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00:00That's where we're going to begin here on the show today as it is officially official
00:07as they say the New England Patriots have named Jacoby Brissett their starting quarterback
00:13in week one, Gerard Mayo making a very brief announcement this morning.
00:17Maybe there's more coming.
00:18I'm not sure, but in the very brief announcement, uh, Mayo said that Brissett is the starting
00:23quarterback right now, but essentially we're keeping an eye and leaving the door open for
00:29things in the future, which of course is Drake May.
00:32If you're sort of wondering why this is all happening, I don't have all the answers, but
00:35if you've watched the Patriots play in the preseason, their offensive line has been rough
00:40to say the least.
00:41So throwing their rookie quarterback out there, maybe that is the reason why.
00:44But anyway, week one of the NFL season, it's Jacoby Brissett at starting quarterback for
00:49the New England Patriots.
00:50Also week one for the Pittsburgh Steelers was announced yesterday.
00:53Mike Tomlin said he was going to make the announcement and he did.
00:56It is Russell Wilson getting the start for the Steelers.
01:00He was battling with Justin Fields who they traded for in the off season for the starting
01:04gig.
01:05And at least for now, uh, you know, another chance to start and fix what was broken in
01:10Denver for Russell Wilson.
01:12Mike Tomlin talked about coming to the decision and how he made the decision and the timing
01:17of the decision.
01:18As I said, uh, this past weekend after the game, we had a decision coming, um, at the
01:24end of our work week this week regarding the quarterback position.
01:26Um, as I also said after the game, I thought it was appropriate to do it at this time.
01:32I think that, um, doing it earlier than this time, uh, would have put a de-emphasis on
01:36the work that we were able to get done, uh, out here from a developmental standpoint,
01:41but also think it's the appropriate time because as we move into next week, we need to be singularly
01:46focused as a collective, um, on the challenges of the week, which is obviously our opener
01:50in Atlanta, um, in the division of labor and roles within it.
01:54Um, I met with both quarterbacks here just a few minutes ago, um, after practice and
01:59I have formed them, uh, that Russ is QB one, uh, going into week one.
02:04Um, it was a difficult decision, but not difficult in a negative way, to be quite honest with
02:08you, it was difficult in a positive way.
02:11The decision was difficult because of what they're capable of doing.
02:15Um, decision was difficult because of how they have conducted themselves as opposed
02:19to the things that they fall short in, in terms of capabilities or negative conduct.
02:26I think right now it's probably the right decision for Pittsburgh to do this, but let's
02:30just be clear, Justin Fields is going to play at some point this year.
02:33We just don't know when.
02:34All right.
02:35A bizarre story on week one of the NFL is coming already.
02:38How about this?
02:39This is one I didn't see coming.
02:40Now, Tom Brady, who is going to be broadcasting this upcoming NFL season, uh, talked about
02:48being all in on broadcasting, but you can't be all in, I guess, if you're a part owner
02:53of another team and Brady has a very small piece of the Las Vegas Raiders.
02:57So he's going to have to abide by some restrictions in his role as a Fox broadcaster.
03:04This was announced on Tuesday.
03:05He can't be in another team's facility.
03:09He can't watch practice and he can't be at the broadcast meetings in person or virtually.
03:18So essentially going into the game, this is all just Tom Brady watching the game and
03:22telling you what he thinks.
03:23Generally speaking, the broadcasters always get advanced access to some of the information,
03:27the ideas that the coaches have had, and I guess Brady is not going to have access to
03:31that going into the year two.
03:32Whether that affects his broadcast, it still remains to be seen, but this is just not commonplace.
03:36And again, it's not commonplace to have Tom Brady in the booth regardless.
03:39All right.
03:40The saga goes on for Jamar Chase.
03:41Jamar Chase with his hold in, hold out, Zach Taylor said that he was going to practice.
03:49He did not.
03:50Taylor said he put his foot in his mouth and Chase is still not practicing, still does
03:54not have a new contract.
03:56And another day goes by and the NFL season is a week from today.
04:00So we'll see what happens there.
04:01The Chargers have traded for quarterback Taylor Heineke.
