Latest news with #PrinceJ.Grimes
USA Today
3 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Betting companies expect customers to pay cost of Illinois' new tax
Betting companies expect customers to pay cost of Illinois' new tax Welcome to Prince's Picks, a collection of betting news, analysis and opinions from BetFTW senior writer Prince J. Grimes. Online sports betting just became more costly in Illinois -- though it remains to be seen for whom. On Saturday, state lawmakers approved a $55 billion fiscal year budget that includes a new tax for every wager made in the state. The first 20 million bets will come with a 25-cent fee per bet. Every bet after that will have a 50-cent fee. In theory, sportsbooks would just eat all or most of the cost -- with FanDuel and DraftKings shelling out the most money as the only operators taking over 20 million bets -- and bettors wouldn't notice it even exists. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the plan of these operators. The Sports Betting Alliance -- a coalition whose membership includes the two betting behemoths -- released a statement Monday calling the tax "discriminatory" and saying customers will bear the cost. The SBA even started an online petition Saturday, prefilled for signees to tell lawmakers "I work hard for my money, and it feels like lawmakers are just trying to make my life, and the things I enjoy, more expensive." With limited time to oppose the late proposal, several betting influencers and spokespeople (and The Ringer?) shared the petition with some variation of the same message. Rob Gronkowski, who works for FanDuel, went so far as to say Illinois was "trying to take away gambling." Dramatic, much? Betting isn't going anywhere. It just became a bit more pricey, though these online operators are certainly good for it. But with their stocks taking a hit Monday, the question turns to whether customers will feel the burn too. Would operators add an actual 25-cent fee to bet slips? Would they build it into odds? Would they offer fewer promotions, like what FanDuel announced in response to last year's tax hike in Illinois? The ways in which they could pass this fee to bettors are limitless -- even if unnecessary and completely optional. DraftKings even tried hitting bettors with a surcharge in high-tax states last year before reversing course. Ideally, operators wouldn't do any of the above. But having bettors pay these fees is clearly on the table based on the SBA's statement, which can be translated as "we're not taking a loss." If not them, then who? Weekend recap: Vanderbilt and Texas sent packing I'm so glad I delayed my picks for the College World Series because regional play delivered some massive upsets over the weekend. On Sunday, No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt was eliminated by Wright State and No. 2 Texas was bounced by UTSA. At +650, Vandy had the third-best odds to win the CWS. Texas was the fifth overall favorite at +1000, and with the third-highest handle percentage at BetMGM, the Longhorns were the book's second-biggest liability to win it all. This was a great result for the house, and it might not be the end. LSU (+400), UNC (+700) and Tennessee (+1200) are all looking to avoid the same fate in elimination games Monday. Where there's value for Thunder bettors I warned a week ago that the time to bet on the Oklahoma City Thunder had probably long passed, because the team's odds to win were so short that it wasn't worth it for the average bettor. That's certainly proved to be the case in the NBA Finals, where the Thunder's -700 odds at BetMGM make them one of the biggest finals favorites in NBA history. That dominance trickles down to other markets like MVP, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a massive -625 favorite. He's an even bigger -5000 favorite to lead the series in scoring. Unless you're an Indiana Pacers believer -- or have a good feeling about the length of the series -- there isn't much betting value in this finals. UNDERDOGS: Pacers have longest NBA Finals odds in 7 years However, I did find one area where Thunder fans can potentially make some money, and that's the "most rebounds" market where Chet Holmgren is a modest -125 favorite -- a decent bet for OKC's leading rebounder through the playoffs. However, the odds that caught my attention were the +550 on Isaiah Hartenstein that seem too good to be true. That's where I would be throwing my coins. Though Holmgren has nine more rebounds than any other Thunder player this postseason, the team has had a different leading rebounder in each series -- Hartenstein in the first round, Holmgren in the second round, Jalen Williams (+700) in the conference finals. So, Holmgren isn't exactly a lock. Also, it was Hartenstein, not Holmgren who led the team in rebounding in the regular season at 10.7 boards per game. Now, yes, I know, it's completely on the table for Indiana to run Hartenstein off the floor with their fast style of play. But given the way the Pacers struggled to keep Mitchell Robinson off the boards -- and considering OKC is such a huge favorite -- I'm willing to roll the dice on +550 odds that Hartenstein will play enough to be a factor. He had a game-high 13 boards in 34 minutes when the Thunder played Indiana on Dec. 26.
