“He is my best chance of a winner at the Festival this year”

One more day left of the Cheltenham Festival, and it’s safe to say we’ll all be exhausted by the weekend! Gold Cup Day is here and, as always, it’s going to be tremendously exciting. I have two runners on Friday’s card at Prestbury Park, Gin Coco and Gidleigh Park.

Cheltenham, Friday

Gin Coco runs in the County Hurdle (14:10), but he definitely wants better ground, so we will be monitoring conditions closely. We haven’t seen him since he disappointed at Doncaster in December, but that was three weeks after winning at Ascot and it just proved too soon for him. He’s best fresh, so we’ve deliberately kept him back for a go at the County, albeit he didn’t run his race last year in this as he picked up an injury. He’s in great form with himself at home and, if the ground dries up, he could be putting in a similar performance to when he was runner-up in the Greatwood. Hopefully, he can be competitive.

You’ve all heard plenty about Gidleigh Park, who runs in the Albert Bartlett (14:50). Everything about this race should be right up his street, the course, the trip, and the conditions. The only thing we need to go our way is the run of the race, as he wasn’t really suited by the way his last race panned out, but at the Cheltenham Festival you’re almost guaranteed a good tempo, which is what he’ll like. He’s a big, rangy horse, but he’s not short of pace and he’s got a great blend of speed and stamina, so I hope this race will play to his strengths. We’re really looking forward to seeing him step into Grade One company for the first time.

On his last start, Gidleigh Park and the runner-up put a lot of distance between themselves and the rest of the field towards the finish, but the fact that he was still able to quicken and battle to the end was testament to his ability. Strictly on ratings, he has a bit to find, but I think he has the potential to really excel here and go very close indeed. Without a doubt, he is my best chance of a winner at the Festival this year.

Best of luck,

Harry

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2022 – A Year Full Of Fight & Luck

2022 – A Year Full Of Fight & Luck


Posted by Akshay Kapoor on 2022-12-26 at 7:35 PM

It has been quite an eventful year for me. A lot has happened, and that is what I am going to talk about in the blog, as well as a few key advices for all the young aspiring poker players.

Last year was very good for me as a player as well as a commentator, I managed to work in almost all big live events whether it be Baazi Poker Tour in Goa, IPC in Jhapa and did some offline work for Adda52. Not everything was good, though, I got the news at the start of the year that my mom has stage 3 Ovarian Cancer so I knew that playing Poker won’t be a thing this year since I wanted to be there for my mother. But call it destiny or luck, I kept on topping my biggest scores this year. I was playing maybe a day or two a week, whenever I could honestly, and got super lucky.

One of the big scores and my best score at that time came in March when I won Super High Roller, which I registered at 30bb and bluffed for all my stack in the very first hand, luckily, I didn’t get caught. It was actually on the night before my mother’s first chemotherapy, so couldn’t wish for a better time. That win allowed me to take a little break from playing poker, but I made sure that I was studying on the regular basis. I studied a lot during that time because that was all I was doing.

Almost 6 months passed, and I hardly played 50 tournaments in total but decided to do a live trip to APPT Cambodia, my second time going there and a month still left for the treatment. Not many Indians this time there, and I was let down by the numbers of side events. But I was determined to make the most of it, and boyyyy we did that. From bagging 30bb on Day 1 of the main event to being in the top 3 stacks on day 2 and eventually finishing runner up in the main event for my career-best score.

It’s 31 December today, and mom is well, thanks to all the good wishes and hard work of doctors and my super strong mother. The plan is pretty simple for 2023, and I am going to share that with you all in a moment.

I am going to do half-half this year; what does that mean? Well 150 days of live poker, 150 days of online poker, and 65 days of holidays. I am very glad to share that we have been approached to do commentary for an international brand, fingers crossed that it turns out to be great. Also, I want to be more regular on the blogs, so will aim to push one blog every month.

My 2023 Goals are as follows :

1. Put Volume – Simple
2. No interviews, no matter how big or small I win
3. Reduce my social media time, sadly no vlogs in 2023
4. Be in a better shape
5. Launch my Podcast

My advice to all the young and crushers of India are as follows

1. Get yourself out of any reporting site; it harms you more than it benefits you
2. Get in a peer group and study at least once a week.
3. Plan your live trips in advance to save any cost you can.
4. Be involved in a community

On the ending note, I will be taking my databases from all the reporting sites, (PokerGuru reporting, sharkscope etc) to protect myself, and I will always be available on discord for anyone who wishes to reach out to me. Good luck and I hope 2023 brings you happiness and luck.

