The Jungle Empire

How to play The Jungle Empire

The comment period opened shortly after several members of a Senate subcommittee alluded to the rise of prediction markets and the subsequent risk of a spike in harassment cases at a May federal sports betting hearing. The hearing, commenced by a US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee, was held at the Russell Senate Building during the heart of the NBA and NHL Playoffs.

Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, also co-authored the aforementioned Protect College Sports Act with Washington Senator Maria Cantwell. As cloture motion for floor debate of the act began this week, Cruz has expressed optimism that the bill will be signed into law.

The proposed bill seeks to prevent student-athletes from trading on prediction markets, but does not set any explicit standards on player harassment.

How to play The Jungle Empire

That is because trading on prediction markets is illegal down under, according to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the nation’s regulator on financial services. Last month, in perhaps the ASIC’s strongest warnings yet against the asset class, the commission reiterated that prediction markets are not licensed as financial markets to operate in Australia. Through the guidance, the regulator urged consumers to exercise caution before partaking in certain investments on offshore platforms which have not obtained licensing nationwide.

The advisory could be music to the ears of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, whose league has pushed a federal derivatives regulator in the US to enact more rigorous standards to help protect the integrity of professional sports. Ahead of the matchup, Goodell spoke with CNBC from Melbourne.

“We think there needs to be stronger regulations into the predictive markets,” he said. “We want to see that to protect the integrity of our game – we want to make sure we are protecting the consumers that are on those platforms.”

How to play The Jungle Empire

Commercial confidentiality prevents Wilson from attaching individual numbers to those partnerships, but he is unequivocal about the jackpot engine’s record. “Every operator or brand that’s launched our jackpot engine has seen an immediate lift in GGR,” he says.

That impact, he argues, comes from preparation as much as product. Splash Tech works with partners to establish expectations and benchmark performance against relevant KPIs before launch. On the free-to-play side, the picture is similarly collaborative rather than automatic.

“Wherever there is investment from the operator or the platform in properly investing in the infrastructure needed to maximise the output of the product, we have seen great returns, ROI, on that investment,” Wilson says.