From 0a79ad1f7bba2c7a5acf2e2d394a05ac09116265 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kellye80851767 Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2025 11:25:43 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add Sweepstakes Casino Controversy - And Celebrities' All-important Role --- ...And Celebrities%27 All-important Role.-.md | 64 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 64 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Sweepstakes Casino Controversy - And Celebrities%27 All-important Role.-.md diff --git a/Sweepstakes Casino Controversy - And Celebrities%27 All-important Role.-.md b/Sweepstakes Casino Controversy - And Celebrities%27 All-important Role.-.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2002c2d --- /dev/null +++ b/Sweepstakes Casino Controversy - And Celebrities%27 All-important Role.-.md @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +
The [smiling](https://pipewiki.org/wiki/index.php/User:LashundaWortman) faces of Paris Hilton and Ryan Seacrest made surprise appearances before the Louisiana Senate for Friday's hearing on illegal gambling.
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No, they weren't personally in participation, however the world-famous celebrities were conspicuously included in a slide discussion on social and sweepstakes casinos - the controversial sites using both complimentary casino-style games and lucrative rewards, such as cash, present cards or cryptocurrency. In one advertisement, the fist-pumping Seacrest is seen plugging Chumba Casino, where anyone can 'bet complimentary,' while a crop-topped Hilton holds a chip for sweepstakes operator, Wow Vegas, in the other.
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The sites are simply 2 cogs in the multibillion-dollar market that now discovers itself besieged by lawsuits. In the eyes of lots of gaming corporations, not to discuss claim complainants and state regulators, sweepstakes gambling establishments function as standard gambling establishments, just without the oversight, consumer defenses and tax laws. So not only can they prevent the steep 24-percent federal gambling levy, however sweepstakes operators aren't based on regulative difficulties like anti-money laundering and responsible-gaming securities.
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One operator, Australia-based Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), reported $4 billion in revenue last year alone. Now the company faces accusations of prohibited gaming in a New York lawsuit that declares VGW uses star endorsers to 'create a veneer of legitimacy' around its product. (See VGW's statement below)
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'I'm unsure" if you do not trust us, you can rely on Paris Hilton" is a winning message for business running multibillion-dollar prohibited operations out of locations like Malta, Isle of Man, or US mail drops,' Friday's presenter, Howard Glaser of [gaming corporation](https://thatswhathappened.wiki/index.php/User:Kimberley15W) Light & Wonder, told DailyMail.com.
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Sweepstakes endorsers include a variety of celebs from [sports betting](https://redmonde.es/read-blog/185_for-sports-gambling-to-be-legalised.html) enthusiasts Drake and DJ Khaled to swimmer Michael Phelps, in addition to NBA stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Paul George - none of whom use any differences between standard gaming and sweepstakes play.
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Paris Hilton is seen plugging Wow Vegas, one of many sweepstakes casinos found online
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[Ryan Seacrest](https://sosmed.almarifah.id/read-blog/109_best-u-s-sports-betting-sites-amp-sportsbooks-for-2024.html) urges fans to dip into Chumba Casino, where numerous - however not all games are complimentary
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Drake has a deal with social sweeps gambling establishment, Stake, that he regularly promotes on social media
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Learn more
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Donald Trump 'set to call NBA group owner as US ambassador to Italy'
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Instead, ads typically focus around the social aspect of the gambling establishments, while omitting the potential for actual gaming losses.
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Others tempt consumers with guarantees of prizes. One such operator, Stake, ran a social networks advertisement showing off Drake's cars and trucks, airplanes and mansions before rotating to video of the rap artist playing online casino-style games.
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'Daddy, why do we have so much cash?' read the very first caption on the screen.
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Another caption explained: 'Because I never offered up.'
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The inconsistency in between [sports betting](https://friendspo.com/read-blog/28672_online-betting-firms-gamble-on-soccer-mad-nigeria.html) sites and social or sweepstakes gambling establishments is a bit complex, but operators of the latter insist they're not included with the previous.
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A spokesperson for an industry trade group, the Social and Promotional Gaming Association (SPGA), described its members are not in direct competition with online casinos and sportsbooks. Furthermore, according to SPGA information, most of the players on social-sweepstakes gambling establishments are playing for totally free.
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'Most social sweeps consumers never make a purchase,' the SPGA spokesperson told DailyMail.com. 'The minority of customers who make purchases do so in quantities far smaller sized than the typical deposit or wager size at real-money online gambling websites.'
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Social casinos offer consumers a possibility to play casino-style video games with buddies. Players have the option to purchase worthless currency often described as 'gold coins,' which can not be [exchanged genuine](https://www.buzzgate.net/read-blog/520_best-u-s-sports-betting-sites-amp-sportsbooks-for-2024.html) money, but can be utilized to unlock different functions within the games.
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But within the world of [social casinos](https://wiki.vifm.info/index.php/User:SheltonSpaull) exists sweepstakes video gaming, allowing consumers to get other currency understood as 'sweeps coins' that can be exchanged for money or other prizes.