2024 College Basketball Player of the Year Odds: Can Edey Repeat?

College basketball hit the halfway point of its regular season this week, meaning there are still lots of games to go—not to mention tournament play, as teams bid to reach March Madness and ultimately the Final Four. But if sportsbook odds are any indication, the national Player of the Year race has already become a foregone conclusion.

2023-24 Wooden Awards Odds

Odds to win the POY Award
Player Odds
Zach Edey (Purdue) -300
Hunter Dickinson (Kansas) +1000
Kyle Filipowski (Duke) +2000
R.J. Davis (UNC) +2000
Kevin McCullar (Kansas) +2000
Tristen Newton (UConn) +2500
Tyson Walker (Michigan St.) +2800
Armando Bacot (UNC) +3000
Caleb Love (Arizona) +3000
Tyler Kolek (Marquette) +3500

Purdue center Zach Edey, bidding to become the first back-to-back recipient of the John R. Wooden Award since Ralph Sampson in the early 1980s, is now such a favorite that he’s become a negative moneyline play at most sportsbooks. Odds of Edey repeating as Wooden Award winner are now around -300, which means a sports bettor would have to wager $300 to earn $100 in winnings should Edey claim the honor for a second consecutive year.

Edey, who entered this week averaging 22.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, has gradually tightened his grip on the Player of the Year award as the season has gone on. The Purdue big man opened at odds of around +155. After leading the Boilermakers to the title in the toughest Maui Invitational field ever, those odds moved to +130. Now they’re in negative territory, well ahead of those of No. 2 odds choice Hunter Dickinson of Kansas, who can be found at +600 to +1000, depending on the sportsbook.

Even though the top-ranked Boilermakers suffered their second loss of the season Tuesday night at Nebraska, Edey has scored in double-figures every game this season and has posted nine double-doubles, tied for sixth nationally. He ranks eighth nationally in scoring, 11th nationally in rebounding, and 15th nationally in field goal percentage. While he was held to just two points in the first half against the Cornhuskers, he hasn’t really had a bad game.

And the winning has certainly helped Edey cement himself as Player of the Year odds frontrunner. Now, could that change? Purdue has tough road games at Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio State coming up in the back half of its Big 10 schedule. It would likely take some upset losses, and some of those opponents shutting Edey down—which to this point, hasn’t really happened—for the likes of Dickinson or Duke center Kyle Filipowski to close what’s currently a sizable gap.

The Favorite: Zach Edey, Purdue

Edey has played at a consistently high level against a schedule that to this point ranks as the second-toughest in the nation, according to the analytical site KenPom.com. But conference play is a different animal—opponents are more familiar, and games are more physical—and that contrast has perhaps been evident in Edey, who had totaled 10 points and 15 boards, and then 15 points and seven boards in back-to-back Big 10 games through Tuesday. 

Those are very good numbers, to be certain, but not quite the 28 and 15 he was putting up with regularity back in November and December. The conference grind takes a toll on everybody, and Edey’s hold on Player of the Year frontrunner odds may hinge on whether he can maintain a form that produced double-doubles in 11 of his final 14 games last season.

The Challenger

Who might challenge Edey in becoming this year’s college basketball player of the year?

Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

Kansas has one of the worst cover rates of any team in the Top 25, continuing to win games that are closer than they should be. But that’s not the fault of Dickinson, a Michigan transfer who’s thrived in Bill Self’s offense, where he’s surrounded by great supportive players who can take the pressure off the big man in the middle. Dickinson hit for 30 points and 11 boards in a close win last weekend over TCU, emblematic of the type of contribution he’s making night in and night out.

Dickinson entered the week with averages of 19.4 points and 12.4 rebounds, and double-doubles in seven of his last nine games. He plays well in transition, shoots well from the outside, and can be unstoppable when he gets the ball down low. Dickinson plays in a deeper league than Edeydoes, and has more marquee games against ranked opponents still ahead of him. It will take more 30/11 nights against the likes of Baylor and Houston to make this Player of the Year race more interesting than it is now.

The Dark Horse

If you’re looking at making a big splash on the oddsboard, maybe consider this UConn Guard.