USA Today
22-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
The Pacers' odds before Game 1 comeback on Knicks could have made bettors so much money
The Pacers' odds before Game 1 comeback on Knicks could have made bettors so much money 99.7% win probability down the drain for the Knicks — Prince J. Grimes (@pgprincej) May 22, 2025 If you had a crystal ball to tell you the Indiana Pacers would find a way to overcome a nine-point deficit in the final minute of the fourth quarter of Game 1 against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, you'd be rolling in dough right now. Not only were the Pacers 4.5-point underdogs entering the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, their odds grew to as long as +4000 at DraftKings as the Knicks built leads as large as 17 points midway through the fourth quarter and 14 points with under three minutes left -- at which point their win probability grew to 99.7%, according to ESPN Analytics. A bet on Indiana at that point would have been ill-advised, but Aaron Nesmith catching fire and Tyrese Haliburton being captain clutch would have made a winner out of anyone bold enough to take that swing. Just a $10 bet on the Pacers at those odds would have won $400. Unfortunately, a DraftKings spokesperson said there were no notable Indiana bets to share.
USA Today
14-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
The NBA's Eastern Conference is more wide open than we thought -- this year and going forward
The NBA's Eastern Conference is more wide open than we thought -- this year and going forward Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes. I owe the Indiana Pacers an apology. About a week ago, I more or less called them frauds, saying they weren't a real threat to win the East. Though I gave them a solid chance of advancing past the Cleveland Cavaliers, I didn't like their prospects after that. Boy, was I wrong. Not only can the Pacers win the East, so can the New York Knicks. Obviously, the sudden dire circumstances of the Boston Celtics help. Not only is Boston facing elimination, down 3-1 to the Knicks, they also lost Jayson Tatum to a torn Achilles. They're no longer the threat they once were, and judging by the way that series was going, I'm not so sure they were going very far even at full strength. The defending champs just weren't as dangerous as a lot of us thought they were. If the Knicks didn't finish them off, the Pacers probably would have. Now, New York's task gets a bit easier with Tatum out, and I fully expect the Knicks to prevail -- even if it isn't in tonight's Game 5 as 4.5-point underdogs. Eventually, they should win, which will set up a very nostalgic conference finals between the Knicks and Pacers. The winner of that series will have a very unexpected opportunity to win a title in what was shaping up to be another Celtics dynasty era. THANKFUL: Tatum shared a heart-warming message from the hospital Looking forward to next season, Tatum's injury leaves the Eastern Conference completely wide open. Maybe as wide open as it's been since LeBron James' first stint in Cleveland. Assuming the Pacers, Knicks and Cavs keep their cores together, they'll all remain strong contenders. As long as the Celtics return all or some of their remaining stars -- Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis -- they'll be in the mix too. Teams like the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons should be better as well. But none of those teams are head and shoulders above the others, which should make for a very Western Conference-like playoff race in the East next year. The caliber of teams aren't quite as good, but they'll be relatively close in competition, which hasn't always been the case during Boston's recent run and the run of James in Cleveland and Miami before that. You hate to see a player like Tatum go down with any kind of injury, let alone something so devastating in the middle of his prime. Especially if you're a fan of the Celtics who, win or lose, usually retool and come back better the next year. Without Tatum, though, that retooling won't quite look the same. For fans of any other team in the conference, his injury just created an opportunity that hasn't been there in a really long time. YOU GOT THAT RIGHT: Donovan Mitchell thinks everyone will write off the Cavs Steph Curry is aiming for Game 6... if the Warriors survive After suffering a strained hamstring in Game 1 of Golden State's series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Stephen Curry was cleared for shooting drills and on-court workouts Wednesday -- but he's not ready to return for Game 5. He'll be reevaluated on Saturday. If the Warriors survive Wednesday night, Curry would have a chance to play in Game 6 on Sunday with three days between games, but that's a big if. The Warriors are 10.5 point road dogs for Game 5. They're going to have to dig deep to steal one from the Wolves. Even if Curry does get a chance to return, this series is likely over regardless. The Warriors would be down 3-2 going into Game 6 and Curry wouldn't be 100%. It's hard to see the Minnesota losing three straight under those circumstances. FINED: Draymond Green blew $50K behind the Game 3 spread Shootaround
USA Today
12-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
The Thunder don't scare anyone. Only the playoffs can change that.
