from DraftKings sportsbook accounts, the 19-year old reportedly bragged to friends that “fraud is fun.”

This week, Garrison faced the music as he entered a guilty verdict in the fraud case and is now facing up to 5 years in Federal Prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January, but the story of his hacking efforts will live in the nightmares of his victims forever.

A Not-So-Sophisticated Fraud Worth Over $500,000

The most crucial takeaway from this story is that everyone should utilize different passwords for different online accounts. Garrison was able to succeed in his hack because well over half of people do not go through the effort of having unique passwords for their various online accounts. The method utilized in this hack is known as “credential stuffing.” Credential stuffing works by using stolen account information from an individual in order to access that same person’s accounts on other sites; in this case, DraftKings Sportsbook. As an example, if your username and password for your Netflix account was compromised at some point, it is likely that your username (often an email) and password are now in the hands of nefarious actors. Once these criminals have your name, email, and at least one password you have used in the past, they can then attempt to use that information to log in to other accounts, such as bank accounts and online betting profiles.

All said, sportsbook accounts on Draftkings had more than $600,000 stolen from them. As for how much of that Joseph Garrison and his co-conspirators are responsible for, that number is around $300,000 that law enforcement officials know about.

Last February, law enforcement descending upon Garrison’s residence and found loads of programs and files relating to credential stuffing. In addition, police were able to uncover messages sent between Garrison and co-conspirators explaining exactly how to hack compromised DraftKings accounts. That same co-conspirator, who has not been named, explained that Garrison claimed he was addicted to seeing money coming into his account, saying that fraud was fun.

DraftKings is Not Alone

Though the DraftKings Sportsbook hack might be the biggest of 2023, it is far from the only one we have heard about. FanDuel, another massive sportsbook operator in the United States, was also hacked this year, however only about 100 customers had their accounts compromised. A far cry from the thousands of victims at DraftKings.

In the physical gambling realm, both Caesars and MGM were targeted by online hackers earlier this year. The hack ended up costing over $100 million and saw the casino operators pay hackers more than $15 million in ransom money. With online sports betting and online gambling in general growing larger in the US every year, we can expect that hacking events like these will be on the rise. The question for players is whether or not their information can be protected and, if so, which sportsbooks offer the most protection for bettors.

Beginning this December, casinos in Florida owned and operated by the Seminole Native American tribe will begin offering sports betting as well as a few new casino games. This decision being made by the Seminoles comes in the wake of a ruling by the US Supreme Court that allowed them to expand sports betting and gambling operations. This ruling came after more than 2 years of battling with pari-mutuel owners from across the Sunshine State.

The owners have since lost their lawsuit and exhausted all appeal options, which leaves the Seminoles in a great place to get ahead of the competition in Florida. As it stands, Seminole Hard Rock is the only brand legally allowed to operate casino gambling and sports betting in Florida and there is no reason to think other operators will be entering the market anytime soon.

In-Person Sports Betting Going Live

For now, the plans announced by the Seminole tribe include in-person wagering that will be taking place at any of the tribe’s six casinos in Florida. Online sports betting still exists in a state of limbo. The reintroduction of online sports betting is not going to happen in Florida anytime soon because a lawsuit was brought before the Florida Supreme Court earlier this year. The lawsuit, which is expected to be heard by the US Supreme Court, challenges the Seminole’s proposed offering of online sports betting.

Under the current plan, sports bets placed on mobile devices in Florida will all be run through servers located on Seminole land. By virtue of this, the tribe says, sports bets are actually being transmitted on sovereign tribal land. The lawsuit maintains that this is patently untrue and that the sports bet becomes a sports bet when and where it is placed, not where it is eventually computed.

At the Seminole’s top location, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, new casino gambling including roulette and craps, is slated to go live on December 8th. The other five locations will see new casino gambling instituted on either December 7th or December 11th.

Who is Behind the Online Sports Betting Lawsuit?

The people fighting the existence of online sports betting in Florida are West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp., both gambling operators themselves. The lawsuit is expansive but mainly hits at the fact that any sort of online sports betting being offered the way the Seminoles envision is in violation of Amendment 3. This amendment requires that expansions of gambling operations must be approved by voters.

In theory, Seminole Hard Rock could get away with offering online sports betting now. In reality though, they are biding their time and being patient because in the midst of this lawsuit, relaunching an online sports betting application may not be the smartest move. All in all, Hard Rock and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are convinced that they and their original gambling pact will prevail in the end. Though there is a lot that remains unclear at this point, what we can be sure of is that this is far from the last sports betting news we will be hearing from Florida this year.

