Arizona Sports Betting Public Opinion Window Closes Monday

• The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) released its rules and regulations to the public for sports betting and will be taking opinions on it until Monday.
• Many residents with comments believe that the draft for the sports wagering industry lacks many details that should be written in a concise manner.
• Arizona wants to go live with its sportsbooks on September 9, the same day as the 2021 NFL opener.

PHOENIX – A draft for the rules and regulations of the Arizona sports betting industry is open to public opinion now through Monday.

There are 13 pages on the subject that residents of the state can comment on. The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) went public with the current version for the foundation of the sports gaming market on Tuesday, one day past their original deadline.

The window is six days in length and many that have already gone over the regulated sports betting and daily fantasy sports rules are baffled by the lack of much-needed details. This will no doubt be a huge part of the comments made to the ADG that they will be going over after the comment period ends on Monday.

What’s In The Draft?

The draft released to the public by the ADG names no fees for operators or anyone involved in the various elements of the sports wagering business. Licensing fees were missing completely. Details on what can be bet on were also vague.

The rules name “sports” in general terms for event wagering but do not detail types, collegiate or professional, international, or anything of the like. With that being said, this could mean that retail and mobile sportsbooks could have free reign on offering any type of sports-related wager through their platforms if this part of the draft is not changed.

The documents list that operators will be able to offer sports betting pools on tournaments like March Madness and similar events. All platforms must be active in the state and if they choose to use cloud technology it will need to be approved by the ADG.

Official league data is required by all sportsbooks when coming up with odds for betting but they will be able to use their own source for statistics as no service is named specifically.

Betting by proxy is banned and gambling by use of credit cards is also banned.

Arizona will see 20 retail sportsbooks with another 10 venues through race tracks and OTBs. Each licensed facility will be able to open a mobile sportsbook, capping the number of online platforms to possibly 30 that can be accessed throughout the state.

What Happens Now?

The ADG has six hours’ worth of virtual comment hearings scheduled for both Friday and Monday. After that, they will meet to discuss what should or shouldn’t be changed within the rules and regulations based on public comments.

Clearly, the language will need to be changed some before the rules can be submitted to Governor Doug Ducey for his approval to move forward. Even with the vague details, it is still the hope that Arizona sports betting will go live on September 9 to kick off in unison with the 2021 NFL season.

News tags: Arizona | Arizona Department of Gaming | DFS | Doug Ducey | March Madness | NFL