Sens Seek Answers To Curb Match Fixing At D.C. Sports Betting Hearing

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Richard Durbin talks with Sen. Thom Tillis before a federal hearing ... [+] on sports betting wagering. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

In preparation for Tuesday's federal hearing on sports betting wagering, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn stumbled upon a disconcerting trend on the prevalence of unlawful sports betting wagering among global criminal organizations.

With low overhead and less dangers than other major offenses, sports betting has become the criminal activity of choice for a variety of syndicates. As a result, unlawful foreign wagering markets have emerged as the ideal locations for the plans, with studies revealing that up to 10% of the mob income is consisted of from wagers on sports betting, Blackburn kept in mind at the hearing.

As the U.S. sports betting market faces 3 major scandals over the last 12 months, Blackburn is pressing the Justice Department to utilize every tool at its disposal to protect the integrity of sports betting from bad actors embedded in orderly crime.

"We understand the U.S. will become the epicenter for sports betting with the World Cup in '26 and the Olympics in '28," she announced, before inquiring on the guardrails that can be established to fight match repairing in the domestic market.

A determined push by the federal government to split down on match fixing might be an opening salvo in the fight to control the effective presence of the prohibited offshore market.
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A Trifecta Of Scandals

Blackburn, a republican from Tennessee, made the comments at a hearing entitled "America's High-Stakes Bet on Legalized sports betting Gambling," the first Congressional hearing on the subject in 6 years. The hearing occurred approximately one month after reports appeared that federal authorities are investigating whether previous Temple guard Hysier Miller positioned wagers on his team last season.

While Miller is the only gamer called openly in the probe, there are indicators that at least five Division I college basketball programs are under examination. In written testimony provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the NCAA reiterated that monitoring integrity issues over match-fixing, point-shaving, insider info and other plans represents a major focus. The NCAA began keeping an eye on around 13,000 matches in 2018, a figure that has actually just recently been expanded to 22,000 each year.

Following his appearance inside the Senate Dirksen Building, Baker gushed that the NCAA runs the biggest integrity program on the planet, with the ability to "act on any uncommon traffic," as quickly as it is discovered. When asked if the examination has ensnared anybody beyond Temple, Baker declined to talk about the case. He also decreased to elaborate whether Miller has been cleared of point shaving.

The matter is not the only one that has actually been referred to federal law enforcement. Over the summer, California bookmaker Matt Bowyer pleaded guilty to a number of charges, consisting of running a prohibited gaming operation and transactional money laundering. Bowyer's sports betting wagering ring allegedly accepted more than $325 million in wagers from Ippei Mizuhara, according to a federal grievance.

Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, is implicated of embezzling more than $16 million from the MLB star to repay his gambling debts. Since April, Mizuhara had net losses of $40.2 million with the ring, the grievance states.

At the height of operations, the Bowyer Gambling company contained a minimum of 700 sports betting wagering customers, according to federal law enforcement authorities, with a lot of the wagers transmitted offshore through a Costa Rican call center. Separately, Bowyer lost at least $7.9 million at Resorts World Las Vegas, a multi-billion dollar casino under investigation for purported anti-money laundering shortages.

A popular whale bettor, Bowyer is now blacklisted at practically every casino worldwide. Shortly after the 2008 Financial Crisis, Bowyer befriended Owen Hanson, a worldwide drug kingpin and previous USC football walk-on, ESPN reported this spring. Hanson referred to Bowyer as a "bookie good friend," in The California Kid, an autobiography launched on Black Friday.

The previous Trojans tight end got a 21-year jail sentence in 2017 for running a sprawling illegal sports betting wagering, drug trafficking, and cash laundering enterprise through his association with a Mexican cartel. Hanson was launched to a California halfway home this winter.

Earlier this month, Blackburn and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto sent a letter to the Department of Justice, looking for verification if there are any U.S. match fixing cases with links to organized crime. Citing a study from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, specialists approximated in 2014 that that $140 billion is laundered every year through prohibited and uncontrolled sport sports betting, an amount that has actually undoubtedly grown, the senators wrote.

Blackburn pressed former New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck on if states are partnering with the leagues and other stakeholders to fight match repairing. Rebuck responded that he is positive that they are on the right path due in part to a huge financial investment in detecting nefarious activity.

