50 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2023 P U L S E look forward to deploying this iLottery system and believe the expanded play options will be a welcome addition among our players." IWG and Virginia Lottery Introduce “eDraw” Style Game New Digital Game Merges Classic Lotto Mechanic with Jackpot Top Prize May 22, 2023: Instant Win Gaming (IWG), a leading supplier of eInstant games to NASPL/ WLA-member lotteries, congratulates the Virginia Lottery on the launch of Lotto Virginia, the U.S. lottery industry’s first on-demand, digital-only lotto game featuring a progressive jackpot top prize. Lotto Virginia offers a nostalgic lotto experience in a modern digital format to players across the Commonwealth. The gameplay is a 6/42 draw matrix. Players can purchase up to four tickets for each draw. Six matching numbers wins the top jackpot prize. The Virginia Lottery previously offered a retail draw game named Lotto Virginia with a similar playstyle. Lotto Virginia is powered by InstantJackpots, IWG’s progressive jackpots engine which has been deployed in more than 75 eInstant launches over the past two years. Lotto Virginia, including its InstantJackpots prizing, is entirely integrated within IWG’s InstantRGS (remote game server). This allowed the Virginia Lottery to launch the game without any development assistance at the iLottery platform level. Scientific Games Welcomes Christine Wechsler as Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs CANADA: Bill 126 enacts the Ban iGaming Advertising Act, 2023 which prohibits the promotion of online gambling sites by means of advertising Lottery.Com, Inc. Stock Returns to Trading on Nasdaq SPORTS BETTING AND CASINO GAMBLING Federal Court Sides With Seminoles Over Mobile Sports Betting, Could Alter US Gaming Landscape A federal appeals court has sided with the Seminole Tribe in its appeal of a lower court’s ruling that found the tribe’s Class III gaming compact with the State of Florida violated the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). Contracts (“Compacts”) with the state of Florida currently entitle the Seminole Tribe to a monopoly on Las Vegas-style casino gambling with house-banked table games in Florida. The tribe owns and operates six brick-and-mortar casinos in the Sunshine State, with the portfolio highlighted by Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood and Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa. This litigation is over control of online sports betting privileges. And that could result in an IGRA challenge that could work its way up to the Supreme Court. At stake are the rights of a state to exercise dominion over the regulation of gambling within its borders versus the rights of Tribal “sovereign nations” to conduct business the way they want. Next up: if the Tribal nation is allowed to offer online gambling, does the player need to be physically located within the borders of the sovereign nation, or can the player be located anywhere in the state as long as the IT server hubs are located within the Tribal lands? This issue is not so different from the one facing the European Union and whether online gambling operators can set up shop in Malta and offer their online gambling products in other EU markets without proper license. Ohio poised to double sports betting tax rate to 20% The budget conference committee agreed on a version of the budget that would double the current tax rate of 10% on sports betting to 20%. The state projects that this would generate an additional $100-$135 million in tax revenue a year. Critics suggest that the increased rate will reduce prize payout percentage to the players which will reduce demand and playership, reducing revenues for operators and ultimately reducing tax revenues for the state. New York has a higher tax rate (51% on gross gaming revenues) and it has worked out just fine for them. Operators hate it but the players still play and the state takes in a lot more money. Se the next article … New York sports betting reaches $1B in tax revenue for education. Legislators now exploring the options for iGaming expansion The State of New York has reached a new landmark in funding for education through mobile sports betting. Tax revenue from sport betting has generated $1 billion from its launch on January 8, 2022, through May 31, 2023. "Having an additional $1 billion from our nation-leading mobile sports betting business to help our students get the best education possible is a tremendous milestone," Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., the Chairman of the Senate's Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, said. Since last year's launch, New York has quickly established itself as the nation's top market for sports betting. But for Addabbo, the state is missing out on additional revenue. The Senator said he is committed to expanding the state's gaming options by bringing more mobile betting to New York through iGaming and iLottery. NeoGames’ Aspire Global to Provide Complete iGaming Solution to PlayLive! Casino and migrate iGaming operations in Pennsylvania PlayLive! is an online casino in Pennsylvania developed and run by Cordish Gaming Group, the global gaming arm of the real estate and entertainment business. PlayLive! offers players more than 100 different gaming options, including classic slots, interactive table games, Jackpot games and more. The online casino launched in 2020, followed by the openings of the world-class properties Live! Casino Pittsburgh and Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia. PlayLive! introduced Pennsylvania players to the integrated Live! Casino experience, from online to the casino floor. This new agreement will shift iGaming operations in the Pennsylvania to NeoGames’ PAM, CRM, Aggregation, and Data Analytics product suite in 2024. North Carolina Legalizes Online Sports Betting and Advance Deposit Wagering on Horse Racing It took just over three months for legalization of online sports betting to move through the legislative process. Under the law, the North Carolina Lottery Commission is authorized to issue up to 12 online sports wagering operator licenses. In the event that more than 12 applications are received, the Commission is empowered to establish selection criteria that will best serve the public interest while maximizing revenue to the state in making its final licensing decisions. Unlike the online betting operator licenses in most other U.S. jurisdictions, these licenses are not tethered to any retail gambling site (i.e., casino, horse racetrack, stadium, etc.). The sports wagering operator licenses are renewable every five years. The licensing and renewal fee for those operators has been set at $1M per license. While there are no other application administration fees, the Commission will retain $50,000 from the $1M licensing fee to offset expenses incurred for a denied application.
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