Sports Betting News in U.S.: Around the Horn

With a new year underway, the sports betting news is coming in very quickly. Several states are moving towards sports betting legislation while other states are seeing updates related to the addition of new sports betting operators.

In this week’s news, we’ll take a look at two new operators set to start offering bets in Virginia and news out of Indiana that online casino gambling could be on the way.

Betway and SI Sportsbook Coming to Virginia

Early in the game, seven sports betting operators have been taking all the sports betting action in Virginia. While already having access to many of the top U.S. sports betting operators has been a blessing for the state, two more operators are poised to join the fray.

The Virginia Lottery through the Gaming Compliance Division has announced the approval of sports betting licenses for both Betway and SI Sportsbet. While both of these top bookmakers will miss out on taking NFL playoff and Super Bowl bets this year, they are scheduled to be ready to rumble by sometime in April of this year. That would be in time for the start of the MLB regular season and the NBA and NHL playoffs.

Betway, owned by Digital Gaming, has been busy gobbling up sports betting licenses in the U.S. market. It’s noteworthy that the company has also aligned itself with the NHL through a marketing partnership deal.

As for SI Sportsbook, they come to America as the new christened North America brand from the European gambling conglomerate 888Sport. Yes, the SI represents the bookmaker’s partnership with Sports Illustrated.

With the addition of Betway and SI Sportsbook, Virginia will have nine sports betting operators in place. According to the state’s sports betting legislation, that leaves three more licenses available for the taking, though the lottery asserts they already have three reviews underway.

In other Virginia sports betting news, the State legislature is looking into the approval of betting on the state’s amateur college team. This is something that wasn’t approved in the original legislation.

Indiana Looking at the Possibility of Approving Online Casino Gambling

With time running out, the Indiana House of Representatives is trying to pass two pieces of legislation that would legalize online casino gambling for the state’s residents. The two bills, HR 1356 and HB 1337 would need to make it to the State Senate before a January 31, 2022 deadline in order to hit the current docket.

Under these two pieces of legislation, existing retail casino operators would be permitted to start offering online casino gambling. Each casino would be limited to three skins and have to pay an 18% tax on gross casino revenue. Also, applicants would need to pay a $100,000 initial licensing fee to be followed by a $25,000 annual renewal fee.

If everything were to make it through the Senate and Governor's desk in time, online casino gambling could become a reality in Indiana by July 1 of this year.