Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
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Virginia Lottery
 
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Virginia Lottery Board
 
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9/2/20  3:32 pm
Commenter: Penn National Gaming, Inc., and Penn Interactive

PIV Comments/Suggested Edits - 11 VAC 5-80 - 20, 30, 50, 70
 

11 VAC 5-80-20 Sports bettors’ bill of rights

  1. A permit holder shall publish prominently on its platform the Virginia Sports Bettors’ Bill of Rights in the form established and made available by the Department on its website.[1]

[1] We recommend providing the Sports Bettors Bill of Rights via a link on the platform accessible to patrons linking them to the VA Lottery website.

 

C. A permit holder’s platform site must provide substantial and readily available information to enable players to make informed decisions about their gambling, including:

  1. With regard to any sports bet, prominent publication of, at a minimum:
    1. The handle of the bet;
    2. The odds of winning the bet and the information used to calculate those odds; and

3. The payout amounts and a schedule of payouts.

  1. Information on play (e.g., player feedback); and
  2. Designated player information or support services regarding play management tools.[1]

 

[1] We respectfully recommend removing this Section. While the odds will be displayed for sports wagering, the remaining information is outside of industry standard and it is unclear if it is above what’s included in the player’s transactional history, inclusive of previous wagers and amount of those wagers. 

 

 

11 VAC 5-80-30 Consumer complaints

 

  1. A permit holder shall develop and prominently publish procedures by which a sports bettor may file a complaint with the permit holder in person, in writing, online, or by other means about any aspect of the sports betting program.[1]

 

  1. A permit holder shall respond to any such complaint in writing, via email or live chat, within 15 days of the filing of the complaint. If a sports bettor requests relief in a complaint, and the requested relief or part thereof will not be granted, the response to the complaint shall state with specificity the reasons for the denial of relief.[2]

[1] Each patron is required to agree to Terms and Conditions prior to registering for the application.  Would suggest this be sufficient for purposes of meeting the intent of this rule as “published”.

[2]  Most Customer Service Teams for online sports wagering will communicate with patrons through a software chat platform pursuant to industry standards.

 

 

11 VAC 5-80-50 Underage betting

 

  1. A permit holder shall implement age-verification procedures to verify that no sports bet is placed by or on behalf of an individual under the age of 21. Procedures for verifying an individual’s age that satisfy this requirement include:[1]

 

    1. Providing a verification form to be signed by the individual and returned to the permit holder by postal mail, facsimile, or electronic scan;

 

    1. Requiring the individual, in connection with a monetary transaction, to use a credit card, debit card, or other online payment system that provides notification of each discrete transaction to the primary account holder;

 

    1. Having the individual call a toll-free telephone number staffed by trained personnel;

 

    1. Having the individual contact trained personnel via video conferencing technology; or

 

    1. Checking a form of government-issued identification provided by the individual against databases of such information, provided that the individual's identification is deleted from the permit holder's records promptly after the verification procedure is complete.[2]

B. A permit holder shall promptly refund any money wagered by or on behalf of a minor. A permit holder may withhold and, if practicable and as approved by the Department, redistribute to other winners any prize won by a minor upon a good faith determination, following reasonable investigation, that the minor misrepresented his age in order to place a sports bet.

C. A permit holder shall make available, prominently publish, and facilitate parental control procedures to allow parents or guardians to exclude minors from access to any sports betting platform.[3]

[1] We recommend more contemporary and up to date age-verification procedures which include use of a licensed third party Know Your Customer (KYC) vendor which using the information provided by the patron, checks public records to ensure the information provided is accurate and the patron is 21+. This is all done online through the sports wagering platform registration process.

[2] We recommend maintaining manual verification documents in a secure manner as prescribed by the VA Lottery as these may be required for Suspicious Activity Reporting or Fraud Reporting, if needed at a later date.

[3] Sign in procedures to the app will include protections that limit the ability for a minor to access the platform.  However, in addition we will provide links to parental controls that are accessible on different devices.

 

 

11 VAC 5-80-70 Excluded individuals

  1.  permit holder shall take such actions and establish such procedures as may be necessary to identify and report to the Department any activity prohibited by Article 2, Chapter 40 (§ 58.1- 4041) of Title 58.1 of the Code of Virginia. Such actions and procedures include, but are not limited to:
    1. Making known to all affected individuals and corporate entities the prohibition against disclosure of proprietary or nonpublic information that may affect sports betting or the outcome of sports betting to any individual permitted to participate in sports betting; and
    2. Making commercially reasonable efforts to obtain lists of individuals prohibited by the sports betting law from participating in sports betting for the purpose of monitoring for and excluding such individuals from platforms operated by the permit holder.[1]
    3.  

[1] We are unaware of any Sports Governing Body providing any such lists to operators in any other state. In order for any operator to have the ability to block these patrons with full confidence, permit holders would need more than a first and last name, as there could be multiple people named “Alex Smith”, for example, who could register. Instead, these lists would need to include PII to identify these persons with the utmost accuracy.

CommentID: 84395