Contract Disagreements are The Cause For West Virginia Sportsbook Shutdown

• Delaware North operates Wheeling Island Sportsbook and Mardi Gras Casino Sportsbook.
• Their suppliers, Entergaming and Miomni Gaming are discussing a contract dispute.
• Revenue has already dropped for March, the second busiest sports wagering month of the year.

WHEELING, W. Va. – Three weeks into the West Virginia mobile betting shutdown, only a sliver of information is being released.

On the night of March 6, the two online sportsbooks operated by Delaware North experienced an interruption, which has now been linked to a dispute over intellectual property rights.

Both the Mardi Gras Casino and the Wheeling Island Racetrack have expressed their plans to honor all wagers through their Betlucky app, but a timeline has yet to be established.

In a letter from E. Brian Hansberry, President of Delaware North, to John Myers, the Director of the WV Lottery, more information was released regarding the issue.

The wagering platform is provided by Miomni Gaming, who is said to be infringing on the property rights of one of their contractual suppliers, Entergaming Software Solutions Limited.

According to Delaware North, they were unaware of the ownership rights that Miomni “claimed to possess.”

In short, the Miomni Gaming believes they acquired sufficient rights to use the Entergaming IP. However, Entergaming disagrees, claiming that “Miomni’s use of ETG intellectual property is improper unless and until Miomni purchases additional rights.”

The battle moves even further though as Miomni believes demanding additional payment is “similar inappropriate” to disabling the platform.

To close the letter to the lottery director, Hansberry explained, “Our first priority is to treating our patrons well, to working cooperatively with regulators and law enforcement, and to running a responsible business.”

The outlook of Delaware North from West Virginia gamblers has not been positive since many have had funds held up in their accounts for nearly a month. However, a recent tweet from BetLucky has detailed the process for now withdrawing from your account.

As stated earlier, a timeline has yet to be established and this is due to a variety of measures. The most notable is the “international law between the various countries that are causing problems” according to Myers.

Miomni’s headquarters is stationed in Nevada while Entergaming Platform is stationed in Cyprus.

With the second-biggest gambling event in March Madness passing on by the day and MLB’s Opening Day right around the corner, there couldn’t have been a worse time for the dispute to occur.

The handle for the five (now 3) West Virginia sportsbooks failed to reach $3 million for the first time since the week of December 8.  Additionally, the two temporarily-closed venues reported a combined loss of over $16,500 for the past week due to their suspended operations.

Without mobile betting anywhere else in the state and the belief that DraftKings and FanDuel are looking to shake up the WV sports wagering market, Delaware North will idly sit by awaiting any decision from the platform and gaming suppliers. However, in the gambling world, each day is an eternity and the company is already losing customers over the contract dispute.

News tags: Delaware North | Mardi Gras Casino | West Virginia | West Virginia sports betting | Wheeling Island Casino