An ancient gambling tradition has found its way into the app store. Known colloquially as a 'gentleman's bet,' this wager is made for pride, not money, and is sealed with a handshake. Available to gentlemen and ladies alike on both Android and iOS devices, SideBets gives sports enthusiasts a platform to make bets among friends — for fake money.
Aside from sports betting, these offshore sites also provide bettors with a wide range of online Casino games in which real cash is at stake. Category: Online Casinos: Comments: (0) Gambling Web Site Reviews: When choosing a casino or sports. We tackle that and more in our latest RADIO.COM Sports 2021 NFL Mock Draft: Zach Wilson is one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects in this year's class. Photo credit (Mark Brown/Getty Images).
Sports betting is legal in Illinois and mobile apps are live for Week 1 NFL games. Governor Pritzker signed an executive order allowing mobile sports betting in August 2020. Sports Mockery has partnered with. Sports gambling in the state of Illinois was legalized in the summer of 2019 by Governor J.B. The first legal bet was made at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines in Spring 2020. Since then, several other.
After signing up with either an email address or Facebook login, SideBets starts you off with $100 in fake cash. A user can then place bets against friends or the house. The app is free to download, as is registering for an account.
Jon Goldstein, managing partner of Blue Ox Entertainment, helped develop SideBets, which he sums up as a community “of fun, engaged degenerate gamblers” who like “being able to gamble in a way that isn’t detrimental to your pocket and detrimental to your legal standing in the community.”
Basically, it a lighthearted way to compete against friends without the intense time commitment involved with joining a fantasy sports league.
“SideBets really kind of cuts to the essence of what I want to do, which is to interact with my friends and have competition surrounding football and other sports,” Goldstein tells Mashable. “If I win, I have props against those friends. I beat them. I got it right.”
Available in beta version since September 2011, Blue Ox Entertainment recently ramped up the social aspect by adding the ability to sign in and find friends via Facebook. After winning a bet, the app allows users to brag about it over Twitter and Facebook. Goldstein says he believes this 'social betworking' integration is what sets SideBets apart.
“There’s no other app out there that allows friends to track their betting,” he says.
For those sports-betting savants who manage to turn their fake funds into a farcical fortune, the app contains a leader board where all users are ranked against one another. Having been downloaded more than 15,000 times, there is plenty of competition for that top spot on SideBets. If things go south, however, you can purchase more play money, for example, $100 fake dollars for $0.99 in real money.
The app allows for betting options, such as using a point spread or betting on an over/under. For large events like the Super Bowl, SideBets offers a number of propositional bets. So in the unlikely event that the Jets make the Super Bowl, you may in fact be able to bet on how many times Tim Tebow says the word 'excited' during his press conference.
With the social feature of the app in place, Goldstein and company are constantly planning future updates to the app. With a careful eye on gambling laws, Blue Ox is hoping to incentivize SideBets with various sweepstakes and prize opportunities.
While fancy prizes sound enticing, anyone who has placed a gentleman's bet knows that the satisfaction and smug smile of victory is often reward enough.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, pearleye
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Florida sports betting remains an elusive dream for proponents.
While discussions in most states take place in public legislative hearings, sports betting negotiations in Florida happen nearly entirely behind the scenes.
Any deal for sports betting in Florida must be worked out as part of a larger gambling compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe.
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Over the past two legislative sessions, leaders of the legislature and the tribe discussed a deal to restart tribal gaming payments to the state in return for permitting sports betting and other concessions for tribal casinos.
The 2020 session adjourned in March without an agreement on FL sports betting. It’s possible — though unlikely — to be included in a special session later in the year.
The future of Florida sports betting
Sports betting in Florida certainly could happen in the future. It remains illegal to wager on sports in Florida, though, for the time being.
After a deal was not reached in 2019, the Seminoles announced that they would not make their annual gaming payment of approximately $330 million to the state in 2020.
A new compact needs to be reached to restart the payment. That adds some urgency for the state to act on a deal that includes Florida sports betting.
When will online sports betting launch in Florida?
There’s reason to believe that 2021 could be the year for legalization of sports betting in the Sunshine State. The earliest sports wagers could be taken in Florida is probably 2022.
That theoretically could include the ability to wager online via mobile sports betting apps in Florida.
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Sen. Wilton Simpson has a good relationship with the Seminoles and is taking over as Senate President. He worked out a tentative agreement with the tribe in 2019 before Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to sign off on the deal.
However, DeSantis is poised to become more involved in the negotiations. He indicated that he wants to see a comprehensive gambling deal get done.
The 60-day legislative session begins in March and ends early in May. If everything finally comes together in Florida and the governor signs off on a compact, it would still need federal approval.