In both the United States and across the world there are countless stories of professional athletes crossing the line when it comes to sports betting. Whether it be as serious as players fixing matches or as innocuous as players spending too much time at casinos, these stories persist. 2023 has been no exception and the latest story comes from the English Premier League, thanks to an Italian player by the name of Sandro Tonali.

Italian investigators allege that Tonali—as well as fellow countryman Nicolo Zaniolo who also plays in England—have participated in illegal betting on football (soccer) matches. The pair of players were questioned by police on October 12th. On October 17th, Tonali’s agent released a statement claiming that his client was battling a gambling “illness.” Both players have been away from their clubs and national teams and are, according to lawyers, fully cooperating with the investigation.

A Big Signing with Big Problems

Newcastle United has historically been one of the biggest teams in the English Premier League, a league regarded by many as the best in the world. Until recently however, Newcastle was only a shadow of its former self and was rarely vying for title contention and more often fighting to avoid relegation to the lower leagues. Thanks to an influx of money from new owners Newcastle has surged forward and, on the back of finishing in the top 4 of the English Premier League last season, spent hundreds of millions on new signings. One of those signings was an Italian named Sandro Tonali.

Barely two months into the season, Newcastle has already been forced to make announcements about their new star signing cooperating with authorities. While the allegations alone are enough to scare supporters, the potential fallout is even more terrifying because a potential ban from international and club football may be looming.

What are the Allegations?

The allegations facing both Tonali and Zaniolo have nothing to do with match-fixing or anything like that, but rather illegal online sports betting. In Italy, online sports betting is both permitted and regulated by government authorities, so it is entirely legal for people to place sports bets through licensed, regulated bookmakers. People run into issues when they begin using illegal sportsbooks to place bets, and that is exactly what authorities say Tonali and Zaniolo did.

These players would be facing potential punishments if all they did was use illegal sites to place wagers, but they are now facing even more punishment given that they are said to have bet on football matches. Most professional soccer players are not allowed to bet on sports but are especially not allowed to bet on soccer matches because of the glaring conflict of interest present. Another Italian, Nicolo Fagioli recently plead guilty to betting on soccer matches and was handed a 7 month ban from pro soccer. Fagioli told authorities that it was Tonali who introduced him to the betting site(s), and so the future outlook does not look like a bright one for the Newcastle signing.

The investigation is still ongoing and Italian authorities have not done much in the way of divulging the details everyone wants to hear, but the expectation is that Tonali will reach a plea deal within the coming weeks. There is relative certainty that he will face some sort of ban from professional soccer, but the thought is that by cooperating with the investigation he will receive a ban that allows him to get back on the pitch sometime in the near future.

As online sports betting and modern day sports become increasingly intertwined, criminals have been looking for ways to take advantage. Match-fixing and other sports betting-related crimes are nothing new, but the way in which some of them operate certainly is. In the past, those looking to fix matches or otherwise gain an unfair advantage over bookmakers would have to go to extreme lengths to do so, and sometimes at great cost. This meant either knowing players and coaches personally or by being part of—or familiar with—organized crime syndicates.

For bettors in today’s world, an internet connection could be all it takes to take advantage of bookmakers. This week, Spanish police in conjunction with multiple other international law enforcement agencies announced that they had busted a criminal sports betting ring that has been operating since at least 2020. The group in question is accused of both fixing sporting events and finding loopholes in online betting technology that would allow for them to place wagers before bookmakers could update live odds.

Yearslong Investigation Leads to Unbelievable Findings

It was back in 2020 when Spanish police first noticed suspicious betting activity taking place. As odd as it may seem, the suspicious betting activity in question was wagers that were being placed on table tennis matches. When Spanish police looked into the matter further, it was uncovered that the crime ring was betting on more than table tennis alone. In fact, the group did not discriminate at all and were known to place bets on anything from handball, to soccer, and anything in between.

The crime group was able to make significant sums of money betting on sports because they were doing it in a way that allowed them to place bets before live odds could be changed. The group was able to access stadium and arena live camera feeds while matches and events were going on. Because these feeds were actually live and not subject to TV delays we unknowingly experience all the time, the criminals were able to place bets up to a minute before an online sportsbook had the opportunity to change odds.

Imagine being able to bet on the next goal scorer in a soccer match with 100% accuracy. In a nutshell, that is exactly what these people were doing; and doing it on a large scale.