The Thunder don't scare anyone. Only the playoffs can change that. Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes. The Boston Celtics host the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight in what can only be described as a potential preview of the NBA Finals. It'll be an incomplete preview with Jalen Williams out with a hip strain and other key players on the injury report, but a preview nonetheless. These are two of the top three teams in the NBA by record. The reigning champions against the likely back-to-back Western Conference No. 1 seed. The Cleveland Cavaliers and others will have a say in how things ultimately shake out, but as it stand today, Boston and OKC are the two favorites to win the NBA Finals. The Celtics hold leading +220 odds at BetMGM. The Thunder are second at +225. However, even as the Celtics trail the Thunder in the wins column, they have something OKC doesn't, and I'm not just talking about the hardware they earned last year. No. Not the Larry O, the rings that came with it, or the gold medals their trio of Olympians brought back to the states last summer. The thing I'm talking about is intangible. It's a fear factor. Outside of maybe the Cavs, I can't imagine many teams are clamoring to play the Celtics if they can avoid it. And that was probably more so the case in 2024 before the Celtics even won anything. The Thunder, though, aren't commanding that same kind of respect. At least that's what ESPN's Brian Windhorst had to say Wednesday on First Take. "I'm not even arguing that they are a lock or that they're one of the great teams of the last decade, but my God is there an incredible amount of disrespect for this team," Windhorst said. "And Mad Dog, it's not just you. I hear it everyday. I hear it implicitly from other people I talk to in the league. I hear it implicitly from players out there who are like, 'Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine on the same side of the bracket as OKC.' They just don't respect them." That is a wild thing to hear about a team trending towards more than 60 wins -- especially when that team led the conference in wins the previous year too. Six of the last eight teams to clinch the No. 1 seed in back-to-back years made it to the finals ('20 Bucks, '17 Warriors, '16 Warriors, '12 Spurs, '10 Lakers, '09 Lakers), and five of those teams won it. The only two that didn't make it were the '12 Bulls, who lost Derrick Rose to a torn ACL, and the '10 Cavaliers. Generally, these are the type of teams you avoid if possible. Now, look, I get it. The Thunder are young. The youngest team in the entire NBA, in fact. You aren't going to find many world-class athletes afraid to play anyone, much less a team of players under 25. And the Thunder haven't won anything, unlike the Denver Nuggets behind them at No. 2 led by three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Or four-time champion LeBron James, with his Los Angeles Lakers sitting at No. 3 and rejuvenated by the arrival of Luka Doncic. Heck, I've been guilty of dismissing the Thunder myself while heaping praise upon the Lakers in a recent recording of For The Hoops. That said, if there's one team in the West to avoid, it would be the Thunder. They're the most complete team from top to bottom. They defend like crazy, sporting the league's best defensive rating in more than five years, and they're top five in offense too. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the likely scoring champion and league MVP. Not to mention, they're no longer new here -- last year's second-round playoff loss should have lit a fire under them. Their 53-12 record seems to confirm it did. Which means if you don't respect the Thunder by now, you probably won't... until they win something. That's the last thing for the Thunder to do. Take the respect that wasn't given. And that can't be done in the regular season. A win over the Celtics in March won't help. Until they go on a deep playoff run, they'll be the fun team of youngsters nobody takes seriously. Shaq only pretends to watch the Pistons Speaking of fun, young teams, the Detroit Pistons qualify as such this year amid an incredible turnaround from worst team in the NBA last season to a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference. Just don't take Shaquille O'Neal's word for it. Shaq got exposed giving out false facts about Detroit on two separate occasions before finally admitting last night on Inside the NBA "I don't watch them." Yeah, Shaq, we kinda figured that when you called Chauncey Billups their coach. Everybody slips up, but that's not what happened here. My colleague Bryan Kalbroksy wrote about why it was so frustrating to see: "Fans shouldn't expect O'Neal to know every single thing about the NBA. But they deserve a bit better than someone who can't even identify J.B. Bickerstaff, who currently has the second-best odds (+600) to win NBA Coach of the Year in 2025. This was really frustrating to watch from Shaq, because he is actively using his platform to tell people the Pistons are boring when in fact he essentially knows nothing about them. That sort of energy spreads around the league in a dangerous way, where others may parrot his baseless takes that are rooted in nothingness." Shootaround
