It is a very busy time for sports betting, as the NFL and college football seasons are now underway, the MLB playoffs are a few weeks away, and the start of the NBA, NHL, and college basketball seasons are around the corner.

This weekend alone, there are a lot of interesting events on the calendar. That includes Week 2 in the NFL and Week 3 in college football, UFC 306 (headlined by the O’Malley-Dvalishvili main event), important races in Formula 1 and NASCAR, and Canelo Alvarez’s bout with Edgar Berlanga.

It’s also a busy time for the sports betting industry and the iGaming industry as a whole. What are some of the biggest sports betting and casino news headlines this week? Let’s look at a few.

U.S. Lawmakers Propose Broad Sports Betting Overhaul

Could a major federal overhaul be ahead for the regulated sports betting industry?

On Thursday, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Paul Tonko proposed the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet Act (or SAFE Act, for short).

If passed, it would ban sports betting nationally and require states that have already legalized sports betting to undergo a new application and approval process.

Here are some of the other highlights of the proposed legislation:

• No sports betting advertising between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.,
• Bans on sportsbook offers like bonus/risk-free bets,
• A national ban on prop bets on college sports,
• Affordability measures such as affordability checks, a ban on credit card deposits, and a limit on how many deposits can be made (five) in a 24-hour period,
• Outlawing the use of AI (artificial intelligence) to track the habits of gamblers.

Is this proposed legislation likely to gain much traction? It would seem unlikely.

That said, responsible gambling and having the best interests of bettors and prospective bettors should be a high priority, and there are parts of the proposed legislation that make a lot of sense and are worth considering going forward whether as part of state or federal legislation or efforts by individual sports betting sites.

For example, deposit limits won’t put a stop to problem gambling. After all, there are so many options out there. But do sportsbooks do an optimal job of promoting responsible gambling and encouraging healthy financial decisions? Information can be found at any online sportsbook, but many don’t display it in a way that could be most beneficial.

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