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And therein lies the capacity for financial losses, like the ones [claimed](https://aijoining.com/read-blog/239_tennessee-sports-betting-top-4-legal-betting-sites-in-2024.html) by complainants in Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and New [York City](https://higgledy-piggledy.xyz/index.php/User:OdetteMcRoberts). One player told the Washington Post he lost more than $100,000 on sweepstakes casinos in the previous year after continuing to purchase more coins in pursuit of cash and other things of value.
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The Philadelphia 76ers' Paul George is seen promoting a Worldwide Poker occasion
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Social sweeps casino Stake ran an ad displaying Drake's vehicles, airplanes and mansions
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Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks is another NBA star plugging VGW's Global Poker
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Traditional online gambling establishments are banned in all but 7 states, which has helped to sustain the appeal of sweepstakes gambling establishments.
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Anyone over the age of 18 can access the sweepstakes sites, which don't need usually need recognition. However, websites like Chumba will request for IDs from gamers trying to withdraw any funds.
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Many sites, like the crypto-compatible Stake, permit consumers to submit mail-in requests for totally free sweeps coins, supplied the players follow painfully specific guidelines. What's more, players are typically rewarded with sweeps coins just for signing up, consequently giving them a reason to attempt their hands at any variety of gambling establishment video games for a chance to win - or lose - real money.
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So why are sweepstakes websites enabled to run in 48 states, while online gambling establishments are prohibited in all but 7?
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According to the stakeholders, their product is the totally free casino-style video gaming, and the real-stakes competition is merely a way of [promoting](https://higgledy-piggledy.xyz/index.php/User:XHDKorey52) their bread and butter.
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'Social sweepstakes video games are just a kind of online entertainment,' an SPGA representative informed DailyMail.com by e-mail. ['No purchase](http://milkywaystars.site/read-blog/3063_for-sports-gambling-to-be-legalised.html) is needed to dip into [social gambling](https://www.sportpassionhub.com/read-blog/1490_just-how-much-are-americans-investing-in-sports-betting.html) establishments with sweepstakes rewards. Consumers never need to spend for a chance to win prizes. That lack of a purchase requirement - or" factor to consider" - is an essential difference in between social sweeps and standard online [sports betting](https://nexthub.live/read-blog/98_uk-betting-firms-gamble-on-united-states-after-sports-wager-ruling.html) sites like casinos.'
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Consider the manner in which McDonald's utilizes its annual Monopoly video game to promote its food: Customers aren't paying to gamble, but rather they're purchasing hamburgers and french fries that offer them the possibility to win rewarding prizes, such as a $1 million jackpot.
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And without a purchase requirement, or 'consideration', the video game itself doesn't satisfy the definition of gaming in the US.
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'Sweepstakes are an enduring method for promoting all kinds of everyday organizations in the United States, everything from hamburgers to magazine memberships to coffee and home improvement shops,' the SPGA representative informed DailyMail.com. 'Sweepstakes promotions are routinely utilized by a who's who of home names like AT&T, Chase, Home Depot, Marriott, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart.'
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But to numerous [sports betting](http://ringturbine.com:80/index.php/User:TuyetErd09385936) industry experts, that argument does not cut it.
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For beginners, gaming lawyer Daniel Wallach points out, McDonald's Monopoly game doesn't run forever. Rather, it has a distinct start and end, consequently suggesting the sweepstakes is not the fast-food giant's main item. Instead, the sweepstakes is being utilized to promote genuine items like fries, shakes, and the Filet-O-Fish.
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'They don't last forever and they're normally not tied to casino-style games of opportunity,' Wallach told DailyMail.com. 'They're simply cash free gifts.
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'The sweepstakes [gambling establishments] possess none of the qualities commonly associated with McDonald's-style sweepstakes promotions,' Wallach continued. 'Besides running in eternity, the sweepstakes casinos provide" casino-like" payouts, usually 80 percent or more of incomes, whereas the typical payout portion for a short-lived promotional sweepstakes is an insignificant share of the earnings made by the company [typically less than one percent]'
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Wallach is quick to compare the online social sweeps gambling establishments to the web coffee shops that sprang up in Florida, providing consumers the chance to play casino-style video games for real rewards. Much of those brick-and-mortar establishments have considering that been shuttered over accusations of [prohibited gaming](http://archmageriseswiki.com/index.php/User:LonaCavill8).
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DJ Khaled is amongst several celeb spokespeople for VGW's Global Poker brand name
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Now, Wallach argues, social sweeps gambling establishments need to deal with similar analysis.
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'These differences are not arbitrary,' Wallach said of social sweeps casinos. 'They have repeatedly been mentioned by courts and state chief law officer as crucial consider figuring out that a sweepstakes promo [remained](https://harrykaneclub.com/read-blog/10239_just-how-much-are-americans-investing-in-sports-betting.html) in truth a guise for prohibited gaming.'
