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00:00Let's start with some other big news, and we'll start with the University of Florida Gators basketball program, which indeed is in some hot water yet again.
00:07Right now, there's an assistant coach that's accused of sexual assault and former player for the Gators, too.
00:12Torian Green is basically under fire right now.
00:17There's a woman who's asked to remain anonymous based on the fear of retaliation,
00:24reporting to the school's Title IX office that in March of last year, Green arranged a meeting with her in the athletic facilities,
00:33where he allegedly kissed her and tried to put his hand down, her hand down his pants.
00:39Yeah, I think that's the way to say it, according to the copy of the complaint reviewed by ESPN.
00:44She pulled his hand away and said no, and then he tried again.
00:47Again, these are allegations. I want to be clear on that.
00:51But the university is also investigating another incident back in September that included their head coach as well.
00:57So here is the statement from the University of Florida.
01:00The law prohibits us from commenting on the existence and status of investigations.
01:04University of Florida taking these matters seriously and conducting a thorough and deliberate process also ensures due process for everyone.
01:10Again, allegations don't mean anyone is guilty.
01:14These are just something that obviously is very disturbing in the world of sports and college basketball as well.
01:19Speaking of Title IX, on the flip side, here are some good news.
01:22More money being paid out, name, image and likeness in the form of $20.5 million coming in direct payments to athletes as one part of a pending antitrust settlement.
01:32Many schools from those conferences are trying to get that money to athletes because they generate the most revenue, football and men's basketball part of that.
01:39In some cases, the directors have shared they want to give 75% of that money to their football players.
01:44So we'll see how this money is divvied up.
01:46But this antitrust lawsuit continues and Title IX getting involved as well.
01:50No surprise there. Could LeBron James continue to play basketball, but just not in the NBA?
01:54Really fascinating story coming out here.
01:57His agent, Maverick Carter, his business manager, Rich Paul's agents, his business manager, Maverick Carter, has been enlisted as an advisor with a group of investors that are seeking to raise approximately $5 billion to form a new basketball league.
02:09It would be an international basketball league that serves to rival the NBA.
02:13It has private equity funds, of course, so we don't know exactly what those are going to include.
02:17Very similar to how we saw the separate golf tournament, the live golf tournament.
02:22Could this be something similar?
02:24We will see.
02:25But no question, if Maverick Carter's involved, you would have to think LeBron James could potentially be involved, still playing basketball, but maybe not in the NBA.
02:33Could that ever happen? We will see.
02:35All right. The Dolphins are hosting the first ever game in Madrid.
02:39That is right. We went from Brazil to Germany, and now we're going to Madrid.
02:44That's where the Dolphins are going to play next season.
02:46No word on who they'll play.
02:48They'll announce that coming up in a couple of months.
02:49Tom Brady is going to continue his role with Fox and the Raiders.
02:53It was announced yesterday.
02:54There was thought to be some potential conflict with him owning a small part of the Raiders, but I guess there is not.
02:59Texans Joe Mixon missed practice.
03:01He's questionable play against the Chiefs.
03:03I think most insiders in the NFL are pointing toward him playing tomorrow.
03:07And also, bad news for Zay Flowers.
03:09He missed practice again ahead of the Bills on Sunday.
03:12Listed as questionable, but it doesn't look like he's going to play on Sunday night.
03:15All right. The National Basketball Association.
03:17It was the game at least of the month of January, as Oklahoma City took on Cleveland.
03:23Not really much of a contest.
03:24SGA had 40 points.
03:26They win the game against the Cavs.
03:27Final, 131 to 114.
03:31They closed the first quarter on a 22 to 2 run.
03:34They took a 32 to 14 lead and never look back.
03:37Mark Dagno, Kenny Atkinson, those are the head coaches.
03:39Dagno, of course, the head coach of Oklahoma City.
03:42Atkinson of Cleveland.
03:43Dagno said he knew what the stakes were going into the game, but didn't prepare any differently.
03:48Yeah, I mean, really good job.
03:51I thought it was nothing new for us in terms of the way we attacked and stuff like that.
03:56We played small before.
03:59So we just had to double down on that package.
04:01And then I thought the carryover from Cleveland, we played them on short turnaround.
04:07And we carried over some really good things in the game plan where we really executed, especially early.
04:13And then they zoned us quite a bit down the stretch of the game last time.
