The football squares pool is as big a part of a NFL Super Bowl party as pizza and beer. Long a tradition in home and office football game viewing parties (and in particular for the Super Bowl), “squares” is a simple pool-based betting format that probably doesn’t interest serious bettors all that much. In most states, a contest such as a Super Bowl squares pool (or boxes pool) would be deemed to constitute an illegal lottery if it involved three elements: consideration (generally an entry fee), prize and chance. Are office football pools illegal? Most Prefer Super Bowl Squares. Ohio, and Texas – four of the states where betting is currently illegal. Another 16 percent were from New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, states where. Squares will often overlook key factors, like current form, injuries and scoring statistics, while placing spur-of-the-moment bets. Taking points with underdogs, plus betting OVER on game totals.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Super Bowl Sunday is just a few days away, and with that, the state of New Mexico is warning football fans that gambling of any kind is illegal. Unless it is authorized by the.
Horse Racing
The first legal opportunities for gambling in Michigan came about with the passing of the Racing Act of 1933 to authorize and regulate pari-mutuel horse racing. The Office of Racing Commissioner (ORC) was established at this time. Currently, the ORC functions under the Horse Racing Law of 1995, as amended, and in accordance with the Racing Commissioner General Rules. The ORC is an independent agency created within the Department of Agriculture, in accordance with the Executive Organization Act of 1965. The current Commissioner is Christine C. White. Her job is to promote safety, security and growth and integrity of all horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering on the results of horse races and simulcasting conducted at licensed race meetings within Michigan. Their website is www.michigan.gov/horseracing.
The Michgian Lottery
On May 16, 1972, voters approve a constitutional amendment by a 2-to-1 margin, enabling the establishment of a state lottery. Following the wishes of the majority, Governor William Milliken signed into law Public Act 239 on August 1, 1972. Gus Harrison was appointed the first Lottery Commissioner on August 1, 1972.
June 11, 1996 – Lottery Commissioner Bill Martin announced the introduction of “The Big Game” – a new multistate lottery game. Michigan joined Illinois , Maryland , Massachusetts and Virginia in this multistate lottery game, with tickets scheduled to go on sale in the fall of 1996. By 2002 the Big Game grew to include nine states as the New York Lottery and Ohio Lottery began ticket sales. Upon the addition of the two new states, the name of the game was changed to Mega Millions.
In the Fall of 2003 tickets for the Lottery’s new Club Games, Club Keno and Pull Tabs went on sale at bars and restaurants that had been licensed to sell these Lottery products.
In September 30, 2007 the Lottery closed the fiscal year with a record contribution to the School Aid Fund of $748.9 million. The Michigan Lottery contributes $1 million each year to help fund education and treatment programs on compulsive gambling. Since its inception in 1972, the Michigan Lottery has generated over $14.3 billion in net revenues to support K-12 public education in Michigan.
The current Director of the Lottery is M. Scott Bowen. Their website is www.michigan.gov/lottery.
Charitable Gambling
In 1972 Act 382 was passed to allow nonprofit organizations to raise funds for their lawful purposes through the conduct of licensed bingo games, millionaire parties, raffles, and the sale of charity game tickets. It also allows for the licensing of bingo halls and suppliers. This Act was revised and on March 12, 2007 the Charitable Gaming Rules became effective. They are organized by subject, e.g., General, Gaming, Licensing, Bingo, Millionaire Party, etc. Administrative rules provide additional definitions and guidance for the conduct of charitable gaming activities.
Casino The first Tribal Casino was opened in Mt. Pleasant by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. The State signed a compact with the tribe in 1993 and the Tribe made the first 2% of their winnings distribution in the spring of 1994. The amount of $531,763.00 was distributed to several county and city municipalities. In the Spring of 2007 the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe distributed $3,608,148.50 to city and township governments, schools, and other organizations.
