Steve Ruddock

Investors are no longer enthusiastic about DraftKings’ free-spending strategy. Following the company’s Q4 earnings call, share prices, which were already on a downward trajectory, plunged some 20% following the call. The stock has gone from an all-time high of $69.75 in March 2021 to its current price of $17.88. DraftKings…

The COVID 19 pandemic has helped spur mobile sports betting in the US, but the opposite may be true for online casinos. Rather than highlighting the benefits of online casino gambling, COVID has allowed one of the key issues thwarting legalization efforts to linger: cannibalization. Outside of Nevada, cannibalization was…

Gambling advertising is a topic of growing concern. The subject was tackled in a recent webinar hosted by Stop Predatory Gambling, the Campaign for Gambling-Free Kids, and Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI). The webinar, titled America’s New Storm of Gambling Advertising: A Threat to Public Health, was led by Les…

Gambling harm has been thrust to the forefront as legal sports betting continues its rapid spread across the US. To help mitigate gambling’s social harms, EPIC Risk Management is teaming up with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to create a comprehensive gambling harm and student-athlete protection educational program. According…

Most states have legalized sports betting in the last few years. Many of those states legalized online sports betting. That may not seem like a big deal, but ask any longtime industry follower, and they’ll tell you how out of character it is for a state to legalize any form…

A YouGov poll delved into two aspects of the US sports betting industry: advertising and consumer awareness. The results will be somewhat shocking to those living in the sports betting and gambling bubble but augurs well with the historical data. The five big takeaways (from my perspective) are: 46% of…

The National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) has announced a partnership with the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL) in a nationwide effort to advance a mutual goal: Promoting best practices in gaming law and regulation. The joint venture, dubbed “Bringing Best Practices Home,” would solve one of…

I recently speculated that gambling regulators would face more and more scrutiny. I expounded on this by noting that the demand for competent gaming regulators far outstrips the supply. That means a lot of gambling regulators (often political appointees) are tasked with learning on the job, and gambling is a…

Bally’s is positioning itself as a serious player in the US sports betting space. The latest news has Bally’s becoming the official sports betting provider of Major League Fishing (MLF). And while this is far from the biggest splash the company has made, it highlights a core component of the…

Marketing gambling as entertainment is a drum I have been banging for quite some time. That said, I’ve never been able to plainly explain my thoughts on the subject, despite spending several years mulling it over. After writing a column dissecting Jason Robins’ statements about what kind of customer DraftKings…

A comment by DraftKings CEO Jason Robins has the gambling sphere in a tizzy. “This is an entertainment activity,” Robins said during the investor-focused Canaccord Genuity digital conference. “People who are doing this for profit are not the players we want.” And with that, cue the torches and pitchforks. On…

The 1961 Wire Act is back in the news after the lottery and online gambling provider, IGT, announced it is suing the Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The 18-page complaint seeks a declaratory judgment on the Wire Act, noting the court ruling from earlier this year only…

Gambling Twitter ended last week with a pithy but also interesting debate about gambling harm. Specifically, a comparison of the harm caused by sports betting vis-à-vis online casino games. Both products produce social harm, but is it equal? All gambling products have the potential to lead to addiction and problem…

As he did in the last session, Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA) has introduced legislation, The Greyhound Protection Act of 2021, that would amend the 1961 Wire Act to prohibit greyhound racing. The bill, HR 3335, has been referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. It seeks to…

After years of handcuffing players with a zero-tolerance policy for gambling and speaking out against the ills of sports betting, the NFL appears to be fully embracing not only sports betting but gambling in general. Look no further than a recent announcement by the NFL and Aristocrat Gaming: “The NFL…

It’s inevitable. Every season, there is a string of bad calls that significantly impact the outcome of sporting events. It’s also unavoidable that these blown calls send sports fans (and sports bettors) into a tizzy. We appear to be in this stretch at the moment, as a tweet by ESPN’s…

The gambling industry is having a robust (and long overdue) responsible gambling discussion. One of the critical subplots in the conversation is means-testing or affordability checks and, by extension, reducing revenue gambling companies obtain from problem gamblers. This topic was recently tackled on Twitter by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming analyst…

The National Council on Problem Gambling has an admirable mission and is full of great people who do great work. What the organization has always struggled with is funding. And that lack of funding causes the NCPG to spend a lot of time trying to secure funding. That time would…

The US gambling landscape has changed significantly in the last five years. If we rewind the clock ten years, the landscape is even more unrecognizable. And understand, the industry’s evolution is in its early stages and far from over. Five years ago, the US online gambling landscape comprised online casinos…

Gambling advertising is a hot topic of late, as industry insiders have started raising alarms that the current glut of advertisements will inevitably lead to a European-style crackdown. These warnings could already be too late, as Massachusetts regulators are already considering restricting gambling advertisements. At a recent hearing, Mark Vander…

G2E week provides a constant barrage of news. From the panels to the showroom floor to the timed press releases. One bit of information that caught my attention was a collaboration between Conscious Gaming, IXUP, and GeoComply that, as the press release states, creates “a next-generation technology solution to help…

As the saying goes, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Or maybe it’s, be careful what you wish for, that is the more appropriate axiom? Either way, the speed with which sports leagues, franchises, and even colleges and universities have embraced legal sports betting is exciting from…

Responsible gambling is a topic that has come to the forefront in US gambling conversations after the repeal of PASPA and the rapid expansion of legal sports betting that followed in 2018. The industry is hoping to head off European-style crackdowns on gambling advertisements and responsible gambling policies. Still, according…

Visiting a casino during the COVID-19 pandemic may have lost its luster, but gamblers certainly kept busy, mainly by shifting to or increasing the amount they gamble online. According to a recent survey by Toluna, Harris Interactive, and Kurundata, 39% of US gamblers increased their gambling spend during the pandemic,…