Armando Bacot, North Carolina

Guard R.J. Davis may lead North Carolina in scoring, but it’s big man Bacot who makes the Tar Heels go. The 6-11, 240-pound Bacot has proven an impossible matchup in the ACC, where he’s able to overpower interior defenders and get high-quality shots. In his previous two games entering the week, Bacot had not only notched double-doubles, but also shot 50 percent or better from the field. His averages—14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds—don’t accurately speak to how valuable he is.

But for Bacot to truly wedge his way into the Player of the Year conversation, he’s going to need more of the 25-point games he’s had just once so far this season. With Davis hitting for 20.6 per game, there’s not really the need for that yet in a weak ACC. But this is a thin Tar Heels roster, and UNC is winning largely behind a two-man game. The idea that Bacot could catch fire like he did at the end of the 2021-22 campaign—when his eight straight double-doubles led the Tar Heels to the national title game—isn’t out of the question.

Last 10 Best College Basketball Players Of The Year

Last 10 NCAA Naismith & wooden POY Award Winners
Year Player School
2022 Oscar Tshiebwe Kentucky
2021 Luka Garza Iowa
2020 Obi Toppin Dayton
2019 Zion Williamson Duke
2018 Jalen Brunson Villanova
2017 Frank Mason III Kansas
2016 Buddy Hield Oklahoma
2015 Frank Kaminsky Wisconsin
2014 Doug McDermott Creighton
2013 Trey Burke Michigan

 

Jalen Brunson, the player of the year from 2018, is having a standout year for the Knicks. In his first season with the Knickerbockers after signing on as a free agent, the former Villanova Wildcat is averaging 23.9 points, 6.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds and has pushed the Knicks into a playoff spot. The Knicks! 

If Brunson’s impact continues, New York could see the playoffs for just the second time in the last 10 seasons. 


How To Read Naismith And Wooden Player Of The Year Odds

If this is your first time betting on NCAA College Basketball Player of the Year odds and you aren’t sure about the difference between the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, don’t sweat it.

They’re essentially the same individual award but the voting structures are slightly different. The Wooden Award is determined before the NCAA March Madness tournament and voted on by over 1,000 sportswriters across the country, while the Naismith Award is finalized by a board of selectors along with fan voting and is announced in April.


Understanding College Basketball Player Of The Year Odds

At your college basketball sportsbook of choice, you’ll see prop odds to win College Player of the Year listed like so:

Zach Edey -150

Jalen Wilson +500

Brandon Miller +600

When there is no clear favorite due to the lack of a minus sign (-), the player with the lowest odds is the fave. In this case, though, there is a minus-money favorite in Edey. The others are considered underdogs.

If you’re loving Edey at -150 and you bet $100 on him, you’d get a payout of $166.67 – your original money is returned coupled with your winnings of $66.67. To see what you’d win based on the odds and the amount you bet, check out our odds calculator.

Top five golfing performances of the year

With all four majors behind us and the curtain coming down on the 2023 golfing season, it is time to take a look back at some of the best performances and moments from the past year.

Below we take you through the five best moments from the last year in golf.

‘Rahmbo’ wins final round shootout at The Masters

It certainly didn’t take Jon Rahm long to find his stride in 2023 as he picked up his first win just eight days into the year at the Tournament Of Champions, making it two in a row at The American Express just two weeks later.

Rahm headed into The Masters with three titles to his name already, after picking up the Genisis Open title in mid-February to rise to third in the world golf rankings prior to the sport’s most prestigious tournament.

Heading into the final round, Rahm was two shots back from leader Brooks Koepka, with the two set to go out last to battle it out for the title. What followed was to be a combination of John Rahm being absolutely on fire, and Koepka melting under heat.

Rahm would go on to shoot an impressive three under par score of 69, whilst Koepka wilted to a three over 75. Rahm would win his first ever Masters title by a four-shot margin, joining an illustrious club of Green Jacket owners.

Michael Blocks out the pressure at PGA Championship

Prior to the 2023 PGA Championship, Michael Block was little more than the club pro in Southern California. He had played in 25 PGA Tour events, making four cuts, and winning the Southern California PGA Player of the Year nine times from 2012 to 2022.

Block caught the headlines at the end of the second day as he was the only club professional to do so. Fans really started to take notice when Block shot a level-par third round, whilst playing with Justin Rose, to finish the day in eighth position.

The pressure was piled on Block after he found out that he would be playing his final round alongside Rory McIlroy, but the American certainly didn’t crumble. After a largely steady round, Block scored a hole in one at the 15th hole on his way to a round of 71, which saw him finish in 15th place to complete one of the greatest underdog stories in golf’s recent memory.