04:04They send the Falcons a conditional sixth round pick.
04:07Justin Herbert is good to go, but Heineke will be a backup.
04:11Also Tyler Huntley was released from the Cleveland Browns and their roster now is down
04:15to three quarterbacks.
04:16Huntley pretty good, by the way, with the Baltimore Ravens.
04:18All right.
04:19Week one, as I said, of the college football season, week zero was last week.
04:21This is week one.
04:22We got a ton of games going on tonight.
04:24Looking forward to watching all of the action and our in-game live programming.
04:27And Scott Farrell has you prepared for these games tonight.
04:30Colorado, meanwhile, is alleging that Oregon accessed private data in 2023.
04:35You may remember that game.
04:36Colorado lost 42 to 6 in that game last season, and it was the Buffaloes' first defeat.
04:44They're claiming that somehow Oregon got access to this, and they're petitioning college football
04:48as well.
04:49Wide receiver Deion Smith, one of the top Juco's in the land, has been working to get
04:52eligible for Ole Miss.
04:54He did not receive his eligibility.
04:56Lane Kiffin was told, so he's not going to play for the Rebs this coming season.
05:00But good news for the Florida Gators.
05:02As Montrell Jordan, their running back, who is going to replace Trevor Etienne, has been
05:06cleared to play against the University of Miami as the Gators face off with the Canes
05:10this weekend on Saturday.
05:12Another great game coming this weekend.
05:13The Astros beat the Phillies 10-0 yesterday.
05:15Jordan Alvarez hit three home runs for Houston as they charged toward the postseason.
05:21Paul Skeen's pitch yesterday did fine.
05:23Bullpen came in.
05:24They did not.
05:2514-10 the final in that one.
05:29The Dodgers end up beating the Orioles 6-4.
05:32You can probably guess who home run in that game.
05:34Shohei Ohtani also stole a base, 42nd on the season.
05:38Teoscar Hernandez also home run as well.
05:40And also the Kansas City Royals have placed Michael Lorenzen on the injured list.
05:44He's pitched very well for them, but not going to be available for the next couple of weeks.
05:47He's got a hamstring strain.
05:48They're hoping that he can come back later in the month of September.
05:51All right, let's go over to the U.S. Open.
05:53On the tennis side, Novak Djokovic, he's advanced to the third round at the U.S. Open.
05:57He becomes the first man to get to all Grand Slams in the third round at all four.
06:04Incredible run for him.
06:06And also Coco Gauff has won and couldn't really serve all that well, but she moves on to the
06:11next round.
06:12Ben Shelton and Francis Tiafoe in straight sets also have getting toward a rematch as
06:19the two get ready to meet again later this week.
06:23In the WNBA, De'Erica Hamby had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists.
06:28Final score 94-88.
06:30The biggest upset that I have seen in a long time as the Liberty was 12.5 point favorites
06:35and the Sparks won outright in L.A., 94-88.
06:38Kaitlyn Clarke broke the rookie three-point record, 84-80 was the final there.
06:43She now has 86 three-pointers on the season.
06:47And the Mystics beat the Sky by a final of 74-40.
06:52Angel Reese on the Sky had just 7 points on 3 of 10 shooting.
06:57For those of you getting ready for the upcoming college football season, we've got a nice
07:01little add-on to the scheduling, the odds, and potentially some picks if you're interested.
07:07Head on over to the SportsGrid app and just take out your phone and scan this QR code.
07:12It's available for iOS and Android.
07:15We'll tell you all about our lineup here, streaming on SportsGrid 24 hours a day, 7
07:20days a week.
07:21It is the SportsGrid app.
07:23It is certainly available for free, so make sure you download that as well.
07:27We've got a full slate of games coming up tonight in college football and also an announcement
07:32in the National Football League as well.
07:34Two starting quarterbacks named starters for opening week, Jacoby Brissett for the New
07:39England Patriots, Russell Wilson named starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
07:45So those are the two big pieces of news as we enter.
07:48And now we know every single starting quarterback going into the season, barring some sort of
07:52health issue, you can place your bets and feel at least comfortable knowing that as well.
