{"id":77053,"date":"2018-05-07T10:30:11","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T17:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=77053"},"modified":"2018-05-07T08:47:49","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T15:47:49","slug":"west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/","title":{"rendered":"West Virginia Governor Jim Justice Supports Leagues on Sports Betting, Wants to Change Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice plans to call a special session to review the state\u2019s recently passed sports betting bill.<\/p>\n

\"West
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice believes the leagues should have their \u201cintegrity fee,\u201d although the benefit to the state is unclear. Lawmakers passed a bill to legalize sports betting in early March. (Image: NPR.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seems the sports leagues have been bending the governor\u2019s ear. Justice said Friday he supports tweaking the new law to include the so-called \u201cintegrity fee\u201d \u2013 \u00a0a cut of all wagers in a future sports betting market that would go directly to the leagues.<\/p>\n

West Virginia approved a bill<\/a> to legalize sports betting in early March, but rejected the integrity fee, despite lobbying from the leagues. Many legislators across the country believe the fee is little more than a royalty payment in disguise \u2013 and one that would strangle the sector, taking revenues from operators and states.<\/p>\n

But the leagues were rattled at the failure of their lobbying efforts and, fearing that the West Virginia bill would become a model for other states to adopt, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stepped in.<\/a><\/p>\n

Manfred Tosses Weight<\/strong><\/h2>\n

“We hope the House and the Senate reconsider the bill, delay the vote, take an opportunity to put together a better bill and, if that fails, we will continue to urge the governor to veto the bill,” he told reporters on March 9.<\/p>\n

He added that he had spoken to Justice, who now has a “good understanding of the serious problems that are associated with the bill.”<\/p>\n

\n

Quite why Manfred felt he had the right to intervene in the democratic process in a state that does not have an MLB team is anyone\u2019s guess, but it seems to have worked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Justice neither signed nor vetoed West Virginia\u2019s sports betting bill, meaning it became law on March 9. But speaking at a press conference on Friday, he confirmed the bill would be revisited and that a meeting had been arranged for this week involving leagues and stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Justice League<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI really believe that we need to bring [the leagues] under the umbrella for the amount of the fee that they wanted, or we negotiated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted a percent, we negotiated to a quarter of a percent and if we can get them to sign on for that and everything and bring them under the umbrella, I think that\u2019s very, very minimal cost to the casinos, and I think it would be a good thing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The leagues\u2019 initial demand of one percent of betting handle would have translated into an onerous 20 to 25 percent tax on sports books\u2019 gross gaming revenue. But draft bills doing the rounds in New York, Kansas and Connecticut that propose a .25 percent fee suggest the leagues may have compromised behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

The claim, however, that Justice has somehow negotiated the leagues \u201cdown\u201d on the integrity fee is dubious, as Legal Sports Report<\/em> pointed out this week. Since West Virginia already passed a bill with zero integrity fee, all negotiations are now clearly taking an upwards trajectory \u2013 with no discernible benefit to the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice plans to call a special session to review the state\u2019s recently passed sports betting bill. It seems the sports leagues have been bending the governor\u2019s ear. Justice said Friday he supports tweaking the new law to include the so-called \u201cintegrity fee\u201d \u2013 \u00a0a cut of all wagers in a future […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":77055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,61,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWest Virginia Governor in League with the Leagues on Sports Betting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"West Virginia Governor Jim Justice wants to change the state\u2019s recently enacted sports betting law to include the sports leagues\u2019 controversial integrity fee after intervention from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.\" \/>\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=\"West Virginia Governor in League with the Leagues on Sports Betting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"West Virginia Governor Jim Justice wants to change the state\u2019s recently enacted sports betting law to include the sports leagues\u2019 controversial integrity fee after intervention from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/\" \/>\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=\"2018-05-07T17:30:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-07T15:47:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/justice.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"787\" \/>\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\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/\",\"name\":\"West Virginia Governor in League with the Leagues on Sports Betting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/justice.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-07T17:30:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-07T15:47:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"West Virginia Governor Jim Justice wants to change the state\u2019s recently enacted sports betting law to include the sports leagues\u2019 controversial integrity fee after intervention from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/west-virginia-governor-in-league-with-the-leagues-on-sports-betting-wants-to-change-law\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/justice.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/justice.jpg\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":787,\"caption\":\"West Virginia Governor Jim Justice believes the leagues should have their \u201cintegrity fee,\u201d although the benefit to the state in unclear. 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