News In Brief: February 17-February 21, 2025

High 5 Entertainment confirmed that its sweepstakes casino offering, High 5 Casino, will block access to residents in six states next month which offer legal online casino games. 

In an update to its terms and conditions dated February 18, High 5 Casino said that as of March 14 it will no longer accept new sweeps players or purchases from existing players in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

All player accounts will be permanently closed after March 14, the company said. High 5 Casino is already unavailable in Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, Montana and Washington state.

Earlier this month, a Washington state jury ordered High 5 to pay $24.9m in damages, a decision that comes eight months after a U.S. District Court judge found the company’s social casino gaming platforms constituted online gambling. 

The company also blocked new player accounts and banned existing players from making purchases or redeeming sweeps in Canada as of February 3. All Canadian accounts will be permanently closed after Friday (February 28).

Just days after Gavin Isaacs’ premature departure as Entain group CEO, the global gambling giant has lost its deputy CEO for Australasia and its managing director for New Zealand operations.

Entain Australia and New Zealand deputy CEO and CFO Lachlan Fitt resigned after seven years in the company, the Guardian Australia reported on Thursday (February 20).

The Guardian reported Fitt as saying that “after a decade as an international wagering executive, now is the right time to move on to my next chapter".

“I am grateful to Entain for backing me, and particularly for the recent opportunity to work on starting the revitalisation of the New Zealand racing industry.”

Kiwi colleague Cameron Rodger has also resigned as managing director of New Zealand operations after less than two years in the job, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The Herald reported on Thursday that Rodger wanted to work more in the breeding sector and that Fitt will continue to work in the New Zealand industry. Rodger will be replaced by deputy CFO Sam Moncur, the daily said.

Neither outgoing executive mentioned the ongoing prosecution of Entain in Australia. Financial transactions regulator AUSTRAC launched the civil case in December, accusing the company of chronic breaching of anti-money laundering legislation and “systemic failures” in managing customer deposits, including the alleged shielding of customer identities and allegedly doing business with convicted felons.

An Alabama senator has confirmed that he does not have the voters to pass a sports-betting bill. 

Republican Senator Greg Albritton told Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal he would offer a bill if he had 21 votes in the Senate. Albritton said he does not have 21 votes. 

“Alabama has a moral obligation to take control of this industry and regulate it to protect the public,” Albritton said. “We have that obligation, and yet we can’t seem to get 21 votes to take this in and to control it.”

“Keep in mind now,” Albritton said, “before [the] Super Bowl, bets were being made in the state House.” 

He added that Jalen Hurts, a former University of Alabama quarterback who led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59, “made a lot of money for people in Alabama in that win.”

Last year, negotiations behind the scenes during the final day of the Alabama legislative session failed to secure the extra vote needed in the Senate to pass consensus legislation that included a state lottery, slot machines at seven locations and required compact negotiations with the Poach Band of Creek Indians. 

Alabama remains one of five states without a lottery.

For the fourth time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on sports betting in 2018, two lawmakers have introduced legislation in Congress to repeal the handle tax placed on each wager. 

The 0.25 percent tax, known as the “handle tax,” placed on all legal sports bets was enacted in 1951 to counter illegal gambling, which Representatives Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada, and Guy Reschenthaler, a Republican from Pennsylvania, believe is no longer relevant today. 

Titus and Reschenthaler introduced legislation to repeal the handle tax in 2019, 2021 and 2023, saying they recognize the economic importance of sports betting. 

Sports betting is legal and operational in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

“Illegal sportsbooks do not pay the 0.25 percent sports handle tax and the accompanying $50 per head tax on sportsbook employees, giving them an unfair advantage,” Titus said. 

Titus added that she once asked the IRS where the revenue from the handle tax went in the federal budget, and it did not even know. 

“It makes no sense to give the illegal market an edge over legal sports books with a tax the federal government does not even track,” Titus added.