A Look Inside the Operation

Despite the criminal organization being based and arrested in Spain, none of them are Spanish. The group consists primarily of Bulgarians and Romanians. The people at the top of the group’s food chain had connections to a slew of Bulgarian and Romanian athletes who would assist in match-fixing. Because of these connections, the crime syndicate was able to place wagers on a massive scale with relative certainty that they would be paid out handsomely. And paid out they were.

Authorities first began putting people behind bars for being part of this crime ring over a year ago, but it was not until this past summer that the full scale of the crime was unveiled by police. Even now, a lot remains unknown about who participated. Of special interest to authorities and the public is the athletes who accepted bribes from this group in order to fix matches or otherwise give them an unfair edge over the rest of the betting public.

Authorities have seized many devices through their investigation and are still combing their way through it all. Fake bank cards, computers, cell phones, and so much more all have helped police paint, and continue to paint, a picture of how this group operated. In all likelihood, they are not the only group of their kind out there.

Just the other week we reported that gamblers—specifically sports bettors—in the state of Florida had a reason to celebrate as the longstanding challenge to legalized sports betting waged by pari-mutuel operators was struck down by a Federal Appeals Court. This meant that online sports betting was once again given the green light in the Sunshine State, or so we thought.

Not going down without a fight, two pari-mutuel companies this week asked the Florida Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter. The matter in question is a deal reached between Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Seminole Tribe which would see online sports betting operations commence statewide, albeit with some interesting caveats. According to the pari-mutuel companies, the deal, or compact, violates a 2018 amendment to Florida’s constitution which stipulates that any expansion of gambling in the state must be voter-approved.

There is a lot more that goes into the complaint filed by the pari-mutuels but all this means for sports bettors is further delays. In all likelihood, Florida will not see online sports betting in 2023 and will be lucky to get in on the action by late 2024. With any luck, Florida may see a light at the end of the tunnel in time for the 2024/2025 NFL and NCAA football seasons. This is nothing more than wishful thinking though, because no clear timeline exists for when the dust will settle in Florida.

A New War but Similar Battle Tactics

As has been the case for more than 2 years now, owners of the states horse and dog racing tracks (known as pari-mutuels) have been fighting the compact signed between the State of Florida and the Florida Seminole Tribe. At the crux of their argument is that the compact simply isn’t legal. Being that voters must approve something like legalized online sports betting being offered statewide, it is difficult for one to argue with the pari-mutuels complaint.

You might be wondering how online sports betting was ever able to be offered by the Seminoles if the law is as cut and dry as it is. The answer to that has less to do with where online sports bets will be placed, but rather where they will be processed. The deal Florida and the Seminoles reached hinged on every single sports bet placed in the state of Florida running through computer servers that were situated on protected Tribal Land. In essence, because the bets are not placed until they are processed, and they are only to be processed on Native lands, sports betting is not taking place in Florida; only on the Native lands therein. This loophole allowed legal online sports betting to exist for a short period of time, but it was not long before the non-Native operators of gambling companies in Florida decided to challenge the deal in court.

What Happens Next?

State court systems being what they are, no one is expecting to hear a decision from Florida’s Supreme Court anytime soon. In fact, it would be surprising if we heard from the court before next summer. There is little doubt in the minds of people in Florida and elsewhere that online sports betting will exist in some form before long, but this prolonged legal dispute is only pushing that official start date back further.

Now, many years later, we are in what seems to be the exact same position we were in back in 2021 when the original challenge was presented. What this boils down to, and the question Florida’s Supreme Court needs to answer, is whether exposing a loophole is against the law or not. The Federal Supreme Court determined that this question is one only Florida can address.

Many people wonder how sportsbooks and sports betting operations in general could ever lose money or go out of business. After all, their profit is built into the design of their business, right? In its simplest form the answer to this question is a resounding yes, but the reality for Washington DC’s lone sports betting operator, GambetDC, is that sometimes things are not as simple as they seem.

Washington DC is unknown to most people in the sports betting world because most people are not aware sports betting exists there. In other instances, people assume that Washington DC falls under either Maryland or Virginia, where online and in-person sports betting is legal. The reality is that the tiny District of Columbia has a longstanding sports betting industry, albeit one that is fragmented, struggling financially, and antiquated. The antiquated aspect of GambetDC’s operation was exploited earlier this year by a single bettor who profited thousands and, at the same time, prompted a change in the way DC sports betting exists.

