How an Arizona Lobbying Frenzy Helped Sports App Bookies Write Their Own Rules
Industry promises of state tax revenue from online betting often fall short
Customers line up at Phoenix’s Chase Field in September 2021 to try temporary sports betting windows, a partnership of The Arizona Diamondbacks and Caesars Entertainment Inc.
Photographer: Ross D. Franklin/APThe National Football League opener was less than 90 days away, which meant Warren Nichols, an assistant director at the Arizona Department of Gaming, had to act fast. The state’s lawmakers had approved online sports betting as an emergency measure, normally reserved for legislation deemed “necessary to preserve the public peace, health or safety.” The designation exempted gaming regulators from the usual rule-making timeline requiring extensive notice to the public.
So it was that in June 2021, Nichols hosted 92 people — lobbyists, gambling company executives and representatives of professional sports franchises among them — for a kind of group editing session of the department’s first draft of the new regulations. Over the next hour and a half, he encouraged them to keep firing away with suggested edits. “You will see significant changes to the rules based off the feedback we expect to get today,” Nichols said during the virtual meeting.