Tribal-State Gaming Compacts are written agreements between the tribal communities and the State, which are signed by the Governor. There are currently 11 State-Tribal Compacts signed in 1993 & 1998. The Compacts signed in 1998 require the Tribes to pay the State 8% of their Net Wins on electronic games of chance and 2% to local municipalities. There are nineteen Tribal casinos.
Native American tribes are sovereign nations. As such, neither the State of Michigan nor the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) has regulatory authority over tribal casinos. They are regulated by the National Indian Gaming Commission and/or the government of the appropriate tribal community.
November 1996, Michigan voters approved Proposal E, effectively authorizing three licensed casinos to be built in Detroit . Proposal E was later substantially improved and strengthened, then signed into law as the Michigan Gaming Control & Revenue Act, as amended (Public Act 69 of 1997; MCL 432.201).
The three Detroit casinos; Greek Town , MGM, and Motor City are governed by the Michigan Gaming Control Board. Information about the profits of these casinos, and money paid to the state and city can be found on the MGCB web site. www.michigan.gov/mgcb.
A program to help gamblers who want to stop gambling at these facilities, The Dissociated Persons List, is also on their website.
Youth Gambling
The popularity of Texas Holdem card parties has introduced many teens to gambling. This is a national phenomenon. It is however, illegal in Michigan for anyone under the age of eighteen to gamble.
Sports Gambling
Due to the general acceptability of gambling and the importance placed on sports within the social fabric of American culture, betting on sports is often the first experience one may have with gambling. Sports bets include purchasing Super Bowl squares, filling out NCAA Tournament brackets, wagering via parlay cards, and bets with bookmakers and online betting sites.
Michigan law MCL 750.301 prohibits wagering money, goods or services on the results of unknown races, contests or games with a misdemeanor punishment of up to one year in jail and fines of not more than $1,000. This statute covers bets on ‘socially acceptable’ gambling opportunities such as Super Bowl squares and the NCAA Tournament, in addition to straight and parlay bets with illegal bookmakers or online sports wagering websites. In addition, MCL 432.218 prohibits the conducting of a gambling operation commonly referred to as bookmaking. This type of activity is deemed more serious than simply placing wagers and is a punishable felony with fines up to $100,000 and not more than 10 years in jail. Michigan law is based on the following three Acts.
Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA)
Congress enacted the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 1992 which made it illegal to “sponsor, operate, advertise, promote…a betting, gambling or wagering scheme… on competitive games in which amateur or professional athletes participate.” This legislation effectively limited legal gambling on sports to the state of Nevada, with minor grand-fathered exceptions to Delaware, Oregon and Montana. Also excluded by the PASPA were jai alai, primarily played in Florida, horse racing and dog racing.
Interstate Wire Act
In 1961, Congress passed the Interstate Wire Act for the express purpose of prohibiting and restricting the operation of sports gambling businesses. This law was designed to stop illegal bookmakers, not individual gamblers. The statute was designed to stop the transmission of wagers or betting information via various communication devices. Subsequent interpretations by U.S. courts have clarified that this statute only prohibits sports wagering, not other forms of gambling. The Supreme Court has not delivered an opinion on the scope of the Act.
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act
Lastly, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 is legislation which restricts persons running gambling operations. This law, specifically Section 5363, makes it illegal for operators of online gambling sites to accept funds from bettors but does not restrict gamblers from placing wagers. These funds are defined as extended credit, electronic transfers, checks, money orders, and other forms of financial transactions. One major result of this new law has been increased traffic with illegal bookmakers due to less wagers being placed through online sites.
Tim Otteman, Ed.D CMU, ottem1tw@cmich.edu
Super Bowl Squares Gambling Illegal Sports Betting
Correction: This story originally called into question the AGA’s methodology on what constitutes a bet on the Super Bowl. The AGA did provide a brief breakdown of its methodolgy and what constituted a “bettor” for the purposes of this survey in its full press release. The story has been edited to reflect that. PlayUSA regrets the exclusion.
In each of the last several years, the American Gaming Association (AGA) has released survey results estimating how much money will be wagered on the Super Bowl.
