News & Guides

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wants the effective tax rate on the state's land-based casinos raised to 23% from 16.1%, Casino.org reported. The plan sits in his final budget request, and the money would go to childcare and preschool programs. It would tax venue revenue, and the reporting describes no change to the games offered. Polis leaves office in January. Under Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), voters must approve any new tax, so Casino.org said the measure could reach the ballot in 2027. The Sum & Substance (tsscolorado.com) reported that the governor is explicitly asking for a 2027 ballot measure. What the Plan Would Collect Casino.org estimated the gaming increase at $80.2 million a year. Combined with higher...

They're the same number seen from opposite sides. RTP (return to player) is the share of wagers a game pays back over the long run, and house edge is the share it keeps, so the two always add up to 100%. So which one should you watch? Whichever the game publishes, converted into the other in your head, and then paired with the two things neither figure shows you: the exact bet variant you're on and how many bets per hour you make. How the Two Numbers Connect The formula is short. As Rollbit's explainer puts it, RTP = 100% − house edge. Its X-Roulette example has a 5% house edge and a 95% RTP. Stake $100 million across all players and the casino is expected to keep $5 million and pay out $95 million. The key word is "expected."...

DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and PrizePicks are stopping sports and political event contracts for people in Utah, SBC Americas reported. The moves follow criminal charges the state filed this week against the prediction market Kalshi. DraftKings and FanDuel have already acted, and Fanatics follows on Nov. 4. The changes apply to customers physically located in Utah. Each operator has left some products in place. What changes for Utah users DraftKings confirmed the change. From Thursday afternoon, DraftKings Predictions no longer offers sports, political, novelty and certain other event contracts in the state. A FanDuel spokesperson said that "Event contracts on sports, politics and novelties are no longer available to customers in...

Sweepstakes casinos are legal in most US states, but a growing group of states has banned them outright, and there is no single national answer. Depending on which tracker you read, the number of banning states runs from 11 to 14. The model is a free-to-play casino with two virtual currencies, where the second can be redeemed for cash prizes. Operators say that makes it a promotional sweepstakes rather than gambling, and states are increasingly disagreeing with them. I'm not a lawyer, and nothing here is legal advice. This is a map of what the trackers and state actions show. TL;DR Legality is decided state by state. A dozen or so states have bans or ban-like enforcement, a similar number sit in a gray zone, and the rest have no ban...

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) amended its voting agreement with Barry Diller's People Inc. (NASDAQ: PPLI) on Wednesday, Casino.org reported. The change could let Diller back a takeover of the casino operator by another bidder. If a change-of-control deal arises, People, Diller and associated entities must now vote their MGM shares as the board recommends, subject to certain conditions. Reuters reported that MGM made the amendment after People withdrew its proposal to acquire the company. MGM said the agreement commits neither side to a transaction and that no deal is under consideration. Casino.org noted that MGM did not say it is in takeover talks with another suitor. What the Amended Agreement Says The group's combined...

Provably fair means the casino commits to a hidden random input before you bet, and you can check afterwards that the result was calculated from it. It proves a single round wasn't rigged after the fact. It does not prove the odds are generous or that the site will pay you. The idea grew out of the Bitcoin era. Gamingtec traces it to the late 2000s, when player worries about rigged games pushed crypto operators towards verifiable results. It's now standard on dice, crash and mines-style games, and I think it's the most useful idea crypto gambling has produced, as long as you're clear about its limits. The Short Version A casino that is provably fair publishes the cryptographic values behind each round, so you can confirm the outcome...

Polymarket fired Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Modabber after an internal review of its creator advertising, the New York Post reported on Oct. 22, citing people familiar with the matter. LegalSportsBetting.com said Polymarket had not confirmed the firing. The federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigation into the company's marketing is still open. One person told the Post that Polymarket is finalizing a separation agreement. Modabber had held the CMO job since January 2024 and has been friends with Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan since high school. Coplan hesitated before agreeing to the dismissal, and the board believed Modabber was holding the company back from shedding its startup image as it weighs an IPO...

Jamie Carragher has called Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes a disgrace for questioning manager Michael Carrick's tactics after the 4-1 Champions League defeat to Como, in an analysis piece for Sky Sports. The former Liverpool defender also said Carrick's time at Old Trafford could be close to ending. The row leaves United with one win from their last nine matches, BBC Sport reported. They host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday. What Fernandes and Carrick said Fernandes queried the decision not to press Como man-to-man. According to the BBC, he said United need to be braver. He urged the manager and staff to take the risk. Carrick answered in his press conference. A team that does not run back, he said, will not...

At a licensed casino, the games aren't rigged in the sense of secretly cheating you on individual spins. They are, however, built with a house edge that wins over time, and that edge is published, not hidden. Both halves of that answer matter, because most "rigged" complaints come from mixing them up. A game can be perfectly fair and still take your money, which is how the business works. What the RNG Actually Does An RNG (random number generator) is an algorithm that produces number sequences with no predictable pattern. At licensed online casinos it sits inside every game that isn't run by a live dealer, according to NEXT.io's RNG guide. In a slot, the number picked decides the reel positions and the symbol combination shown. Each...

The chair of English football's new watchdog says Manchester City's owner could be ordered to sell the club if the guilty verdict is upheld on appeal, The Independent reported. David Kogan, head of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), said the body has total power to make that happen. Kogan made the remarks on The Rest Is Football podcast, The Guardian reported. Asked whether an owner could refuse to divest, he answered with a flat no. He added that it is too early to talk about any IFR action while the appeal is still running. What the commission found An independent commission found City guilty of circumventing Premier League rules in late September. It ruled that the club set up sham commercial arrangements to inflate...

