Monthly Gaming Roundup - July

May was a record-breaker for the commercial gaming sector, with $6.73 billion in reported revenues and the best-performing May to date. 

While the summer is still off to a strong start, the industry faced legislative and regulatory hurdles in July. 

The U.S. Senate failed to pass legislation that would have allowed gamblers to write off 100% of their losses, iGaming expansion faces more legislative and political hurdles, and DraftKings returned $3 million to Connecticut customers.

Here are the latest updates impacting the gaming industry. 

Sports Betting

• BetMGM and Hard Rock Bet both announced that they will require minimum wagers on all bets placed in Illinois, in response to the state's tax hike on mobile sports betting

• In a settlement announced on July 10, DraftKings will return $3 million to Connecticut customers and resolve allegations that the company failed to disclose the terms of its online casino deposit promotions clearly 

• In California, three tribes filed a lawsuit in federal court on July 22 against Robinhood and Kalshi for offering sports prediction markets. California tribes hold exclusive rights to almost all verticals of gambling in the state and have helped defeat previous attempts to legalize sports betting

  
  

Taxes & Revenue

• On July 10, the FULL HOUSE Act, which would have returned the amount gamblers can deduct on their losses to 100% from its current 90%, failed to advance by a unanimous vote in the Senate

• On June 30, the New Jersey legislature passed A5803, which raised the tax on online sports betting and iGaming to 19.75%. Previously, the two verticals were taxed at 13% and 15% respectively 

• Commercial gaming revenue for May reached $6.73 billion, a 10.9 percent increase over last year and the best performing May on record

  
  

Casinos

• The Coney, one of eight casinos proposed for a downstate casino license in New York, cleared a major hurdle, receiving land use approval from the New York City Council on June 30th

  
  

  iGaming

  
  

• Maine Gov. Janet Mills chose neither to veto nor sign LD1164, which would have given the state's Wabanaki Nations exclusive rights to operate iGaming in the state. The bill remains in limbo until the state’s legislature returns in January, in which Gov. Mills will have three days to sign the bill, veto it, or do nothing again, after which it would become law