The AGA’s yearly press release and infographic always contain some tantalizing, eye-catching Super Bowl betting numbers, and this year was no exception. According to the AGA’s 2019 survey, one in ten American adults will wager a collective $6 billion on the game.
Statistics of this sort are great for grabbing headlines (and the attention of lawmakers), but this type of PR campaign isn’t without its issues.
The AGA should show its work
The biggest issue is the lack of transparency.
The infographic and press releases are easy to digest and are a solid foundation for a PR campaign. That said, it’s hard to put much stock into the findings without more information on how the AGA conducts the survey.
We do have this from the AGA on the :
This survey was conducted on behalf of the American Gaming Association by Morning Consult on January 22, 2019 among a national sample of 2,201 Adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Adults based on age, race/ethnicity, gender, educational attainment and region. The margin of error is +/- 2% and greater among subgroups.
Bettors include those who expect to place a bet online, with a bookie, with a casino sportsbook, in a pool or squares contest, or casually with a friend.
Pundits will disseminate the survey on social media, and sports betting outlets will write about the results. But without the raw data (the original questions), very few pundits and outlets will look at the results critically.
Question phrasing is often used to influence poll and survey results, so seeing the questions in the same way and order as the respondents allow you to judge the merits of the results.
Excellent point on question writing! I think it's the toughest lesson we teach in research methods class.
Also, the handful of extant studies that compare self-report & actual gambling behavior show that people are pretty inaccurate at estimating their own gambling spend.
— Brett Abarbanel (@babarbanel) January 28, 2019
That’s a lot of growth for Super Bowl betting
One finding from the survey that could use an in-depth explanation is the top-line figure of $6 billion in wagers on the game.
In 2017 and 2018, the AGA estimated $4.7 billion would be wagered. That’s a 22 percent increase.
It’s unclear where the new $1.3 billion is coming from.
It’s not entirely from new legal markets.
Yes, several locales legalized sports betting in 2018, but PlayUSA.com is estimating legal wagers on this year’s game will amount to $325 million. That’s about double what it was in 2018 when legal betting was limited to Nevada.
Furthermore, the newly legalized markets should theoretically be taking a bite out of the illegal market. Thus, with legal revenue coming from a combination of new bettors and black market money that’s now being wagered in legal markets.
At face value, the increased betting in this year’s estimates implies the advancement of legal online betting has created a slew of new bettors who are flooding the black market.
Some of that is at least feasible, but again, we don’t have much insight if that’s the cause.
Who bets what on the Super Bowl?
How that $6 billion is broken up is also important. Again, here’s how a bettor is defined for the purposes of this poll:
Bettors include those who expect to place a bet online, with a bookie, with a casino sportsbook, in a pool or squares contest, or casually with a friend.
Super Bowl Squares Gambling Illegal Poker
In the past, the AGA’s estimated $10 billion would be wagered on March Madness, and that included $3 billion wagered on brackets. If a similar percentage of Super Bowl wagers are football squares, you can reduce the wagering amount by about $1.8 billion.
Super Bowl Squares Gambling Illegal Immigrants
Technically, things like March Madness brackets and football squares are wagers, and if you want to get really technical, possibly illegal wagers in some locales, but this is definitely a situation that requires nuance.
Super Bowl Squares Gambling Illegal Game
Football squares are popular in bars and social clubs where you might pay $50, $100 or even more for a square. All or most of the prize-money is paid out to the winning numbers at the end of each quarter. A percentage of each entry set aside to pay for food and perhaps drinks in some cases.
Like March Madness brackets, you’ll find smaller buy-in squares in offices and at house parties.
Legal sportsbooks aren’t going to capture much if any of the football square market. In fact, they’re more likely to be used as promotional ploys and loss-leaders, like DraftKings Sportsbook is doing this year.
So, if the AGA’s goal is to demonstrate the potential revenue states are missing out on, football squares and other forms of casual gambling among friends shouldn’t be included in estimates of this kind, or try to quantify it.