Harman walks alone atop Royal Liverpool leaderboard

If you had told someone in 2017 that Brian Harman was going to win The Open in 2023, not many would have questioned you after he finished T13 at the tournament, as well as T2 in the US Open that year, but at 125/1 he didn’t roll up to Royal Liverpool with much expectation.

Harman didn’t set the field alight straight away and after the first round all eyes were on hometown hero Tommy Fleetwood who led by one. The second round was when the tide took an insurmountable shift with Harman ending the second round five shots ahead of the rest, the joint largest lead after 36 holes at the Open Championship since 1934.

On what was a sparse, windy and far from easy Royal Liverpool course, many expected some of the bigger names to reel in Harman as the holes passed, but the American had other ideas. Harman went two under par in his third round to keep his lead at the top to five shots.

With last round nerves the talk of the media, some of whom were hoping that Harman would faulter, the lesser-known lefty proved all doubters wrong as he topped the leaderboard by an emphatic six shot margin as he lifted his first ever Major title.

DeChambeau shoots record-equalling 58

LIV Golf has been a big talking point this season, less so the events that have actually taken place on the breakaway tour’s courses. Although LIV Golf is seen by many to be a less competitive environment, Bryson DeChambeau achieved a feat which would be tough for most to match at a pitch and putt, never mind a professional golf course.

DeChambeau winning his first LIV Golf title at the Greenbrier was far from the headline on the back page, with his final round score of 58 the main talking point. The big-hitting American’s scorecard consisted of 13 birdies and just one bogey as he became just the seventh man to shoot 58 in men’s professional golf and only the fourth to do so on a main tour.

Europe take over Rome in a day

After all of the individual achievements we saw throughout the year, it was a team performance that truly capped a fascinating year of golf. Team Europe headed to Rome for the 2023 Ryder Cup with revenge on the agenda and stacked team ready to make their mark… and make their mark they did.

Nothing sets the tone for a Ryder Cup tournament like a chip-in on the first hole and Viktor Hovland produced just that to send him and Ludvig Aberg one up – Team Europe never looked back from that moment.

After just one day’s play the Europeans had produced a highlight reel fit for the entire weekend as they finished day one with a five-point lead, with many believing that the competition was already over.

Europe did not once take their finger off the pulse, with standout performance coming from Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland. Luke Donald’s men would avenge their 2021 defeat and more, winning the competition by a margin of 16.5 points to 11.5.

Check out all the latest golf betting odds at William Hill

Year in Review – NCPG Q&A With Bonus: Executive Director Keith Whyte on Responsible Gaming Progress

The US gambling industry made progress on responsible gaming in 2023, but there’s still a $1 billion funding shortfall. So said Keith Scott Whyte in an interview with Bonus.

Whyte is the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), a nonprofit that fights problem gambling on several fronts.

While it may seem a bit early to do a year in review of legal online gambling’s responsible gaming efforts, the New Hampshire Senate began accepting 2024 bill filings on Sept. 28. For those keeping track of US online casino legalization efforts, that’s the state that came the closest to passing a law before Rhode Island came from behind and became the eighth iGaming state in June.

New Hampshire’s online casino bill died in committee in 2023.

Meanwhile, Kentucky became the 37th legal sports betting jurisdiction. Kentucky online sportsbooks launched on Sept. 28. Not all legal sports betting states have live marketplaces yet, including North Carolina.

Whyte Tells Bonus About Responsible Gaming

Responsible gaming efforts are multifaceted. So Whyte spoke to Bonus yesterday about many subjects, ranging from NCPG’s three-year, $6.2 million grant from the National Football League Foundation (NFLF) that began in 2021 to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) new sports betting guidelines.

Whyte, who was AGA’s research director until 1998, seems to agree with the March revisions in the AGA’s Responsible Marketing Code for Sports Wagering. 

However, Bonus readers should judge for themselves.

The Bonus questions are in bold.

Whyte’s answers are below.

What should Bonus readers know about what NCPG did in 2023?

The most important thing for Bonus readers to know about NCPG in 2023 is, I think … that we fully realized our partnership with the NFL. And that impacted three things.

So 2023 was the first full year of having 1 (800)-GAMBLER as the national helpline number, 2023 was the year that we saw some of the biggest results from the NFL’s advertising in support of responsibleplay.org, and 2023 was the year that we started getting the initial evaluations from our the first round of the … Youth Gambling Prevention Agility Grants.

