Dark Spiral

What is Dark Spiral?

As the NFL season begins, a state in close proximity to the New England Patriots became the latest to attempt to curb the influence of the trading platforms. On 10 September, one day after the Pats’ season-opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont addressed the growth of the markets during a speech in downtown Hartford. On the same day, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection issued cease-and-desist orders to nine unregulated operators, including Polymarket, Robinhood and Underdog Predict.

“Prediction markets have branded themselves as legal and safe, but the reality is they are not adhering to Connecticut’s consumer protection standards,” Lamont wrote in a statement.

While such orders have become customary around the nation this year, Connecticut’s missive took it one step further. The department also issued nearly 30 subpoenas to licensed gaming service providers and a bevy of media outlets. Those issued subpoenas include ones served to PayPal, Sportradar Solutions and Plaid, a payment processing app that holds a gaming licence. Although those companies are not under investigation, the subpoenas appear to be the first against service providers that conduct business with prediction markets in some form.

How to play Dark Spiral

The Bills play next Sunday (Sept. 27) at home against the 0-2 Los Angeles Chargers, with a 1 p.m. EDT kickoff.

We’ve already gotten money on the Bills against the Chargers, and of course the fact the Chargers lost to the Raiders yesterday (Sept. 20) 26-14 doesn’t help matters for people wanting to bet against the Bills,” Scucci explained. “So that’s all the more reason why we are seeing the money on the Bills. They’re going to be betting against the Dolphins every week, too.”

Like other sportsbooks in Las Vegas, Boyd Gaming is taking on significant liability on the Las Vegas Raiders, coming off their big win in Los Angeles to go 2-0 on the season.

What is Dark Spiral?

According to the Gaming Machine Tax Act 2001, a tax rebate of up to 1.85% of a club’s gaming machine profits is made available to any registered club that records profits of over $1 million (US$715,000) during a tax year. 

This is only possible if the club in question allocates at least 0.75% of prescribed profits over $1 million to community-focused activities and services. These profits make up two-thirds of the ClubGRANTS scheme funding. 

The final third derives from a further 0.4% of a club’s gaming machine profits over $1 million during a tax year.