Wyoming Gaming Rep: Number of Limited Sports Betting Customers Smaller Than Initially Reported

• A special agent supervisor for the Wyoming Gaming Commission gave some clarifying answers to limiting data released last week
• The agent noted the number of limited Wyoming sports betting customers was closer to 0.01%
• Initial reports showed less than 1% of Wyoming sports betting customers were limited by licensed operators

A special agent supervisor for the Wyoming Gaming Commission reported to Sports Betting Dime today that operator data shows the total number of limited Wyoming sports betting customers may be even smaller than initially reported.

Michael Steinberg, deputy director, special agent supervisor of gaming compliance for the Wyoming Gaming Commission, last week released the initial findings of a report on sports betting limiting practices to the Wyoming Gaming Commission. According to data provided by the five licensed sports betting operators, Steinberg initially reported less than 1% of all Wyoming sports bettors were limited in some way.

However, the actual number of limited sports betting customers for each operator’s Wyoming customer base was “generally closer to 0.01%”, he told Sports Betting Dime.

Specific Wyoming Sports Betting Data Not Provided

Steinberg today responded to an email from Sports Betting Dime requesting the specific number of Wyoming sports betting customers who were limited by the five licensed sports betting operators in the state.

While Steinberg could not provide specific data points – as much of it is proprietary to the operators and contained sensitive/private information about Wyoming citizens – he did tell Sports Betting Dime the number of Wyoming sports betting customers for each operator was closer to 0.01% of their total individual markets.

“It would be hard for me to give you a better number than ‘less than 1%’ of Wyoming patrons being limited because of the cross referencing required for each operator to see if someone is limited across multiple platforms. What I can say for certain is that each operator’s data showed less than 1% of their total Wyoming customers had been limited and the number was generally closer to 0.01%. Since they varied a little, but were all well below 1%, that’s what I used,” Steinberg wrote in an email.

The same, he noted, can be said about limiting percentages for specific users. There is a wide range of limiting percentages for users, he said, but most were “not extremely low.” Some patrons were limited the same for all markets across the board, while others were limited on just a specific sport.

Steinberg did not comment on claims from Wyoming sports betting customers who professed they are limited to far below what was included in the report, as he has not seen any specific betting slips from customers.

Prior to the debut of the report, Steinberg said no complaints from sports betting customers on limiting had ever been submitted to the Wyoming Gaming Commission office. Since the report, Steinberg said the office has received exactly one complaint.

“We are going to continue to monitor limiting moving forward. This was not a one-time look, we will periodically monitor to see if things change or if anything concerning develops,” he wrote.  

Wyoming Gaming Commission Unconcerned With Limiting

In his initial presentation to the Wyoming Gaming Commission last week, Steinberg said his staff does “not see a problem in Wyoming with the limiting of sports wagering.” Of the small percentage of customers who are limited, he said the limits were typically a $500 or $1,000 maximum on a market, not “pennies” as some sources had claimed.

Steinberg noted that all licensed Wyoming sports betting operators provided the commission with the necessary data it requested. FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, and Fanatics Sportsbook all hold licenses in the state.

In the evaluation, Steinberg said the vast majority of customers who have limitations on their accounts were due to operators believing the patron was involved in some form of “cheating.”

“Most of the reasonings for limiting a patron revolve around the patron ‘cheating’ in some manner. Cheating by placing prop bets while at a live event, ahead of the televised feed, beating the sportsbooks ability to remove the bet once the prop has been completed. Cheating by grouping up with other bettors to manipulate a line at one sportsbook in order to change the line at another. Cheating by creating multiple accounts to take advantage of special incentives. There are several more examples,” Steinberg wrote in his evaluation.

Steinberg said the only concerning limitation practice to the staff is when an operator limits a patron for finding errors in making odds and taking advantage of those errors. However, of the 1% of customers who are limited, only 10% of that group is limited due to this practice.