So those are the three major prongs, if you will, of the of the NFL funding. But 2022 was mainly getting everything up to speed right? And it was all it was all new.

So … the most exciting thing for Bonus readers to know about us in 2023 is that these three programs are going to have transformational impacts for years, if not decades to come. And 2023 was the first time that we started to see those initial impacts.

Was 2023 when the public cared about iGaming RG, PG, and addiction?

I think that’s a great question. And I would say the answer is “yes.”

I think that we’ve been talking about online gambling and problems, you know well, before 2018. But 2018 was when the states started to expand into online gambling, and especially online sports betting. And by 2023, you’re starting to see a lot more public awareness … of the downside of gambling problems.

So yes. … I do think that’s that’s true. That’s absolutely true. …

The reason we got more attention is, one, the the vast amount of advertising which now touches probably every American in a way that gambling advertising has never touched them before. And again, it’s mainly driven by sports betting. And then … the New York Times did a very influential series. A lot of other mainstream outlets kind of started to follow them. And … efforts of the National Council [on Problem Gambling] to try and raise public awareness in a positive way. We’re also starting to have an impact. So I think that’s part of the why. And I do suspect, five years into this expansion, [that] more Americans are starting to know someone who they think is … gambling a little bit too much.

Is some of this public outcry about gambling ads NIMBYish?

I think a ton of it’s NIMBY. …

Gambling’s always been here. It’s always been part of human nature. But when you see gambling commercials now during the Super Bowl, when you see it now saturate not just sports coverage, but it’s in the paper. It’s … in that mainstream media. We always knew where to look for it, but it was more niche. And now, I think it’s because especially [of] broadcast advertising, it hits states where it’s only been very recently legalized, or where maybe even a certain form of sports betting isn’t legal. So Utah and Hawaii are getting the same ads that we all see, and I think that’s part of that surprise. …

Is that viewership in Hawaii and Utah due to national ads?

Yes.

… It’s, what, 33 states now? So the people in the 17 States that don’t have legalized gambling are still being bombarded by gambling ads.

Not that they’re not targeted to them. It’s just that if they see there’s social media, or especially in broadcast television … broadcast advertising, broadcast radio. … You can’t geo-target that … So it’s reaching a lot of people where sports betting is not legal. … That’s a little discordant, I think. Or it creates some of that attention.

Was 2023 the Year of Responsible Gambling?

The general public became more aware.

So was 2023 the year of responsible gambling? Not yet, because there’s still a number of companies, a number of states that are still doing little or nothing on responsible gambling. So there is still a mindset within the gambling industry and government to do as little as possible. and only only enough to comply with the law.

I think, in the majority of states and the majority of gambling operators, they’re moved beyond just compliance. But there’s still a significant minority [of] states and operators that do as little as they can.

And so I don’t think it’ll be the year of RG until we raise that floor.

The ceiling has never been higher. But the floor is still where it was pre-2018. And that’s that’s still a problem for us.

What was accomplished in 2023?

We saw a number of operators really go above and beyond. … Like, you know, Caesars investing millions and millions of dollars to harmonize their self-exclusion system so that anybody that excludes in one property in one state is automatically excluded from all Caesars properties nationwide. And that was an enormous technological achievement — to have all these different systems all talk to each other. …

We saw some really bold announcements by FanDuel, for example, during their first Play Well Day. … They’ve made some enormous commitments.

So I think there was a lot that was accomplished at the top of the market.

What failed?

What failed, again, was moving that floor. Because while Colorado updated their regulations in 2023, DC cut all their problem gambling funding. So you still have … a few irresponsible operators. You have a few irresponsible states. And that has kept that floor very, very low.

What remains to be done?

It’s really one thing, I guess. … To raise that floor so that the operators … doing the least [are] at least getting closer to the people at the top of the market.

And the same thing with states. You know, we need to leverage those states with weak regulation or no public funding to catch up to their brethren, either in per capita or in total amounts.

There’s a couple of ways to measure, but it is still the case that there are seven states that have no public problem gambling funding. And DC went reverse. … [DC] had public funding, and they got rid of it in 2023.

So … it’s a tale of people that are leading and that are that are innovating in responsible gambling both on the state level and the company level. And then there are people that are sort of fighting to do as little as possible.

Both on the … government level … and companies that refuse to train their employees, that only grudgingly post the helpline number, that don’t provide any support for advocates like us, that don’t get third-party assessments.