04:17And I thought they went to that in the first half and our attacks were really sharp against it.
04:21So I thought there was improvement there over the last 10 days as well, which was encouraging.
04:26They really put the stamp on with what they do.
04:29And so it was that end.
04:31And then when they just started getting layups in transition, that got them going.
04:37And obviously, they started out 9 for 15 from 3.
04:41So it was just an avalanche.
04:44And we really never responded.
04:47So just a total domination.
04:54Back to the NBA.
04:55We go to DeMar DeRozan.
04:56Huge game last night for the Sacramento Kings.
04:58132-127 the final.
05:00Really close game considering the number was 4.
05:03Kings now 21-20 as they defeat the Rockets.
05:07Ayme Udoka obviously not happy with this outcome.
05:10I don't know about frustrating.
05:12You know, we weren't playing well enough.
05:14We're pretty sloppy offensively.
05:16Just some unforced turnovers and then defensively too many mistakes.
05:20So to be back in the game and give ourselves a chance at the end is a good thing to me with how poorly we played overall.
05:27So I look at that as a positive.
05:29We kept fighting, got back in the game.
05:30And just too many mistakes when we had chances.
05:33I don't know if we deserved to win this game.
05:35But, you know, the sloppy turnovers and mistakes, miscues defensively.
05:39I mean, 42-42 point fourth quarter for both teams.
05:42And the only way a team is going to score that much on us is if we're fouling shooters and making some mistakes there.
05:48But love the fight, getting back in the game.
05:51And then a bunch of ticky-tack touch calls at the end.
05:55It's the opposite of how they let us play the whole game.
05:57As far as tonight's NBA slate, there's no question what everyone will be watching.
06:03And that is whether or not Jimmy Butler will return to the Miami Heat.
06:08No one really knows for sure.
06:10He is not on the injury list.
06:13I saw that tweet yesterday.
06:14But I don't know that that means a damn thing.
06:17Because Butler certainly keeps asking for a trade.
06:21No one truly knows if he's going to be in the Heat lineup tonight.
06:26And they could use him because they play the Denver Nuggets.
06:29Meanwhile, our producer Frank is going to Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks tonight.
06:33Dante DiVincenzo is going to be out.
06:36And Karl-Anthony Towns, by the way, may not play either.
06:39So, of course, Frank is going.
06:40So that means a big hell is coming your way.
06:43Sorry.
06:44Minnesota in Michigan last night, one of the best college basketball games of the week.
06:48Ten and a half point dog were the Golden Gophers last night.
06:52They ended up beating Michigan on a wild finish and a three-point shot, 84-81.
06:57I had no idea, and I bet you didn't either, that Minnesota was 0-15 against top 25 teams.
07:04So they snapped that streak.
07:06And it seems like their head coach, Ben Johnson, was very well aware of that.
07:10I just said a couple of things.
07:13It took four years to finally get something to go our way a little bit.
07:19And I think it was obviously meant to be.
07:26My guys have this togetherness, and I've been saying it.
07:31I've been telling people that we're getting better, and nobody probably believes me.
07:35I've been telling people that we're this close, and nobody probably believes me.
07:39My players included.
07:42Two other huge underdogs winning college basketball last night.
07:45The first was Oregon, eight and a half point dogs.
07:48They beat Gonzaga, number 16, 97-89.
07:52And Rutgers ends up beating Nebraska, 85-82.
07:55They were eight and a half point underdogs.
07:57And also Northwestern picks up a win against Maryland.
07:59I know not as sexy as those other games, but that definitely is the case.
08:03And folks, we did not even have a chance to get into the college football national
08:06championship.
08:07That is coming up, of course, on Monday night between Ohio State and Notre Dame.
08:11We'll preview that for you coming up this weekend and, of course, Monday as well.
08:14Welcome back to Newswire.
08:15We got Sam McClellan in from Legal Sports Report.
08:17We're going to dive into a number of topics, including the success of the public this
08:21football season in sports betting, how it may affect one company.
08:24Let's bring in Sam.
08:25Sam, happy Friday.
08:26Thanks for coming on the show here.
08:27Let's get started.
08:28Missouri was the one state that made the big headlines in 2024.
08:32They legalized sports betting, but legalization doesn't mean that sports
08:36betting initially launches.
08:37You got to wait a little bit.
08:38And it seems like, according to the article from Pat over at Legal Sports Report that
08:42you guys posted, that it seems like the summer now is the launch date for Missouri.