07:58So is there any comfort factor going into this first week of college football?
08:01In case you missed it last weekend, week zero, the underdogs were barking in a very big way.
08:07A lot of covers, a lot of outright wins with big underdogs.
08:12We saw that, of course, between Georgia Tech and Florida State.
08:14So the question is, has the transfer portal and these NIL deals made it very difficult
08:21to handicap college football, at least initially, until we know who these teams are?
08:25Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:26Matthew Waters is with us today from Legal Sports Report.
08:29By the way, everything we discuss available over at legalsportsreport.com, great website,
08:34catching you up with the business of sports betting and a whole lot more.
08:37Matt, great to have you back here on Newswire.
08:39Thanks for coming on.
08:41Yeah, thanks for having me.
08:42Happy to be here.
08:43All right.
08:43So let's get started with this stunning revelation that you guys have over at Legal Sports Report.
08:48Hold on a second here.
08:49Wait for it.
08:50People who are betting a lot of money and gambling on sports are having a hard time paying their bills.
08:56I mean, this is a stunning revelation, Matt, that you have here on Legal Sports Report, is it not?
09:02You know, it is, Craig.
09:04And I understand what you're saying.
09:06Obviously, it makes sense to link some of those together.
09:09But now we have some real actual data points that are able to point out what's happening in some areas.
09:16We had three different reports.
09:19One was a transunion report, and that mostly focused on what you just said.
09:23Forty-four percent of online gamblers that gambled more than $500 a month monthly say they're not able to pay all of their bills.
09:33That compares to 24% of the non-gamblers that they talked to.
09:37Nearly half of the gamblers that bet $500 monthly or more have a bill that's been passed due for 90 days or longer.
09:46And then there were two academic studies.
09:48We have one here out of Northwestern that looks at where the income distribution is coming from and where and how much is being deposited.
10:03And it looks like those with less are depositing a bigger share of sports betting dollars.
10:09Now, this isn't a new idea at all, Craig.
10:13When you think about lottery, if you go and you look at the statistics on lottery, it is usually those lower-income households that buy the lion's share of lottery.
10:26So this isn't a new trend necessarily that we're seeing.
10:30What I can say, Craig, is that I just got another study, another academic study, that looks at it a little differently and says, you know, yes, some people are struggling with this.
10:42But it's not an overarching issue that everybody needs to be afraid of.
10:48The other study that I looked at for this says that the financial issues really start about two years into a state once they have legalized sports betting.
10:58And that makes sense, too, right?
10:59You think about all the promotions that are given out up front.
11:02And then you think about how when you are a customer of these gambling sites, quarter after quarter, all we hear is that they're getting more and more money out of these customers.
11:13So your spend starts to creep up as the time goes on.
11:17And so that's what it's looking like.
11:19The two-year mark is a little shaky in some of these states with some of the data that we got.
11:26But I would encourage anybody interested in that, definitely go over to LSR to check out the article.
11:30We link to all of the studies directly.
11:32You can check it out yourself.
11:34And we'll have more coming on that other study I mentioned.
11:37Yeah, no, look, I like data.
11:38I like hearing this information.
11:40But, you know, again, for me, I'm just a little cynical when it comes to, you know, individual who is having a hard time paying bills.
11:46What's the reason? You're betting on sports.
11:48Could be the case.
11:49Okay, so now what's the latest here with the NFLPA suing DraftKings?
11:53You know, the NFLPA, just like the NFL, they want their piece of the pie here.
11:57Are they entitled to this?
11:58Do you feel like there is something to stand on here?
12:01I believe it's $65 million they feel like they're owed.
12:05Yeah, it's about $65 million.
12:07Craig, it's hard to say right now.
12:09DraftKings is trying to say that they don't owe this money because the NFT product that DraftKings and the NFLPA partnered on, they shut it down due to legal issues.
12:22And it looks like the legal issues that they're talking about are whether NFTs can be classified as securities or not.
12:29Now, when they wrote up the contract with the NFLPA, it did include an out for them that said if NFTs at any point are categorized as securities or other various other things they could have been listed as, that allows DraftKings to break the contract.