So there’s there’s a lot of ways to measure that.

Should online gamblers think of RG, PG, and addiction differently?

Yes.

… It’s one of the biggest opportunities in the field right now is to help the public — and especially gamblers, and especially online gamblers — understand that these are tools that everyone should use.

And a big part of that is the framing, right?

… We know most gamblers think responsible gambling tools are only for people with problems. And so the vast majority of online gamblers tend not to use them because they don’tthink they have a problem. And they don’t.

So we need to reframe it.

Maybe it’s called “safer play” or “positive play.” …

We’re close. There’s a lot of people that are looking at reframing, renaming these concepts. So it becomes much more like using a seatbelt. Yes, there are laws about seatbelt use, but most people use a seat belt, not because they think they are crazy drivers, but they realize it helps protect them from the negative consequences if there is an accident. No one sets out to have an accident, but most people wear their seat belt, because “in case.” And they don’t think about it as “I’m somehow limiting my freedom,” or “I’m restricting my lifestyle by wearing a seatbelt.” It’s something you do, because there’s risk there.

Everybody should wear a seatbelt. Everybody should set limits, even if you’re [a] completely recreational player. And you’re never going to get anywhere near $5 a day spent. So what does it hurt you to set a limit for $25?

But most people don’t set limits. Because if they hear about responsibility, they think it’s for someone with a problem. And quite frankly, most operators never publicize their limit-setting tools. … There’s only very limited incentivizing of responsible tools, or whatever it is we’re going to call it.

… We give just outrageous amounts of bonuses, right? I’ve never seen a bonus program that says, “Hey, here’s an extra $5 if you set your limits.” “Here’s an extra $10 in site credit if you watch this 30-second video.

… The industry knows so much about .. [the] targeted bonus … To spend a fraction of that money, to spend a tiny bit of that expertise in encouraging your players to be sustainable, encouraging your players to stay with your site because you care, you want them to have a good, positive experience … There’s a lot of ways to frame responsible gambling in a pro-player way. In a way that builds their trust and confidence in the site. But … the industry is doing. I think frankly, a pretty terrible job of that.

So right now, most responsible gambling is framed as compliance. It’s framed as negative. It’s framed as, “for people with a gambling problem.” But it should be just the opposite … voluntary … fun. And you should be rewarded.

Because … you can tell what most sites care about is revenue. And that’s because that’s where their marketing spend is driving. And that’s fair. But … if they really did embrace a culture [of] responsible gambling, they would spend some of that marketing and frankly incentivize players to use their tools to play responsibly. And that’s one way, quite frankly, to increase lifetime value, discourage, churn, discourage bonus abuse — by spending money to … recruit or retain safer, longer-term sustainable players.

How well do months dedicated to RG and PG work for awareness?

I think they are important, and we support them because it provides an opportunity for everyone to celebrate what you should be doing all year round. And we’re so we’re starting to see a shift in the industry.

In 2023, we saw more and more significant announcements of industry initiatives around responsible gambling than ever before, and that was great. And many of these initiatives represented … a long runway. … They didn’t just start it in September.

… Caesars, for example, they announced their self-exclusion [program] during September. But they spent months and months and months working on it.

So I think it’s I think it’s important. I think it also provides an opportunity for general public awareness. So the two months … we could highlight a lot of the work that’s been done. And I think that’s always great. It’s appropriate to celebrate this stuff. And then there’s also an external-facing thing with these two months, where it gives us the opportunity to try and message the general public. So it’s like breast cancer awareness. … Everybody should be supporting that year-round, but when you have a special week or a special month, it provides an opportunity for the general public to get in on that message. …

Does lawmaker outreach help?

It does, because even lawmakers who want to do the right thing often so poorly understand gambling, and none of them have expertise in problem gambling, that they’re apt to do things that are either performative or are not going to be effective. And so it’s a critical part of what we do as advocates to reach out to lawmakers and help them find solutions that are actually going to help reduce harm from gambling problems. …

Many legislators only hear from either the industry and pro-gambling forces or anti-gambling forces. And so we provide a vital service by helping them find pragmatic solutions on … responsible gambling issues that are not biased towards one side or the other. And you know, because so many legislators have so little information around this that legislative agency is critical for us.

Are PG efforts getting enough funding in legal online gambling states?

No, [but] it’s improving. But yeah, still no.

