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Nevada Sports Books Wary Of Entity Wagering

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Sports betting is already a $4 billion industry in Nevada.

Thanks to a change in state law last year, that number could increase colossally -- some predict a potential $400 billion windfall for Nevada's sports books. 

Last year, the legislature passed Senate Bill 443, a law that allows sports books to accept wagers from out-of-state investors.

It’s called entity wagering. Think of it like a mutual fund for sports bettors.

Though the law has been on the books for a year, so far only one sports book participates in entity wagering.

Dane Maralason, who writes for Gaming & Leisure magazine, told KNPR's State of Nevada that it has taken some time to work out a compromise between both sides of the game. 

“In sports betting, all the winners are paid by the losers," Maralason said. "You have to have money coming in both sides of a game.” 

In regular sports betting, that compromise is worked out with a point spread. A favorite team is assigned extra points so that even if a bettor thinks the team will win, he may not think they'll win by those extra points and he'll bet on the underdog. 

Right now, there is only one entity, CGT Global, that offers this kind of wagering in Nevada. The entity and the bank is responsible for vetting where the money is coming from, Maralason said.

He said finding where the money is coming from is an important way to keep organized crime out of betting, because it could potentially influence the game. 

Maralason believes as this type of gaming becomes more stable and there is better understanding of how the entity is placing bets, more investors will become involved. 

So far, the payout has been remarkable.

“All the entities now are producing gains of 1 percent a week or more.” Maralason said. 

Dane Maralason, freelance writer, Gaming & Leisure Magazine 

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Prior to taking on the role of Broadcast Operations Manager in January 2021, Rachel was the senior producer of KNPR's State of Nevada program for 6 years. She helped compile newscasts and provided coverage for and about the people of Southern Nevada, as well as major events such as the October 1 shooting on the Las Vegas strip, protests of racial injustice, elections and more. Rachel graduated with a bachelor's degree of journalism and mass communications from New Mexico State University.