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One of the gambling establishment market's leading trade organizations, the American Gaming Association, is now pushing legislators to investigate sweepstakes operators and, in many cases, enact new legislation on the concern.
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'Consumers are being deprived of defenses and states are passing up significant tax and profits opportunities as this gambling replaces that carried out through regulated channels,' read a well-circulated AGA memo.
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And after that there are the plaintiffs who have taken legal action against social casinos in more than a lots states.
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Sweepstakes gambling establishment operators paid a combined $14.2 million in four different cases in Kentucky without admitting any misbehavior, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile VGW consented to pay $11.75 million in one class-action suit, saying the settlement was made to prevent legal expenses and continued lawsuits.
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Michael Phelps has signed a handle the VGW Group, which owns Global Poker
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In the most [current](https://wiki.rrtn.org/wiki/index.php/User:KatriceShiels4) lawsuit, which is largely similar to its predecessors, New York state citizens Lamar Prater and Rebecca Pratt both claim to have lost well over $1,000 to VGW, which is explained in the filing as an 'prohibited [sports betting](https://sportysocialspace.com/read-blog/11992_uk-betting-firms-gamble-on-united-states-after-sports-wager-ruling.html) enterprise. '
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Apple and Google have also been called as defendants in lawsuits for hosting the sweepstakes websites. But unlike VGW, neither tech company reacted to DailyMail.com's demand for remark.
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'We usually do not comment on matters before the courts,' a VGW spokesperson informed DailyMail.com by means of e-mail. 'However, we note that this claim has actually only just been submitted with the court and VGW has not been formally served.
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'We have full self-confidence in our compliance with all laws and policies where we run, and stay confident about the future,' the representative continued. 'We continue to offer our free-to-play games across the majority of The United States and Canada, as we have for more than a decade, creating not just great video games, user experiences and home entertainment, but also guaranteeing this is done securely, responsibly and at the highest level of standards.
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'More broadly, we 'd restate that class actions and other [lawsuits](https://social.concienciacasanare.com/read-blog/26_how-are-betting-odds-calculated.html) and arbitrations are reasonably common throughout the online social games industry (and the US more broadly), and our basic practice is that we intend to intensely defend any claim which might be brought against us.'
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The issues in between conventional online [sports betting](https://octomo.co.uk/read-blog/6522_how-to-withdraw-from-bet9ja-8-step-guide-to-money-in-your-wins.html) and sweepstakes casinos might show troublesome for some star endorsers.
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Towns, a star center with the Knicks, and the 76ers' George both endorse VGW's Global Poker brand name while the NBA is partnered with traditional gaming titans like FanDuel and DraftKings.
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['It's paradoxical](https://personal.spaces.one/read-blog/3086_sports-minister-tracey-crouch-resigns-over-039-delay-039-to-betting-crackdown.html) that professional athletes are hawking illegal [sports betting](https://social.updum.com/read-blog/230_for-sports-gambling-to-be-legalised.html) 'sweeps' sites while at the same time the leagues want to forecast a strong position versus prohibited gaming - specifically when attempting to tamp down the periodic [sports betting](https://iuridictum.pecina.cz/w/U%C5%BEivatel:BreannaCollette) scandal,' Glaser informed DailyMail.com.
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It was simply 8 months ago that Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter received a life time restriction from the NBA over allegations he conspired with gamblers. However, to be clear, Porter's scandal is unrelated to anything involving social or sweepstakes casinos.
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In addition to VGW, Apple and Google are being sued for hosting apparently prohibited gambling websites
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Regardless, Glaser sees sweepstakes gambling establishments as a significant concern for leagues such as the NBA.
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'I 'd anticipate that a league crackdown on professional athletes endorsing sweepstakes websites is a matter of when, not if,' Glaser included.
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Neither an NBA spokesperson nor the players' representatives reacted to DailyMail.com's demands for remark. For that matter, spokespeople for Drake, DJ Khaled, Hilton, Seacrest and Phelps likewise neglected to react to DailyMail.com emails.
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Asked if their celeb endorsers have an obligation to explain to clients the distinctions and resemblances between iGaming and sweepstakes casinos, VGW firmly insisted there is nothing more that requires to be done.
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'We have complete confidence in our influencer and ambassadorial collaborations, and our business practices more broadly,' the spokesperson said. 'Some of our worths are" our gamers precede" and" we do what's right", and we put our values at the core of everything we do.'
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Glaser, an outspoken challenger of sweepstakes sites, sees things differently.
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'Celebrities who provide their names to dubious unlawful gambling websites are, at a minimum, putting their reputations at danger in addition to courting civil and class actions by customers who allege damage,' Glaser stated. 'There is also some threat that state regulators and state [chief law](https://southwales.com/read-blog/336_how-fantasy-betting-app-development-companies-and-sports-developers.html) officers rope star endorsers into enforcement efforts for facilitating prohibited [sports betting](https://redmonde.es/read-blog/100_how-to-play-bet9ja-online.html).'
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