2024 G2E Review: Responsible Gambling Takes Center Stage in Wake of Betting Scandals

Each fall, leading gambling executives, regulators and other major stakeholders congregate in Las Vegas for the Global Gaming Expo (G2E), one of the most prominent events on the annual conference circuit.

Since the 2018 PASPA decision, top sportsbook CEOs have used G2E as a forum to promote recent innovations and discuss pertinent industry events. But over the past six years, large swaths of the agenda have been devoted to strategies on steering past unexpected challenges — many of which were beyond the leaders’ control. Following the cancellation of G2E in 2020, stakeholders have contemplated the industry’s response to a crippling pandemic, the nation’s highest inflation in four decades and challenging labor issues.

While the sportsbook community is not dealing with an existential threat in 2024, questions of federalism in sports betting took center stage this week at the Venetian Expo Center. The American Gaming Association hosted G2E weeks after the introduction of Rep. Paul Tonko's SAFE (Supporting Affordability and Fairness With Every) Bet Act, a bill that would place certain federal restrictions on sports betting.

The bill seeks to prohibit television advertising on sports betting, restrict sportsbooks from targeting customers through artificial intelligence and create a mechanism for monitoring customers through affordability checks.

The proposal raises new questions on the role of the federal government in regulating personal responsibility when it comes to sports gambling. As a result, discussions on safe betting practices percolated through the halls as the AGA plastered statistics on responsible gambling throughout the expansive expo center.

Federal Intervention

By striking down PASPA, the Supreme Court essentially left it up to the states to legalize and implement sports wagering. But one section in the SAFE Bet Act requires states with legal sports betting to submit an application to the U.S. Department of Justice that compels states to demonstrate how they have met minimal federal standards on advertising, affordability and artificial intelligence.

"The way it is structured, imposing these federal restrictions in forcing states to have to ask the Justice Department for waivers to regulate their sports betting markets is offensive enough on its own that we will oppose that bill," said Chris Cylke, senior vice president of government relations for the AGA.

The AGA, the nation's leading trade group for the gaming industry, has continually lobbied the Attorney General's office to curb the influence of illegal, offshore sportsbooks. A 2023 AGA study found that U.S. customers wager nearly $64 billion a year with illegal sportsbooks and unregulated bookies.

"This legislation would put [the federal government] in the regulator role looking over the regulated industry," Cylke told Action Network. The focus instead should be on cracking down on the unregulated market, he emphasized.

Tonko, a U.S. congressman from New York, patterned the advertising section of his bill after prohibitions on smoking ads in the late 20th century. Tonko is committed to protecting minors from being targeted by advertisers in the same fashion as the infamous Joe Camel cartoons did in the 1990s.

Nevada Rep. Dina Titus told Action Network that she is close friends with Tonko and looks forward to working with him as the bill progresses. Although the AGA generally believes the provisions of the SAFE Bet Act are a "non-starter," the association is willing to hold discussions with Tonko and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Cylke added.

Last month, the AGA and three operators — Bally’s, FanDuel and BetMGM — unveiled a framework to provide funding to players for the development of the Responsible Gaming Intervention Effectiveness Scale (RG-IES). The scale is designed to allow users to asses responsible gambling messages intended to meaningfully impact the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of consumers, according to the association.

Still, responsible gambling advocates continue to lobby states to earmark a higher percentage of sports betting revenues to treat individuals with gambling addiction.

A Scandalous Period

Last month, a federal judge moved Ippei Mizuhara's sentencing to December. Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani, is accused of embezzling at least $16 million from the MLB star.

The interpreter, who has sought assistance from a forensic psychiatrist to evaluate his gambling addiction, wagered more than $320 million on the illegal sports betting market.

In another well-documented case, Amit Patel admitted to stealing approximately $22 million from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Patel, a former administrator of the team's virtual credit card program, allegedly stole the funds to repay his sports betting and DFS losses. Earlier this month, Patel filed a lawsuit against FanDuel alleging that the sportsbook used information on his gambling addiction to target him with various enticements.

