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More than a year after then-Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers faced menacing threats from an exasperated bettor, questions remain about whether the proposed bans will serve as a meaningful deterrent to agitated sportsbook customers. An investigation later determined that the bettor resided overseas.
Since the Supreme Court’s PASPA decision in 2018, there has been an uptick on harassment against athletes from bettors. The collection of incidents, in the view of the industry, is typically construed as both troubling and prevalent. Against a backdrop of alarming threats in numerous sports, perhaps the most disconcerting occurred at the hands of Benjamin “Parlay” Patz, a California bettor.
Approximately 15 months after the high court’s ruling, Patz sent a series of explicit messages to four members of MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, threatening to “sever” their necks open. Accused by federal investigators of targeting more than 300 accounts of pro and college athletes, Patz pleaded guilty in 2021 to transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce. Although a judge ordered Patz to undergo mental health treatment and abstain from gambling, he did not sentence the bettor to prison.
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More relevant to DraftKings is the fact that under his leadership, the patent office has moved to significantly limit access to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) – the very board to which the gaming company is appealing in an effort to have the Cantor patent annulled.
Both Squires and his predecessor, Coke Morgan Stewart, made it harder for filers to get in front of the PTAB, typically citing patent ages or court rulings.
In April, Interactive Games LLC, a unit of Cantor, sued DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel, alleging the two largest domestic online sportsbook operators infringed on its patents. That suit arrived a decade after Interactive Games brought similar litigation against the sports wagering giants, which was challenged by both companies.
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Lead reporter Rebecca Liggero Fontana for taking me under her wing. You won’t meet a more generous soul than Becky. She shares this unbridled passion for the casino and tech space, that is just contagious and I’m glad I got to experience that unabashed joy for the gambling industry.
I want to thank Derek Tonin, my editor who I would speak with every day I worked at Calvinayre.com. I’m grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with Derek. He’s an editor who doesn’t shy away from the blunt criticism and its inspiring being on the other end of the call. He’s a guy you would want in the foxhole right next to you, someone who isn’t afraid to give the blunt truth and also celebrate the wins with you.
There’s a huge team of writers, video editors and IT developers who have made Calvinayre.com this huge success. Raise a glass to them, they have helped turn this site into the success that it is.