Deviations in Betting Lines Exploited

For this story to make sense, you need to know a bit more about how sports betting in Washington DC works. Similar to most states where sports betting is legal, DC sports betting can only exist within a well-defined geographic area. Making matters a bit more confusing than most states is the fact that even within DC, certain parts of the city are off limits for one reason or another. This presents a situation where sports betting might be legal on one block but not legal two streets over. Confusing as this may be, there are still plenty of restaurants, bars, and other establishments with GambetDC betting kiosks, and Abunai, a small poke restaurant, is one of them. 

This small restaurant in Northwest Washington DC was the betting headquarters of a sharp bettor who would eventually be the reason for a change in DC sports betting rules. Very quickly, the restaurant’s staff noticed a patron who was there nearly every day, but never ordered a single dish. On its face this seems strange, but no one questioned it as this bettor’s patronage was changing the restaurant’s fortunes for the better. 

The reason this anonymous bettor loved Abunai so much was because he realized that their GambetDC betting terminal (and all others like it in DC) offered betting lines that were sometimes markedly different from those found on sites like FanDuel or BetMGM. These deviations were exploited time and time again, profiting the DC bettor hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another flaw in GambetDC that allowed for this to go on for so long without any questions being raised was the anonymity associated with betting in DC. Unlike any other jurisdiction where you are forced to register and create an account when betting online or at a kiosk, GambetDC did not have such requirements. If this same situation was playing out in the online sports betting market of nearby Virginia, a bettor performing as well as the bettor in DC would have his account flagged and wagers capped. In other words, a sportsbook would limit how much a person can wager on a single event/bet. What this meant in the nation’s capital is that the anonymous DC bettor was not ever able to have his wagers capped, and he profited as a result. 

Betting Rules Changed in a Hurry

Once the D.C. Lottery’s Regulation and Oversight Division finally caught on to their old systems being exploited, they moved to quickly cap the anonymous bettor’s wagers. Not only that, they have moved to more tightly restrict the wagering limits for all bettors. If you try to place sports bets in Washington DC today, there will be a much larger and more noticeable number of restrictions in place.

Though sports betting legalization has been a boon to the bottom lines of many states’ coffers, the same cannot really be said about Washington DC. To put it simply, the sports betting industry in the District is struggling, and has been for some time now. Adding more restrictions and limits to betting is exactly what DC does not need, especially if it wants to see monthly betting revenues that exceed even $5 million.

For those residing in Florida, the topic of legalized online sports betting–and sports betting in general–has been one no one really likes talking about. After all, for the shortest period of time bettors in Florida were able to place sports bets before legal proceedings put all betting on hold. That was back in 2021, and while Florida still does not have a legal, online sports betting system in place, the state moved one step closer to legal sports betting being a reality this week.

Just this week, a Federal Appeals Court denied a request from the owners of the state’s non-Tribal casinos and racetracks for a rehearing regarding the deal that gave full sports betting authority to Florida Native American tribes, namely the Seminole tribe.

A Deal Nearly Three Years in the Making

In 2021, Florida Governor Ron Desantis and the Florida Seminole Tribe signed a 30-year deal that would see the Seminoles be the lone offeror of sports betting in the state, online or in-person. In the Fall of 2021, with the NFL season already underway, this was a big deal because it meant that millions of sports-crazed Floridians would be able to bet on sports both in-person and from their phone. Even though Florida did not officially legalize sports betting, this deal was allowed to go forward because all bets would be processed by servers that were housed on tribal land belonging to the Seminoles.

As quickly as the deal was signed however, the owners of casinos and racetracks around the state banded together to fight it. Fight it is exactly what they did, and it did not take too long for US District Judge Dabney Friedrich to rule that the deal violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act because it allowed for gambling to take place off of tribal lands. She called the idea that the deal was legitimate because the bets ran through tribal servers on tribal lands a “fiction”, and that gambling would really be taking place in all corners of Florida, not a select few hundred square miles.

The Final Blow to Non-Tribal Operators

A three-judge panel was formed to take a closer look at this situation and, back in June, ruled that Judge Dabney Friedrich was incorrect when she ruled that the deal between the State of Florida and the Seminole Tribe violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act mainly because the Act allows for gambling both on and off tribal lands. In other words, it does not restrict gambling to only tribal lands.

Despite this June ruling, pari-mutuel racetrack owners and casino owners asked for a rehearing on the matter. That request was denied this week and little explanation was offered for the denial.

The Seminole Tribe released a statement saying that they were “pleased” with the ruling, but there is no immediate word on if, or rather when, they will be accepting bets on their Hard Rock Sports Betting app, which existed for a short period of time in 2021 before being turned off just before the turn of 2022. With that said, the fact that the NFL and college football seasons are well underway has many thinking that the Seminoles are going to reactivate the app and begin accepting bets again before too long.