08:47I know they were hoping for Super Bowl and they were hoping for maybe the NCAA
08:50tournament time, but it does seem that they're just trying to get ahead of next
08:54football season, at least from what I read.
08:56Yeah, you got it right, Craig.
08:58Absolutely.
08:59Missouri legalized sports betting only in November.
09:02So it's just a couple of months ago.
09:03So I know anytime sports betting gets legalized, everyone's, oh, can I do it?
09:08Everyone downloads the apps.
09:09You see this huge surge of companies tracking people trying to log in, especially
09:13in a state like Missouri, which borders a couple of other states in sports betting.
09:17But Super Bowl turnaround would have been honestly one of the quickest turnarounds
09:22we've ever seen with this kind of thing before.
09:25They're now targeting the middle of the summer.
09:28The ballot that legal or the ballot proposition rather that legalized sports
09:32betting in November via a majority vote by the people, it had it written in the
09:37ballot that it had to start by December at the very latest.
09:40So when you look at other states like Maryland or even New York, New Jersey, some
09:47of those states have taken up to two years from legalizing sports betting to then
09:51launching it.
09:53So in Missouri's case, while you won't be able to get it by the Super Bowl, you will
09:57have the option to go to other states around there.
09:59They should get it during the summer, which will be then the big timeline.
10:04The big target there will be we get everything ahead of next football season.
10:08So sort of the worst case scenario would have been launching mid playoffs last year in
10:14some states do that. But the fact that Missourians will have sports betting before next
10:18football season, that's the real key target here.
10:20The sports books especially will be happy about.
10:23So essentially what has to happen before, you know, it goes live is the Missouri Gaming
10:28Commission needs to figure out the licensing process and they need to do a ton of
10:32paperwork. They need to issue regulations and rules.
10:35So the sports books know what they can and can't do.
10:37You know, in some states you have certain bets that are legal, other states you don't.
10:41You know, you have different licensing requirements.
10:43You want to make sure there's no bad actors coming in, like a state we'll talk about a
10:47little bit later with some people who maybe were shady about their business.
10:51So, you know, if you're Missouri, you don't get it by the Super Bowl, but it's still
10:54going to be one of the quickest turnarounds we've seen.
10:56So got to be thankful for that.
10:59Yeah. And who knows what other states even legalized sports betting this year?
11:02As of right now, really nothing on the table for that, which would be a first in sports
11:05betting was legalized here in the United States.
11:09OK, so let's get to the latest and a report here from BetMGM.
11:13Sam, it should be no surprise to people who pay attention to sports betting, watch our
11:18network throughout that this year, unlike other years in the National Football League,
11:23the favorites won and covered quite a bit, especially the big favorites in the NFL, six
11:28and a half, seven, eight, ten.
11:30I mean, that's sort of unprecedented in this world of sports betting.
11:33Usually it's the dogs that covering and then they build another hotel in Las Vegas, as I
11:37like to say. But this year, not the case.
11:39The books took a little bit of a hit.
11:40What's their support from BetMGM?
11:42Does it change anything for any of these sports books taking the hit this year?
11:46Yeah, it's really interesting.
11:47Like you say, we usually don't have this kind of thing happen.
11:50But I think one thing that I think everyone is learning from this mass legal expansion of
11:55sports betting with everything going digital online is we really have no idea what to
11:59expect. Now, you know, we have an unprecedented run of favorites winning in the NFL.
12:04In the past, you might think that, OK, yeah, the public is going to bet heavy favorites.
12:07So that means that the sports books are really hurting.
12:10We even saw some the Super Bowl last year where the public won pretty much every big bet on
12:14the spread, the total.
12:16But then the books actually ended up cleaning up because of player props and same game
12:20parlays. But not all sports books are created equal.
12:23BetMGM, they came out and said, you know, despite this crazy run that's impacting other
12:29companies like FanDuel, you know, a company we talk about is like pretty much the leader in
12:32the space. It's impacting them pretty hard.
12:34BetMGM came out and said, we're not really expecting to be hit that much from these
12:40results. And it's a pretty interesting reason why it's not why you would think because
12:44they're pushing more same game parlays, because they're they're pushing player props
12:48better. While they are pushing all that stuff, they spent most of this last year and a
12:52half really doing a lot of investing and building new products, trying to make those
12:58parlay products that compete with those big dogs that have already kind of done their
13:01investments that are are really not trying to push those on people.
