EndGame: RG Savings Accounts, Sports Betting and Integrity

The U.S. sports betting world moves quickly and unpredictably in 2026. In order to properly take stock of it all, we offer InGame’s “EndGame,” an end-of-week compilation of the top storylines, some overlooked items, and all the other news bits from this past week that we found interesting.

Sports betting savings accounts

GuardDog, a fund run by fantasy sports platform Underdog that provides capital and mentorship to foster responsible-gaming technology, Wednesday announced an investment in a company called Regen, which has developed a new RG tool.

Regen’s tool allows users to link their sportsbook, fantasy sports, and prediction market accounts to a dedicated savings account. It then automatically allocates a percentage of a sports bettors gambling activity — wagers, wins, losses, or all three — to go into savings. Per Regen’s website, the savings are transferred to an FDIC-insured e-wallet opened for each user with Regen’s banking partner and users will soon have more choices: ETFs, Robo Advisor funds, and IRAs.

Underdog will integrate Regen as a resource into its responsible-play hub and promote it as a way for bettors to shift their gambling focus from just trying to limit losses — without changing how they play.

TN’s only indie sportsbook done

The Nashville Post reported Sunday that Tennessee sports betting company Action 24/7 ceased operations on Jan. 16. Tina Hodges, founder and president of Action 24/7, Tennessee’s only locally owned and operated licensed sportsbook, said in a release, “Despite our very best efforts and dedication, the current landscape for state-licensed online sports gambling in the United States has proven to be unviable and unprofitable.”

Action 24/7 had been embroiled in legal disputes with the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TEL) and its Sports Wagering Advisory Council from the very start. Shortly after the sportsbook launched in early 2021, TEL suspended the company’s license, accusing it of “potential money laundering and suspected credit card fraud.” Action 24/7 countersued, claiming a lack of due process, and the court reinstated its license.

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But the damage was done and, apparently, the writing was on the wall for the company.

OCCC proposes change to online KYC

The Ohio Casino Commission late last week began circulating a third version of a rule change that would allow online operators to approve government-issued identification digitally only. The current rule allows operators to approve IDs in person. Under the proposed rule, operators would be required to compare identification to a live photo. Operators who approved IDs in person would be required to revisit the process and complete an online verification within six months of the rule going into effect.

The public comment period for this proposal ended Thursday, and the OCCC will review comments and either circulate new proposed language or move the proposal to the commission agenda for a vote.

Jill R. Dorson

Florida adds DFS, prediction options

Both DraftKings and PrizePicks quietly expanded their gambling footprints this week — following the lead of FanDuel last week — including key states such as California, Florida and Texas. DraftKings debuted its peer-to-peer daily fantasy sports app, Pick6, in Florida, while PrizePicks boosted its reach of PrizePick Predictions from 30 to 48 states. PrizePicks is offering sports event contracts in 30 of those states, including Florida.

Both companies alerted customers with daily fantasy sports accounts about the expansion via email.
PrizePicks offers its prediction market in a partnership with Kalshi and Polymarket.

Legal sports betting in Florida is conducted exclusively by the Seminole tribe through a compact with the state.

Brant James

Poll: Half suspicious of sports betting

The continued expansion of sports betting products and platforms and the growing number of sports betting scandals are having a deleterious effect on public trust, though more people than ever are wagering on games.

An IPSOS poll released on Jan. 14 reveals that nearly half of Americans harbor reservations about the effects of betting on the integrity of sporting events. Conducted in November with 1,024 respondents, the poll found that 49% of Americans believe sports betting lessens the integrity of the game, up from from 37% in 2023. In addition, 55% of self-identified sports fans say betting damages competition. Roughly 47% are concerned that games are rigged due to sports betting; 51% of sports fans agree.

Nearly half of respondents (48% general, 51% sports fans) somewhat or strongly agree that sports betting advertisements should be banned during games.

At the same time, 17% of those surveyed had placed an “official” (online, on an app, or in person at a sportsbook) bet on a game in 2025, more than double the 8% who had in 2022 and up 4% since 2024.

"Sports betting is no longer a niche issue. Both sports fans and Americans in general are concerned about its impact on the integrity of games, and many want related ads to be banned during games."
https://t.co/RqVhWGYMvt pic.twitter.com/iTusARN3XU
— Moms Against Gambling (@NOGamblinginGA) January 20, 2026

Academic: NCAA should act ‘boldly, quickly’

In a long analysis of “college sports’ major gambling problem” posted Sunday, a college-sports-management academic suggests two fixes. Noah Henderson, director of the Sport Management Program at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, recommends that, first, the NCAA underscore its message to college athletes: “If you fix games — if you fix anything — it is a near certainty that you will get caught.”

Second, authorities need to “act boldly and quickly” with updated and compelling regulation. Otherwise, the problem, as exposed by the recent federal indictment of 39 current and former college athletes in a game-fixing scheme, “could get worse before [it] gets better.”

Americans cloak web use, but not to bet

Americans continue to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent restrictions on certain websites, but gambling sites aren’t high among them, according to a new study by PasswordManager.com.

A survey of 2,706 adults surmises that 36% of Americans use VPNs. Of those respondents, 65% say they’re trying to avoid advertisers or data brokers, and 47% say they’re trying to keep information private from their service provider. Just 28% said they used them to access gambling or sports betting sites. Most sportsbooks in the United States block access if a user is utilizing a VPN.

Brant James

Legendary bookie’s new book

One of the best-known names in the Nevada bookmaking business, Art Manteris, published his memoir, The Bookie. Released on Jan. 13, it’s been a No. 1 bestseller in the entertainment category on Amazon ever since. Manteris, also the author of SuperBookie (1991), retired a couple of years ago and is now free to say what he really thinks.

Manteris’ 40-year career began at the Stardust in Las Vegas under the regime of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, where he booked bets from crazed gangsters who weren’t allowed to lose and handled wads of cash in paper bags for the Mafia bosses. He moved on to the Las Vegas Hilton (now Westgate), helping to open the SuperBook, the largest sportsbook in the world at the time. Along the way, he rubbed shoulders with Hollywood celebrities, sports legends, CEOs, a future U.S. president, and infamous sharp bettors; with one of those, Billy Walters, he had an intense decades-long rivalry.

It’s not often the public gets a peek behind the counter of a sportsbook (Chris Andrews, another longtime Nevada bookie who wrote two such books, Then One Day … and Then One Year …, is Manteris’ cousin), but this is as good a look as one will get.

Odds and ends

Less than a month after FanDuel launched its prediction market platform in the U.S., it was live in all 50 states. FanDuel Predicts debuted on Dec. 22, 2025 in five states, and by mid-January had expanded into another 13 states, including the three crown jewels, Florida, Texas, and California. Of the other 32 states, FanDuel is licensed for sports betting in 23, thus limits trading on FanDuel Predicts to finance, economic, and commodities contracts.
BetMGM Tuesday announced a multi-year agreement as a sportsbook partner of theNHL St. Louis Blues. BetMGM has been live in Missouri since Jan. 1, when the state regulator launched legal sports betting and is partnered with Century Casinos for market access.
British sports streaming and entertainment platform DAZN Tuesday announced a partnership with Polymarket. In the release, DAZN wrote that it will apply for a Commodity Futures Trading Commission license with plans to offer a prediction platform in the U.S. The company plans to immediately integrate Polymarket data onto its live sports broadcasts.