Greyhound racing is to be banned in Wales "as soon as practically possible", the country's government has said.

In a surprise announcement on Tuesday (February 18), Welsh Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said the sport would be outlawed, ideally by mid-2026.

"There will be work to do in ensuring the dogs, their owners, and those involved in the industry around the racetrack, can wind down from this activity while still protecting the welfare of dogs currently within the industry, the local community and the local economy," he said.

Trade group the Betting and Gaming Council reacted with dismay to the news.

“Greyhound racing is a working-class sport, enjoyed by thousands, and this draconian move will cost jobs, hurt the economy, while depriving people of a long established and legitimate source of joy," said a spokesperson.

“We are also concerned that this decision has not been based on evidence but instead taken to satisfy campaigners."

Wales would become the first country within the UK to ban greyhound racing.

Light & Wonder has acquired the charitable gaming assets of Grover Gaming and G2 Gaming for $850m in cash, the company announced Tuesday (February 18).

The purchase prices was complemented by a four-year revenue earn-out of up to $200m, potentially bringing the price tag to more than $1bn. The deal was expected to close by the end of the second quarter, subject to regulatory and other approvals.

Grover Charitable Gaming is privately owned by Garrett Blackwelder and has an installed base of more than 10,000 leased electronic pull-tab terminals in North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky and New Hampshire operating under a recurring revenue model.

In 2024, Grover Charitable Gaming generated revenue of $135m and adjusted EBITDA of $111m.

In a research note, Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon said the deal complements Light & Wonder’s “cross-platform strategy by expanding into another high-growth adjacency in which Light & Wonders is not currently a participant.”

A bill introduced in the Vermont legislature would repeal the state laws legalizing sports betting and the lottery.

House Bill 133, sponsored by Representative Thomas Stevens, a Democrat, and two other lawmakers, has been referred to the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs for further consideration.

The two-page bill proposes to eliminate the regulations governing the Vermont Lottery and regulations overseeing sports betting, and ensures that “any person offering a lottery or sports wagering is subject to criminal” prosecution. 

Vermont legalized mobile sports betting in 2024 and launched it in the same year. Currently, FanDuel operates in Vermont, paying a 33 percent revenue share to the state, while DraftKings and Fanatics pay a 31 percent share. 

The adjusted gross revenue share allows for federal excise tax payments to be deducted but does not permit deductions for promotional play. The Vermont Lottery began as an enterprise in October 1977 following a 1976 voter referendum.

Bain Capital, the primary lender for Mohegan’s Korean integrated resort (IR) Inspire, has taken over operations just days after Mohegan warned of Bain Capital’s push to appropriate its shares in the debt-laden property.

Inspire Entertainment Resort said on Monday (February 17) that Bain Capital had exercised acquisition rights because of Mohegan’s missed payments and had deleted the name “Mohegan” from the property’s title, Korea Bizwire reported on Tuesday.

Bain Capital has since confirmed the takeover, telling various media outlets that it has assumed operational control of Inspire and its parent company MGE Korea.

Inspire and Bain Capital said the takeover will not disrupt resort employees, guests or daily operations.

Mohegan management told a quarterly earnings conference call on Thursday (February 13) that its lenders had just warned of the move on the property, but gave no indication that Mohegan had lost operational control or was on the brink of doing so.

The Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) has warned current and potential licensees of payment scams.

In an update issued on Friday (February 14), the regulator shared reports that some companies were receiving invoices for the regulator's "Orange Seal" certificates.

While it awaited passage of Curaçao's highly anticipated gambling reforms, the CGA began issuing pre-licences under the old regime in the form of green seals and orange seals to those websites that had applied for approval.

The regulator said that it does not charge for orange seals and that all requests to do so are fraudulent.

"The Certificate of Operation is an entitlement for individual domains of former sublicence holders which were operationally active at the time of the Master Licence expiry. The CGA does not and will not ever charge for this entitlement," a CGA spokesperson said.