Advertising Sports Betting – What Are The Rules?

Karole White

By:  Karole L. White, President/CEO
Michigan Association of Broadcasters

The MAB has received several calls from members that were being told by ad agencies representing casinos and other sports betting organizations that TV and Radio stations had to be registered vendors with the state to accept sports betting ads.

THIS IS NOT TRUE, according to Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) Executive Director Robert Kalm and Deputy Director/General Counsel David Murley. In a conversation with MAB government relations consultant, Rob Elhenicky, Murley said that was a misinterpretation of the rules recently published and he would fix it.

MAB Washington Attorney David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP reviewed the administrative rules. For the most part he agrees with the MGCB. There are however, significant incongruencies. Oxenford was concern about the last two paragraphs of the administrative rules, which states any vendor to a sports betting establishment receiving $100,000 dollars in payments a year must register with the MGCB.

The MGCB has been swamped with calls and told us that they would sort this out after the launch and broadcasters should go ahead with advertising with or without registering to become a vendor.

We are working on getting a letter from the MGCB Executive Director or General Counsel, but it will not be by today’s (1/22) launch.  We will try to have it for you next week.