13:05So what that meant that MGM couldn't do was really go out and be aggressive.
13:09You don't see as many commercials.
13:11You don't see as many promotions.
13:12So they're kind of saying because we were investing and didn't push the product out so
13:17much, we weren't pushing out a product that was so customer friendly.
13:20We had less we lost less money on that.
13:22And so it's kind of an interesting financial way that they ended up benefiting from what
13:27was pretty much not a plan for them.
13:30They didn't they didn't want to make this another year of investing.
13:32They wanted to go out and compete with the other sports books.
13:34They've been third place for a long time.
13:36But, you know, in this crazy world of gambling, in this crazy world of finance, this is
13:41how this stuff works sometimes where, you know, maybe a mistake ends up kind of
13:44benefiting you in the back end.
13:46So we'll see, you know, the football season is not over yet.
13:48I'm sure the books will be really hoping to figure it out, you know, come as we talk
13:53about the playoffs coming up and or the additional rounds and then the Super Bowl
13:56eventually. But interesting to see different companies kind of maneuvering or
14:01navigating the space in a different way.
14:02And, you know, that MGM not a company we talk about in terms of being at the top.
14:07So a good a good article for them right here.
14:10OK, and then finally, an article that I think needs some explanation here, I saw this
14:15story when it happened, Sam, and then I read it wasn't completely understanding it.
14:20I now read your guy's article.
14:22It's making me a little bit more enlightened on the situation.
14:25But I'll start.
14:26You'll finish easiest way to do this.
14:28And by the way, you can read about this story and more at LegalSportsReport.com.
14:31There's a company called Intralot.
14:33They run the lottery system in Washington, D.C.
14:36They were being sued.
14:38They were apparently allegedly defrauding another company here, six point five million
14:43dollars to actually the Washington, D.C.
14:46itself. Please explain this to all of my viewers here, because it took me a couple of
14:51times to get it. Yeah, it's a really it's a really convoluted story.
14:54It's almost it's complicated to believe just because you kind of can't believe this
14:58happened. So in Washington, D.C., when they legalized sports betting, they had a bidding
15:03process for the company that would then run the sports betting app for the district.
15:09So rather than open it up to a competitive bidding process where a number of apps could
15:14enter this company, Intralot, which is a Greek company, it runs a couple of sports
15:18betting apps across the country.
15:20They had this app called Gambit D.C., which if you know anything about Gambit D.C.
15:24is most people don't like it.
15:25Most people hated it. You know, the lines were terrible.
15:27It crashed during Super Bowls.
15:29It actually lost the district tons of money because nobody was using it, even though it
15:33was the only option in town where people going offshore, essentially how they got the
15:37district to give them that one, that exclusivity, the monopoly over Washington, D.C., was
15:43by telling them that they were working with this company that was contracting with locals
15:47in D.C. and sort of keeping it all in the city.
15:50So they're thereby providing an economic benefit to the city.
15:53That company was Veterans Service Corporation.
15:56They promised they would perform half the work of the contract.
15:59But then it came out under this investigation that actually that was not true.
16:03They were not performing half of the work and they were essentially defrauding the city
16:07in order to get this exclusive contract.
16:09So they got hit with a six point five million dollar fine, which I don't know, as far as
16:14fines go, that seems pretty light for defrauding an entire city and preventing other
16:18operators from entering. Ever since then, now you have more apps in town.
16:22FanDuel replaced it this past year and then they added more apps in general.
16:27And ever since Intralot or Gambit D.C.
16:29was no longer the only game in town, the revenue that the district has collected is up
16:34about 400 percent year over year.
16:37So that just shows you how they are running things top to bottom, but really leaves some
16:41kind of questions in the what D.C.
16:43was thinking, just awarding this contract without really doing any back end legwork.
16:47And now they get an extra six point five billion out of it.
16:49But, yeah, just a crazy story.
16:51It really is.
16:52You can read about this story and everything else that Sam and I discuss here on the show,
16:56as well as all the great contributors that appear on our show each and every day here on
17:00Newswire from LegalSportsReport.com.
17:02Sam, have a great rest of your weekend.
17:04Enjoy a lot of the football games this weekend.
17:05I know you will. And we'll check back with you again next week.
17:08Thanks again. Yeah.
17:09Thanks a lot, Greg. You too.