{"id":132543,"date":"2020-04-08T22:50:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T05:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=132543"},"modified":"2020-04-17T09:50:48","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T16:50:48","slug":"wv-lottery-director-issues-apology-for-political-betting-snafu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wv-lottery-director-issues-apology-for-political-betting-snafu\/","title":{"rendered":"West Virginia, Mea Culpa: Lottery Director Issues Apology for Political Betting Snafu"},"content":{"rendered":"

A day ago, it seemed like a new era was beginning in US sports betting, as FanDuel announced West Virginia had allowed it and other sportsbooks to offer wagering on the 2020 presidential election. Less than 24 hours later, though, that all ended, as state political leaders roundly criticized the move, triggering an apology from the head of the state lottery.<\/p>\n

\"West
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, seen here at a 2017 press conference, said Wednesday it was “ridiculous” that the state lottery allowed a sportsbook to post odds on the 2020 presidential election. A few hours later, the lottery director issued an apology. (Image: WV.gov\/Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an emailed statement Tuesday evening, West Virginia Lottery Director John Myers said that Gov. Jim Justice\u2019s office had not been notified about it. Within a couple of hours after FanDuel first posted its odds<\/a> on the race, the online book took it down, as the state said it needed to do more research.<\/p>\n

I thought it would be okay. But after review, it was clearly a mistake,\u201d Myers said. \u201cWe just screwed up. I didn\u2019t have the authority to do it, it should have never happened, and I apologize to everyone.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Lottery\u2019s statement doesn\u2019t say political betting won\u2019t be approved. But it seems as likely at this point as a Bernie Sanders-Hillary Clinton Democratic ticket<\/a> for November\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n

Justice: Political Betting ‘Absolutely Ridiculous’<\/h2>\n

When asked about political betting during his Wednesday afternoon daily COVID-19 briefing, Justice called the idea \u201cabsolutely ridiculous,\u201d and said officials shut it down as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I thought it was just something that people were just fantasizing about,\u201d <\/strong>the Republican governor<\/a> said. \u201cI did not know it at all that it had been approved by someone in Lottery until about 15 minutes ago, to tell you the truth. It will be addressed. It will be addressed very sternly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have no earthly idea why in the world that someone would approve that. And not only that, I don\u2019t have any idea why they wouldn\u2019t notify the governor\u2019s office and ask the governor\u2019s office for some level of assistance or some opinion as to whether or not they should go with this.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justice, who won election as a Democrat in 2016 and switched parties less than a year later, is up for reelection this year and faces a primary fight. He faces six opponents in the June 9 race, including his former commerce secretary, Woody Thrasher.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Casino.org<\/em>, Thrasher\u2019s campaign manager Ann Ali noted that companies that would have benefited from political betting are all represented by Larry Puccio, a donor to the governor\u2019s reelection campaign.<\/p>\n

As a registered lobbyist, Puccio represents both FanDuel and DraftKings. He also represents The Greenbrier Resort, which Justice owns. The posh resort in the southern part of the state includes a private casino that\u2019s home to a FanDuel sportsbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice’s scheme would have directly benefited the casino at The Greenbrier, which he refused to put in a blind trust like he promised us all four years ago,\u201d Ali said.<\/p>\n

Is Political Betting Illegal?<\/h2>\n

In his statement, West Virginia Secretary of State Andrew \u201cMac\u201d Warner noted that a state law has been on the books for more than 150 years outlawing betting on elections.<\/p>\n

“Gambling on the outcome of an election has no place in our American democracy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

While others noted that law in Tuesday\u2019s initial announcement, the idea of political betting in West Virginia may not necessarily be that cut and dried.<\/p>\n

\n

When the West Virginia legislature passed the sports betting law two years ago, the bill defined a sporting event as \u201cany professional sport or athletic event, any collegiate sport or athletic event, any motor race event, or any other special event authorized by\u201d the West Virginia Lottery Commission, which has regulatory oversight on sports wagering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Still, comments from Wednesday make it fairly certain that political betting will not happen in West Virginia anytime soon. And it\u2019s not likely any other state where sports betting is legal will want to be the next to float the idea.<\/p>\n

Some states\u2019 sports betting laws explicitly limit sports betting to athletic events. But even in Indiana, which allowed betting on the Academy Awards, officials there have said they don\u2019t have an interest in the concept.<\/p>\n

To that, you can also add the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which, like the Indiana Gaming Commission, has allowed its licensed oddsmakers to offer bets on events outside of sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cDGE does not permit wagering on elections as a matter of public policy,\u201d<\/strong> Leland Moore, a DGE spokesperson, told Casino.org<\/em> in an email Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A day ago, it seemed like a new era was beginning in US sports betting, as FanDuel announced West Virginia had allowed it and other sportsbooks to offer wagering on the 2020 presidential election. Less than 24 hours later, though, that all ended, as state political leaders roundly criticized the move, triggering an apology from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":132544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWV Lottery Director Issues Apology for Political Betting Snafu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A day after FanDuel posted then pulled odds on the 2020 presidential election on its West Va sportsbook, the state lottery director said that was a mistake.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WV Lottery Director Issues Apology for Political Betting Snafu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A day after 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