And we have said for a long time, for decades, that what we’d be looking for on a state level is the equivalent of 1% of the state’s total gambling revenue. You know, we think 1% of their lottery, 1% of casinos, 1% … And in most states, we’re still far, far below that. So we’ve been making progress.

In 2022, the amount of public funding we were able to identify was $104 million. And again, that’s very unevenly distributed. …

Across [the] United States, I think the average is 32 cents per capita, which is clearly inadequate. If you took our 1% target and applied it to the estimated annual revenue from gambling, which is probably in 2022, about $100 billion … So there’s about a billion-dollar gap. And that gap may be getting worse as gambling revenue really, really increases across the United States.

Public funding [on responsible gaming] is not keeping pace. So in real dollar terms, we’re probably falling further behind, even though there’s more public spending. That increase is nowhere near matching [the] increase in revenue.

Should federal taxes fund responsible gaming efforts?

The federal government could do some positive things, but many of the big daily fantasy operators still aren’t paying the sports betting excise tax. They’re appealing a very clear IRS determination … That’s a big issue.

I know that there has been discussion in Congress about legislation to prohibit colleges who receive federal funding for research, or for whatever, from developing partnerships with sportsbooks. I think the industry walked those back in in the face of a lot of scrutiny.

… In 2023, we’re building support for the Gambling Research Investment and Treatment Act, the GRIT Act, which would take half of the sports betting excise tax and dedicate that revenue to national-level problem [gambling] family research and state-level prevention and treatment services, right? So it’d be the first-ever federal funding.

… This would not raise the sports betting excise tax. It would just take a portion of the existing federal tax revenue and dedicate it to HHS for national-level research and state-level problem gambling services. So that’s a positive area that the federal government [could impact]. Because right now, states are paying 100% of that burden for prop gambling. …

[The GRIT Act is] going to provide organizations like us and everybody at the state level with more support to minimize harm. And that is a net positive for gambling operators and state government. So everybody benefits if the federal government does their part in a positive way.

Which states need immediate RG, PG, and addiction attention?

Well, the seven who do nothing.

… Texas, being, of course, the biggest, [is] having all sorts of issues. And DC, which affirmatively decided to eliminate their entire problem gambling budget. … It leaves people in [the] district without — just flat-out.

Should states have PG programs before legalizing online casino gambling?

Yes. And one of the big reasons is that it can take years. It can take many years to stand up a program, to get people trained, and to infuse problem gambling in the existing health system. And to build out that full network of services. …

The other reason why it’s so important to have prominent programs in place before expansion is that if you’re in a state like Virginia … For 30 years, anybody who called the state health agency for help with gambling problems was told, “The state of Virginia does not provide services for people with gambling problems. We do not do this.”

And so now, all of a sudden, once sports spending was legalized in Virginia … the state got a couple of million dollars [to] start providing services. But they have to unwind 30 years of prominently telling the public, “don’t come here if you have a gambling problem.” And it may take another decade or so before everybody in the state of Virginia understands that all of a sudden, now. state government is in the business of helping them. …

It’s going to take years to stand up that system, and there might well be a lot of casualties, a lot of preventable casualties in the gap between.

If gambling’s going to expand, it’s going to start almost instantly. But if the health services take three to five years to get put in place, if there’s no safety net there for three to five years, you can really burn out a lot of people.

Did industry and regulatory changes to marketing and ads help?

I do think there’s been progress on the the industry and regulatory changes. That has been positive. The stronger we make these codes, the more awareness states have of best practices in other states, the more we’ll get to voluntary national harmonization. Because there’s never going to be a national gambling law. I don’t think so. Each State sets its own regulations.

But I do think you’re seeing states start to compare. And a lot of people look to New Jersey and Ohio, and they ask a lot of questions.

  • “Why don’t we have similar responsible gambling regulations?”
  • “Why are our standards so low?”
  • “Why is Ohio doing this? And New Jersey is doing that but we’re not?”

And so I do think those changes are going to make a difference … and it’s great. I mean, I’m certainly critical of the self-enforcing nature of the AGA’s guidelines, for example. But when the AGA itself says, “Here, this should be the minimum standard.” It’s very hard for operators to say, “Oh, no. That’s that’s too high of a standard.”

When your own trade association says, “sports [betting’s gambling age should] be 21,” I think it makes it a little bit harder to say, “Well, we’ll take play at 18.” … So I do think it’s it’s going definitely [going] in the right direction. …

Is there a clear difference between legal and illegal sites?