"In this industry, you must never be positive with the status quo - you must constantly want to new ways and technologies that permit for info to be shared and for threat assessments to be implemented," Rebuck stated.

Former Raptors center Jontay Porter at first faced a sentencing hearing this week on federal wire charges. Porter admitted to leaving an NBA video game early, then conspiring with a syndicate manipulate the outcome of a Same Game Parlay (SGP). The small East coast ring won approximately $1.1 million on an $80,000 SGP on Porter, an amount that was reportedly frozen by a leading commercial sportsbook. Porter and the other co-conspirators are now scheduled to be sentenced in May.

Other Takeaways From The Hearing
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-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin opened his prepared remarks with an anecdote from in 2015's NCAA competition. North Carolina center Armando Bacot scored 18 points and pulled down 7 rebounds in the Tar Heels' 85-69 win over Michigan State. But Bacot did not grab enough to make to "make sure bettors' bets pay off," Durbin mused. Shortly after the game, Bacot got about 100 messages from troubled wagerers, upset that he missed out on the over.

-Baker prompted the committee to enact a federal restriction on gamer props including college professional athletes. The hearing convened a number of months after Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D - Connecticut) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D - New york city) presented the sure thing Act, an expense that looks for to establish federal minimal standards on advertising, affordability, and using A.I. in tracking gamblers.

-Effective treatment for sports betting gamblers with a sports betting dependency represented one of the primary styles of the hearing. In written testimony, the National Council on Problem Gambling offered research that revealed for every dollar states have actually produced from commercial gaming,.0009 cents were invested in issue sports betting . One alternative is to re-direct funds from the federal excise tax on sports betting wagering to deal with a growing public health issue. "By dedicating a part of the excise tax to attending to gambling dependency, we can save lives, and all without imposing a brand-new tax," said Brianne Doura-Schawohl, creator of Doura-Schawohl Consulting, LLC, a shop government relations firm. "This option is the most accountable and reasonable thing to do." Doura-Schawohl is among the nation's foremost specialists on the subject.

-North Carolina senator Thom Tillis is open to designate an independent commission to study areas for potential federal oversight of sports betting. The committee might be tasked with creating certain guardrails for states that would need them to comply with "particular guidelines of the road," Tillis stated. Baker later on applauded Tillis for his position, telling press reporters that the senator delivered a "home run."

-Rebuck, however, disagreed with the facility for federal oversight. Rebuck indicated that states have a vast array of options available when it comes to crafting markets to allow legal, regulated sportsbooks to compete against overseas websites. Ultimately, the states have an interest in making sure that customers are safeguarded, he added. "There is no factor to believe the federal government is more fit to balance the tradeoffs associated with hundreds of regulative choices much better than private states," he told the committee.

Lame Duck Session

The hearing took place at a curious time, 8 days before Christmas during a lame duck session. Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner who penned a 2014 editorial promoting for legal sports betting wagering, did not testify on Tuesday. In reality, none of the leading commissioners from The United States and Canada's top sports betting leagues spoke before the committee.

Some argued that the hearing did not have balance, as the witness list did not consist of a single individual from the sports betting wagering industry.

"This regrettable exemption leaves the Committee and the general case bereft of testimony on how legal gaming secures customers from the predatory prohibited market and its leadership in promoting responsible video gaming and securing stability," said Joe Maloney, vice president of tactical interactions at the American Gaming Association. "We stay dedicated to robust state regulative frameworks that secure consumers, promote duty, and preserve stability of athletic competition."

Durbin, the Majority Whip given that 2021, chaired his last SJC hearing before next month's management modification. Durbin is not sure if efforts to establish a federal framework will advance next year. But he told press reporters that there's a "feeling on both sides of the table that we require to attend to," significant issues in sports betting wagering. Neither Lindsay Graham, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, nor Chuck Grassley participated in Tuesday's hearing.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee's preliminary focus will be to hold hearings on President-elect Trump's candidates, along with to take on steps relating to immigration and kid security online, a representative for Grassley told me. Additional hearing subjects will appear as the 119th Congress continues.

Grassley, 91, is set to assume the mantle from Durbin.

" I don't think you will get this solved before you pass the gavel," Tillis informed Durbin at the hearing. "I want to wager on that."

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