Thanks to a longstanding history of soccer betting fraud coupled with more recent actions by players, the government of Brazil is taking a closer look at the systems currently in place aimed at preventing betting scandals.

These new measures are coming in response to shocking discoveries made in May. Then, the Brazilian soccer world was rocked as it was announced that a lengthy investigation revealed a large number of players were involved with match-fixing. The fallout of that investigation is still unfolding, but it is clear that Brazil is seeking to take drastic steps in order to stamp out match-fixing of any type.

A Number of Changes Proposed

In the report released last week, which was signed by special advisor to Minister Fernando Haddad, Fernanda Cimbra Santiago, it was explained that because of “recent episodes of manipulation of results in sports betting,” the Brazilian ministry should be able to ban or suspend betting on certain events. The report pointed to both live, in-game wagering as well as wagering done before games/matches begin.

As one might expect, the report singles out leagues, competitions, and teams that have been found guilty of match-fixing, but does not neglect to mention that this oversight should be broad-reaching, covering more than those leagues and teams with a history of foul play.

A Total Ban on In-Game Betting Considered

Because many of the incidents of match-fixing came by way of live, in-game wagers, there has been some talk in Brazil that sportsbooks should ban live betting entirely, even if only for certain teams and competitions.

This does not seem likely to happen, however, as live betting makes up almost a quarter of revenue for Brazilian sportsbooks. If the ministry that oversees betting and betting regulation wishes to continue making money, live betting must continue to exist, and exist in abundance. This is where things become more difficult to manage. While most countries in Europe and South America have an abundance of leagues upon which people can place wagers, few have more leagues than Brazil. Because the umbrella of “professional soccer player” is one that encompasses thousands of people, only a fraction of them make significant money. As a result, the temptation to participate in match-fixing in order to make extra money is a very real one. How this can be changed or remedied is anyone’s guess, but further scrutiny of wagering activity is certainly a good place to start.

A more sensible suggestion that was made relates to sportsbooks requirements to report suspicious wagering activity to the appropriate authorities within a 5-day period of time. This reporting is typically followed by most sportsbooks in Brazil and across the world, but it is not presently something Brazilian sportsbooks are required to do by law.

There is little known about where Brazilian authorities will land with changes regarding how they regulate betting on Brazilian soccer, but it is evident that this is no small issue for the soccer-loving country and their lawmakers.

Since the overall ban on sports betting was struck down in the United States many years ago, a plethora of states have quickly moved to both legalize the activity and implement both online and in-person betting operations. Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey all come to mind when thinking of states the passed legislation and began accepting bets in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

On the other side of the coin however, there are states like Ohio and Maryland, both of which passed legalized sports betting legislation without too much trouble but still, to this day, have not accepted a single online wager. Maryland recently moved to allow casinos and racetracks to accept in-person wagering, but Ohio has been treading water for the better part of a year now. Finally, there seems to be light at the tunnel for Buckeye state sports bettors.

Online Betting in Time for Super Bowl 57?

Online sports betting was officially legalized in Ohio last December, but Ohioans have been waiting nearly three quarters of a year without receiving much guidance with regard to when bets can be placed. This week it was announced that online sports betting in Ohio will be live in January of 2023, meaning that bettors should be able to place wagers on both the collegiate football National Championship as well as the NFL’s Super Bowl.

Bettors will be greeted by a number of online operators, but it seems that in-person sports betting will be a major deal in Ohio as well. Just this week, it was reported that Kroger’s, a national grocery store that has a massive presence in Ohio, has applied for more than 40 betting licenses. According to reports, the grocer outlet is going to set up betting kiosks inside their stores, meaning you can both shop for food for the game and bet on the game all in one location.

What About Maryland?

The news this week is great for residents of Ohio, but for Marylanders it comes as a sort of slap in the face. While Ohio legalized sports betting less than a year ago, Maryland is going on nearly two years since sports betting legislation was passed. That bill was signed into law back in November of 2020 and even though sports betting is now legal at the state’s few casinos, online betting is still shrouded in mystery.

We wish we could convey some good news with regard to a projected starting date for online sports betting in Maryland, but there is no concrete date set. The going estimation is that online sports betting will go live in the second half of 2022, however we are already more than halfway through the second half of the year and there is no end to the waiting in sight.

On the bright side, Marylanders can expect up to 50 mobile betting operators to exist in the state, a number that dwarfs most other states with legal online betting.