12:48And so that is what they are saying they're doing, that they do not owe this money.
12:53And the NFLPA is saying, of course you owe this money.
12:57First of all, the ruling that it wasn't it wasn't even a ruling that says the NFTs are securities.
13:03It was simply a court allowing the case to continue.
13:07So there is a lot of assuming going on there that that would go through the way that DraftKings at this point hopes it does.
13:15And the NFLPA, they really took a big swing at DraftKings on this, and they listed out the compensation for five of their executives since that NFT partnership was going on.
13:27And it came out to more than $260 million since 2021.
13:34Craig, that's a lot of money that's going to executives.
13:37And so they're saying, how do they not have $65 million to pay what they legally have to pay as part of a binding contract?
13:45So we're going to be watching this for a while.
13:48It is not a good look for the NFL and the NFLPA to be having this big of a beef with one of their authorized sports betting partners.
13:59And DraftKings has had a rocky month, and it's been up and down for them.
14:05They got a great headline this morning.
14:06They are buying SimpleBets.
14:08So they're going to add in AI pricing and their offerings and live betting and parlays will be a little deeper.
14:15So that's a great headline that sent the stock green this morning.
14:18But, yeah, a couple of lawsuits going on for DraftKings right now.
14:22And it's more negative headlines than positive heading into the football season for them.
14:28Oh, look, if they don't get the money, they could just charge everybody minus 140 on all games.
14:32Right. And just do it that way.
14:33I'm kidding. I'm being facetious.
14:35OK, so, you know, the idea of cracking down on illegal sports books.
14:41We've known this going on for years.
14:43There's a lot of people who feel that more attention needs to be paid toward this.
14:47So we do have one story here as we're going to end here, Matt.
14:51It does seem like, though, the reason why this particular illegal sports book was
14:55pinched was because of an association with a casino.
14:58It feels like that's more of the story here.
15:00Am I am I wrong about that?
15:02Well, it's that and that it's also that if the casino is the casino that it seems
15:08like it is, then this is also the casino that was involved with Matthew Boyer,
15:12who was the illegal bookmaker that took those bets from Shohei Ohtani's former
15:19interpreter. So this is it's a bigger web, a web that was weaved here, it looks like.
15:25And his name is Damian LaForbes.
15:28And he pled guilty to operating the sports book and to
15:33excuse me, money laundering.
15:34Couldn't think of the word there.
15:35He's a poker player and he spent a lot of time in Vegas.
15:38And why it seems like it could be the same casino is that the Nevada Current back
15:45in May reported that LaForbes owed that casino, Resorts World Las Vegas,
15:50twelve point three million dollars after nearly four dozen trips to the casino.
15:56Now, LaForbes was said to cash checks at
16:00this casino and to receive chips for the casino in terms of payment.
16:05And Craig, some of the numbers here are just staggering.
16:07He executed at least 17 personal checks over about two years at Casino A is how
16:12it's known in the paperwork that was for nine point one million,
16:16including a one million dollar check last April.
16:19Two point eight million in cash was also
16:22presented to that casino in the same time frame.
16:25Craig, he bet more than one hundred and forty eight million dollars over those two
16:31years in Las Vegas before he was caught.
16:34So that's a lot of money.
16:36And certainly that nine point one and two point eight don't add up to one forty eight.
16:40So there's a lot to still be found out here.
16:43And you know what, Craig?
16:46This is just me from a personal example, but if I was doing something nefarious,
16:51I don't know that I would stay necessarily just in one spot.
16:54There are a lot of casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, Craig.
16:57And even off of the Strip, there are a lot of casinos that have sportsbooks.
17:01And, you know, you just don't know how far this reaches, how far it goes.
17:06It's it's great that we are catching these guys and weeding them out.
17:10But it's, you know, those headlines that the sports betting industry hates to see.
17:15No, they do. And by the way,
17:17like two stories all year on stuff like this, not one hundred, two, you know, that's it.
17:22All right, Matt, great to see you again.
17:24Enjoy your weekend. Thanks again for coming on Newswire.
17:26Thanks, I appreciate it.