Wild Lava

About Wild Lava

Sports betting is billed by the gaming industry as a form of entertainment, but for a growing proportion of the betting public, covering the spread is key to covering the rent.

A new survey from U.S. News is sounding the alarm over Americans increasingly turning to high-risk endeavors, including sports betting, to help make ends meet and pay their monthly household bills.

U.S. News surveyed 1,200 Americans who placed a sports wager within the last 12 months. The media organization found that more than half of respondents (51%) placed a sports bet to help pay household bills, while 21% wagered specifically to cover their rent or mortgage payment.

What is Wild Lava?

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) agrees, continuing to defend its claimed “exclusive jurisdiction” over sports prediction markets in federal and state courts across the nation.

The legal wrangling extends to Michigan, where Attorney General Dana Nessel has rejected Polymarket and the CFTC’s arguments that the Michigan Gaming Control Board has no regulatory authority over prediction markets, even the ones allowing traders to buy and sell shares of sports outcomes.

Since returning its prediction market to the US, Polymarket has regularly engaged in nonconforming advertising. Painting a water tower in the company’s blue and branding the structure with its logo is the firm’s latest marketing ploy.

What is Wild Lava?

“At the end of the day, this is not about revenue. This is about channelization,” Nally added. “How much of that black market can we channelize into the legal, regulated market?”

According to Nally, approximately 70% of online gambling in Alberta occurred through unregulated operators prior to the July 13 launch, with the remaining 30% flowing through Play Alberta, the province’s sole legal platform at the time.

As of Sept. 17, 31 licensed iGaming operators are officially live and accepting wagers across the province.