{"id":146146,"date":"2020-08-25T14:33:54","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T21:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=146146"},"modified":"2020-08-26T11:58:40","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T18:58:40","slug":"draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/","title":{"rendered":"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat"},"content":{"rendered":"

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins on Monday said that it \u201cfelt good\u201d that his company was finally taking mobile sports betting registrations in Illinois after a U-turn by Governor J. B. Pritzker<\/a> (D) on the issue last Friday.<\/p>\n

\"Jason
DraftKing\u2019s Jason Robins has been shooting his mouth off on Twitter, and Rush Street Gaming is not amused. (Image: WBUR<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But at the same time, Robins couldn\u2019t resist a dig at his old adversary, Rush Street Gaming<\/a>, which had lobbied to shut him out of the market until 2022, and had almost succeeded.<\/p>\n

In a tweet first spotted by SportsHandle<\/em>, Robins described Rush Street as \u201ccorrupt idiots\u201d for trying to block DraftKings in Illinois, while praising Pritzker for \u201cdoing what\u2019s right for the citizens of Illinois.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

When approached for a comment by SH<\/em>, an incensed Rush Street shot back that it had \u201cnever been asked to leave a state, pays taxes on every wager, and has not been named in multiple consumer class-action suits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rush Street, operator of the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, is referring to DraftKing\u2019s past life as an unlicensed daily fantasy sports operator, which is where the antagonism between the two companies begins.<\/p>\n

Penalty Box<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In December 2015, then-Illinois AG Lisa Madigan joined New York and a handful of other states in declaring the DFS contests offered by DraftKings and rival FanDuel to be illegal gambling games. It was a position that was hotly disputed by the two operators.<\/p>\n

This resulted in several class-action lawsuits from former DraftKings and FanDuel customers, who were hoping to claw back lost buy-ins in states where the DFS sites\u2019 operations were suddenly deemed illegal.<\/p>\n

As Illinois prepared to legalize sports betting last year as part of a sprawling gambling expansion package, Rivers was furious that so-called \u201cbad actors\u201d should be permitted to enter the market with a ready-made customer-base to leverage.<\/p>\n

My client has paid $125 million at an auction for a casino license. My client has paid $1.6 billion of revenue \u2014 legal tax revenue \u2014 to the state,\u201d<\/strong> Paul Gaynor, a lawyer for Rivers, told WTTW News<\/em> at the time. \u201cMeantime, the illegal operators who have been operating daily fantasy sports in violation of our criminal laws, they have not been paying a dime.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rivers\u2019 lobbyists went to work, convincing lawmakers to establish a so-called \u201cpenalty box,\u201d which meant digital-only operators that were not partnered with land-based casinos could not receive a license until 2022. Until then, all mobile sports betting offered by existing licensed operators would have to take in-person registrations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robins argued that by freezing out the most experienced digital operators, the state would be denying itself tax dollars, while Rush Street CEO Neil Bluhm was using \u201cpolitical muscle to box out the competition so [he] can profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who Can Lobby Harder?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But DraftKings, FanDuel, and others in the digital space also have lobbyists, and last Friday, they got their way. Pritzker first waived the in-person registration requirement in June, when sports began to return, but the casinos remained closed.<\/p>\n

But in July, when Pritzker renewed the COVID-19 state of emergency in Illinois, he did so without renewing the order waiving the registration requirement.<\/p>\n

On Friday, to Robins\u2019 delight, it was back.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood policy always wins in the long-run,\u201d he taunted in Monday\u2019s provocative message. Two hours later, he thought better and deleted his tweet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins on Monday said that it \u201cfelt good\u201d that his company was finally taking mobile sports betting registrations in Illinois after a U-turn by Governor J. B. Pritzker (D) on the issue last Friday. But at the same time, Robins couldn\u2019t resist a dig at his old adversary, Rush Street Gaming, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":146147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, calls Rush Street \u201ccorrupt idiots\u201d in a tweet later deleted, as in-person registration in Illinois sports betting lifted.\" \/>\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=\"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, calls Rush Street \u201ccorrupt idiots\u201d in a tweet later deleted, as in-person registration in Illinois sports betting lifted.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-25T21:33:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-26T18:58:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2001\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/\",\"name\":\"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-25T21:33:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-26T18:58:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, calls Rush Street \u201ccorrupt idiots\u201d in a tweet later deleted, as in-person registration in Illinois sports betting lifted.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":3000,\"height\":2001,\"caption\":\"DraftKing\u2019s Jason Robins has been shooting his mouth off on Twitter and Rush Street Gaming is not amused. (Image: WBUR)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat","description":"Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, calls Rush Street \u201ccorrupt idiots\u201d in a tweet later deleted, as in-person registration in Illinois sports betting lifted.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat","og_description":"Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, calls Rush Street \u201ccorrupt idiots\u201d in a tweet later deleted, as in-person registration in Illinois sports betting lifted.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-08-25T21:33:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-26T18:58:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3000,"height":2001,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/","name":"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-25T21:33:54+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-26T18:58:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, calls Rush Street \u201ccorrupt idiots\u201d in a tweet later deleted, as in-person registration in Illinois sports betting lifted.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jase-scaled.jpg","width":3000,"height":2001,"caption":"DraftKing\u2019s Jason Robins has been shooting his mouth off on Twitter and Rush Street Gaming is not amused. (Image: WBUR)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-ceo-fires-insult-at-rush-street-in-illinois-sports-betting-spat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"DraftKings CEO Fires Insult at Rush Street in Illinois Sports Betting Spat"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}