Manchester United and Liverpool are both weighing a move for Borussia Dortmund midfielder Felix Nmecha, TEAMtalk reported. A deal in the winter window looks unlikely, so any real movement probably waits until next summer. Nmecha is 26 and plays for Germany. He signed a contract extension earlier this year that runs to June 2030, which leaves Dortmund firmly in control of the talks. Where each club stands United are the more advanced of the two. Anfield Index, relaying the TEAMtalk report, said United have kept up a persistent interest in the player and have made contact as they assess their options before the winter window. Liverpool's interest is conditional. Nmecha is one possible fallback if their pursuit of Bournemouth's Alex...

Real Madrid defender Eder Militao came off the bench in Sunday's 4-1 win over Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu. It ended a 181-day absence from competitive football, Madrid Universal reported. The Brazilian then posted a message of thanks to supporters on Instagram. Goal put his entrance in the 85th minute and said he had been out since April 21 with a serious injury. The home crowd rose to applaud. He got a standing ovation as he stepped on. Militao thanks fans, family and team-mates In his Instagram post, Militao called it a special night. Coming back after so long, and being met with that affection from the fans, was unforgettable, he said. Madrid Universal said he described the reception as one he would not forget. He also...

Yes, but only in a particular way. Online gambling is legal in Canada when a provincial government runs or licenses it, and each province decides how. Here's the framework as I read it from the record, with the regulator named for each province so you can check it yourself. This is general information, not legal advice. The short version Legal online gambling in Canada means a provincial government operates it, or in Ontario's case licenses it. Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec run government sites. Ontario is the only province that licenses private operators. New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have no provincial online site, according to Legal Line. Saskatchewan is where the...

Rain has delayed the start of day one in the second Test between South Africa and Australia at St George's Park in Gqeberha, according to The Guardian. Play was due to begin at 10am local time (7pm AEDT, 9am BST). South Africa need a win to stay alive in the three-match series. Australia lead 1-0 after taking the opener in Durban by 214 runs. Both World Test Championship points and win percentage are on offer in Gqeberha. How Durban Was Lost Josh Hazlewood took a career-best 6-49 on the final day. South Africa were bowled out for 206 chasing 421, the Associated Press reported. Matt Renshaw was the match-turning batter. He scored 190 after Australia slumped to 124-6 on day one, then 82 in the second innings. Aiden Markram...

Tanner McKee, a fourth-year backup, is expected to start at quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, CBS Sports reported. Starter Jalen Hurts has been ruled out with a superficial blood clot. Kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field is 1 p.m. ET on CBS. The Big Lead reported that the Eagles are 2-3 after a 19-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London last Sunday. They have lost three straight. Why Hurts is out CBS Sports reported that the clot developed after the Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. It moved after the trip to London, which is why Hurts is unavailable for the Panthers game. The Big Lead said the Eagles are still working out the best treatment plan. Neither outlet gives a...

Sweepstakes casinos run on two virtual currencies instead of cash. Gold Coins are for play only, and Sweeps Coins are the ones that can be redeemed for prizes, including cash, once the site's conditions are met. I've read through the published redemption terms across top sweepstakes casinos, and this is the plain-English version. The short version Gold Coins (GC): no cash value, can be bought or earned, never redeemable. Sweeps Coins (SC): can't be bought directly, come free with purchases and promotions, and can be redeemed for prizes after playthrough. Redemption: requires playthrough, a minimum balance and ID verification. Legality: set state by state, so your location decides whether you can play at all. Why two currencies...

The info screen says 96%. You load $100, and forty spins later you're down to $38, wondering why you're nowhere near $96. The number wasn't lying to you. It was just answering a different question from the one you were asking, so I figured it was worth a proper thread. What RTP actually measures RTP stands for Return to Player. It's the percentage of all money wagered on a slot that the game is designed to pay back over time. It gets set when the game is built, worked out by modelling the maths over millions of simulated spins. In regulated markets the figure is normally checked by independent testers rather than just taken on the developer's word. A 96% slot is built to return $96 for every $100 staked, across every player and...

Entain, the group that owns Ladbrokes, grew its third-quarter net gaming revenue by 2% even though Brazil has banned online betting, according to SBC News. Net gaming revenue is what a betting company keeps after paying winners. The UK and Ireland carried the quarter. Entain published the figures on Thursday for the three months to September 30. Channel NewsAsia reported that the company also stood by its annual forecast. Group online revenue rose 3%. UK and Ireland lead the growth Net gaming revenue in the UK and Ireland rose 8%. Online revenue there grew 14%, which beat Entain's own expectations. That made the UK and Ireland the strongest region in the update. SBC News also carried the company's comments on ongoing challenges and...

We're down to the final eight at the 2026 World Cup, and if you've been watching (or betting) your way through the knockout rounds, you'll recognise most of these names. Sporting News has run through the best players still standing, and it's a useful snapshot of who could decide things before the final on July 19. The field has shrunk fast — from 48 teams to 32, then 16, and now just eight. France, Argentina, England, Spain and Morocco all look the part as favourites, but the individual talent on show is where a lot of the intrigue lives. Haaland finally has a World Cup — and Norway are dreaming The big story is Erling Haaland. There were plenty of doubts about how he'd handle his first World Cup, and he's answered them with seven...

Friday's World Cup schedule kicked off with a fair bit to chew on, from a VAR-soaked Portugal win to a fitness scare over one of the tournament's biggest names. Here's where things stand for fans and bettors heading into the weekend. Portugal edge through, Spain await Portugal have booked their place in the next round and will face Spain, though not without the video assistant referee playing a starring role. The Guardian's live coverage flagged the "VAR drama" around the result, setting up an Iberian clash that's about as heavyweight as knockout football gets. For anyone watching the markets, a Portugal–Spain tie is the kind of fixture that tends to draw big interest across match-result and goalscorer books. No firm prices to quote...