There’s still Americans still spend a lot of money with illegal operators. And That’s definitely a public policy concern.

… One of the industry’s key talking points is that illegal operators don’t have responsible gambling protections. But that argument is severely undercut by the fact that in many states, legal operators are not required to provide adequate, responsible gambling protections, and so they don’t. So if the industry’s argument is, “you should only gamble with the legal, regulated operators because they provide good consumer protections,” that’s actually not true. Because many of them in the United States don’t, because they’re not required to.

So the industry could do itself a huge favor. It could make the contrast between legal, regulated, and illegal operators so much sharper, distinct. … It would provide such a policy advantage.

If every operator in the United States met high standards, if every state raised their responsibility regulations and clearly distinguished the good consumer protections Americans should have [against] the poor consumer protections that offshore operators provide. But until the industry really takes a hard look at itself … Don’t just hang your hat on what the leading operators do. You’ve got to hang your hat on what the lowest, least regulated gambling company does. … That’s the floor. And until that floor raises significantly, they don’t have much of an argument … on [the] responsible gambling side of distinguishing between illegal and legal operators.

What determines responsible gaming funding needs?

In every state, what we would say is, “We acknowledge that 1% of revenue figure is arbitrary.” So every state should, as a matter of policy, develop a statewide needs assessment. … The target should be that every citizen of your of your state has problem gambling prevention and treatment resources that are available, affordable, and accessible, right?

So available — they’re distributed. …

Affordable is obvious, because most people [with] gambling problems don’t have money and accessible means. … You’ve got online options … You [don’t] have to drive 10 hours for it.

And then working back from that goal. What would it take to make problem gambling prevention treatment services available, affordable, accessible in DC, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio … each state? Because that’s the way we look at things like alcohol and opioids, cancer, diabetes. And, to my knowledge, only Oregon and Massachusetts … Ohio soon … have really constructed comprehensive statewide assessments.

… There’s not going to be a magic formula that you can take and plug in, state by state, but at least it’ll get us part of the way. Each state still going to have [work] to do. It’s it’s work.

How did 1 (800)-GAMBLER ad outreach change in 2023?

We did introduce our new brand standards. And we think roughly half the country now allows the use of 1 (800) GAMBLER … in advertising. And so and I think the more states that allow operators to use 1 (800)-GAMBLER, the more of a snowball effect you’re going to see. So I think that was the big change in 2023. …

Must suicide prevention programs be linked to 1 (800) GAMBLER?

It’s always been. There is still a national suicide hotline. But … our standards have always required that helpline staff be trained on how to deal with suicidal callers. …

There’s a lot more effort to share between these groups. So it’s that’s been positive.

Are problem gamblers more likely to commit suicide than other addicts?

People with gambling problems have much higher rates of suicidal behavior than many of the other addictions. …

But I think the evidence is a lot clearer if you look at people’s severe gambling problems. Their rate of suicidal behavior is far higher than other addictive disorders. So yeah, not every person with a gambling problem. But if you just look at people’s severe problems, I think it is fair to say they are more likely to commit suicide than people with other addictions. …

What research priority do you have about RG and PG?

Oh, gosh! So much …

By the end of 2023, or in early 2024, we will be able to launch the third edition of our “NGAGE” survey. [That’s] the only national survey that’s looking at gambling. Attitudes and gambling behavior… We did the first edition in 2018 to set a baseline, did a smaller sample in 2021. And we hope to do the full 28,000-person sample. So that’s our biggest research priority because that’s the only way you have to have three points on a line before you can see a trend. Because some of the increases we saw in 2021 may have just [been] the pandemic, may [have been] a lot of things.

… “NGAGE 3,” we’re calling it. That will … have 500 respondents per state. So that’s going to give a state-level change since 2018. … And I think that’s critical to understand where the risk is shifting. We think the risk is shifting higher. We think it’s shifting mainly to young male online sports betters. But … until we do the survey, we don’t know.

So that’s [the] No. 1 research priority.

[The] second research priority, I would say that we already talked about a little bit, is reframing responsible gambling into something that resonates more with gamblers. To help them engage with these tools. Practice safer play, make more informed decisions. … So I think that’s that’s probably coming to the fore because we’ve got more and more opportunities, more and more government, more and more gambling operators that are interested in responsible gambling. But we don’t want to lose that momentum just because of a name, or just because it of the the connotations that this name has. So … we don’t know what the right answer for the United States is going to be. But that is research that I think will probably that will probably be a priority next year.

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