USA Today
19-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
7 NBA bets for the second half of the season, including award winners and playoff futures
7 NBA bets for the second half of the season, including award winners and playoff futures Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes. As the NBA season resumes Wednesday night -- with a rescheduled game between the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Lakers -- there still aren't many things we can declare with certainty about how they might unfold. Hornets-Lakers: How the Mark Williams-Dalton Knecht deal fell apart I feel comfortable saying the Oklahoma City Thunder are the best team in the league, but that's about it. Everything else remains a mystery, and that isn't a bad thing! There's a ton of intrigue about how the season will turn out. That uncertainty is reflected in betting odds. Outcomes that feel like real possibilities in markets like award winners and team futures still hold a ton of value, if for no other reason than there being a slightly stronger option in the present. But with two months and roughly 30 games remaining on the schedule for each team, there's still a lot of time for those markets to change. So, let's try predicting which ones might do that. These are my favorite bets as the second half gets underway, with odds from BetMGM. Stephon Castle to win Rookie of the Year (+125) This is the only bet on the list where I'm picking the favorite. That's because the ROY race has been so wide-open that Castle still holds real value. He's the only award leader with plus odds. However, his production continues to increase each month and should only continue improving with De'Aaron Fox around to make life easier, especially after an active and confidence-building All-Star weekend for the rookie. Rockets to win the Southwest Division (+150) A 2-7 stretch of basketball entering the break dropped Houston to fourth in the West and second in the Southwest -- 2.5 games behind Memphis. But the two wins came in Houston's last three games, so they're trending in the right direction. And having the NBA's 10th-easiest remaining schedule should help them continue tracking the Grizzlies, who have the fourth-hardest remaining schedule, per Tankathon. 76ers to make the playoffs (+260) The Sixers wouldn't even make the play-in tournament if the season ended today, so that's why these odds are so long. Thankfully, it doesn't, and they only have 1.5 games to make up on the Bulls to change that. If Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey are all playing -- which they are for now -- I'll take Philadelphia's chances to make the playoffs over other potential play-in teams like the Hawks and Heat. Nikola Jokic to win MVP (+300) Jokic is a firm but distant runner-up in MVP odds to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at -500, but expect this race to tighten a lot more if Jokic continues on the same path he was on going into the All-Star break. The reigning MVP is averaging a 30-point triple-double in the month of February, and more importantly, the Nuggets are the league's hottest team, riding an eight-game winning streak into the second half of the season. Happy 30th! Nikola Jokic's resume is absurd Cavaliers to win the NBA Finals (+800) Do I think the Cavs are actually going to win the finals? No. But I do think these odds are going to shorten a lot more before the season is over. Just think about it. Cleveland is tied with OKC for the league's best record, yet OKC and Boston have significantly better title odds at +225. Buying the Cavs at these odds should net a buyout profit at the very least if they continue winning at a league-best clip. Grizzlies to win the Western Conference (+1100) Here's another bet worth making for the potential of these odds to shorten significantly rather than it actually happening -- because let's be real, it'd be a complete shock to see the Grizzlies make it out the West. At the same time, they have the conference's second-best record and only the fourth-best odds, behind the Thunder (+105), Nuggets (+650) and Lakers (+700). Those odds should be much tighter considering OKC is the only team in the conference with a better net rating than Memphis. J.B. Bickerstaff to win Coach of the Year (+1600) Funny enough, my longest-shot bet of this list might be the one I have the strongest feelings about, because these odds are absurd to me. Kenny Atkinson is a massive favorite right now at -700, and certainly deserving of consideration, but in no way am I more impressed with the job he's doing in Cleveland than I am with the job Cleveland's old coach is doing in Detroit. The Pistons were the worst team in the NBA last season, and J.B. Bickerstaff has them sitting in a playoff spot. If they maintain a top-six seed through the end of the year, he's easily my Coach of the Year. Shootaround -- Q&A: Ausar Thompson explains why he's the NBA's best perimeter defender -- Kevin Durant getting choked up about basketball is what sports are all about -- A wobbly Nikola Jokic was delighted to hear Anthony Edwards' blunt assessment of USA vs. Serbia -- J.J. Redick trashed the NBA All-Star festivities with a NSFW response