The conference featured a who's who of gambling executives, as Flutter Entertainment CEO Peter Jackson, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins, FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt, Circa CEO Derek Stevens and MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle all made appearances. Down the street, ESPN BET officials gave a presentation for Wall Street analysts at The M Resort in Henderson.

A frontrunner for landing an NBA expansion team, Las Vegas is poised to become the center of sports and entertainment nationwide, said Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As the NBA season nears, the league is mulling a ban on props involving two-way players.

One such player, former Raptors center Jontay Porter, is awaiting sentencing in connection with match-fixing charges.

One of Porter's conspirators offered to extinguish the Raptor's massive gambling debt if he ensured that a large bet would win. The center deliberately underperformed in several statistical categories enabling a betting syndicate to win several large wagers on a Porter-focused same-game parlay.

The gambling ring placed an $80,000 wager on an SGP that carried a $1.1 million payout before the winnings were frozen.  The NBA banned Porter for life last spring.

Enhanced Money-Laundering Protections

Responsible gambling practices should remain inside the fabric of sports betting culture, DraftKings' Robins emphasized.

"This is something every person in the company needs to help with every day," he said. "Everything you do, whether it’s working with partners, customers, no matter what it is, this needs to be something you’re thinking about, where and how it makes sense to infuse it."

Mizuhara, meanwhile, allegedly rang up millions in debt to illegal bookmaker Matt Bowyer. G2E was held a few blocks from Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV), a casino under investigation for its association with several illicit bookies. Over a 17-month period through October 2023, Bowyer lost approximately $7.9 million at RWLV, according to ESPN.

Another defendant, Damien LeForbes, bet more than $148 million at a venue identified in court filings as "Casino A." LeForbes, a pro poker player, allegedly used crypto wallets to receive money from his betting clients and to pay winning bettors, according to a federal complaint. Both Bowyer and LeForbes have pleaded guilty to operating an illicit sports wagering ring and transactional money laundering.

At least three panels devoted considerable time to discussions about the importance of enhanced anti-money laundering protocols. At one panel, Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick noted that illegal sports betting has been minimized because the state has a robust sports betting market.

"These guys whose business is to know sports wagering come to Nevada and wager with legal books, sometimes because they’re involved in nefarious activities, sometimes because they’re laundering money, and sometimes they’re just big players," said Hendrick during a panel appearance.

On another panel, David Rebuck, former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, described information-sharing as a powerful tool for combating criminality in the gambling space. Rebuck called on law enforcement agencies, regulators and operators to engage in comprehensive info-sharing efforts to respond more effectively to complex schemes.

"Some state regulators don’t have any powers to conduct criminal investigations," Rebuck lamented.

Other Highlights

• Eilers & Krejcik, a leading gaming research firm, held a presentation on online gaming trends at the expo center. FanDuel and DraftKings continue to maintain their duopoly over the U.S. sports betting market. The two companies command a combined market share of 64%, according to E&K, up from about 62% last year.
• Inside the show floor, numerous vendors promoted bet-builder products at their respective booths. As of this week, SGPs represent about 30% of U.S. GGR, E&K research found.
• The Seminole Tribe of Florida's monopoly on sports betting in Florida has vaulted Hard Rock Bet past several top competitors in national rankings. Hard Rock now has an online sports betting share of approximately 5%, E&K research shows. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas is tentatively scheduled to open in 2027.

Earlier this week, the known sports betting handle in the U.S. during the post-PASPA era surpassed $400 billion. New York, the definitive market leader, is on track to eclipse $50 billion in total wagers when the Empire State reports September figures.

More than 25,000 gambling professionals convened in Las Vegas for G2E 2024. This year, G2E saw an increase in year-over-year attendance, held more than 100 education sessions, and hosted exhibitors from 117 countries, territories and regions with regulated gaming, the AGA wrote in a statement.

Chris Altruda contributed reporting to this story