California Becomes The NCAA’s Latest Public Enemy No. 1
Just days after the NCAA lost a crucial legal battle, it may need to pony up some more funds for another one. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the California athletes pay bill and in doing so, set himself up for a possible legal challenge from the NCAA.
The new law, the California Fair Pay to Play Act, doesn’t take effect until 2023. The NCAA likely won’t wait that long to take Newsom to court over it, however.
Why the NCAA urged Newsom not to sign the California athletes pay bill
Before Newsom put pen to paper, the NCAA made its position on the bill clear. In the NCAA’s opinion, it would give its members in the Golden State an unfair advantage.
Because of that, the NCAA stated, it would rule California colleges and universities ineligible for championship events. There are differing opinions on whether the NCAA could do so, however. That could be grounds for the affected institutions to bring an antitrust claim against the NCAA.
The NCAA might be the first to the courthouse, however. This isn’t the first time that state governments have attempted to regulate the NCAA.
In the early 1990s, several states including Nevada tried to force the NCAA to change its policies involving its internal investigations into rules infractions. The NCAA sued then-Nevada governor Bill Miller, arguing the state had no authority to enforce its law because the NCAA was active in multiple states. Federal courts agreed with the NCAA’s interpretation of the dormant commerce clause.
That’s precedent the NCAA is likely to use in a similar argument against Newsom. It may not prove as successful this time around, however, because the circumstances are quite different.
What’s in the new California law regarding college athletes
It’s important to note that the new law does not require California colleges and universities to pay their athletes directly. It also does not apply to community/junior colleges in the state.
The law does, starting in 2023, ban any of the state’s colleges or universities punishing an athlete for receiving compensation for the use of her/his image, name and/or likeness. The NCAA and any athletic conference the colleges/universities belong to would similarly not be able to do the same.
The law does bar athletes from signing endorsement deals that would conflict with similar deals in place with the athletic departments. For instance, an athlete at UCLA would be unable to sign a deal with Nike, as UCLA has an existing contract with Under Armour.
Other than that, athletes in California will be able to profit off their NIL rights. It’s something the NCAA will fight. Their recent track record doesn’t bode well, however.
Recent court losses for the NCAA in multiple states
In a California courtroom earlier this year, the NCAA “lost” Alston v. NCAA. The presiding federal judge ruled that the NCAA is in violation of federal antitrust laws by capping athletes compensation.
Her ruling didn’t actually impact the NCAA’s status quo much, however. That softened the blow for the NCAA but the NCAA appealed the ruling nonetheless.
Another ruling against the NCAA could actually have a bite worse than its bark, however. A group of appellate judges reversed a lower court decision that puts the NCAA and professional leagues like the NFL on the hook for millions of dollars.
If the ruling stands upon possible further appeal, the NCAA is one party that will have to reimburse gaming operators in New Jersey for losses suffered while the NCAA and the leagues fought to enforce the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. That likely decreases the NCAA’s enthusiasm about the Garden State.
The new law in California could represent another loss for the NCAA. The list of states that the NCAA is at odds with seems to be growing.
Earn A Piece of $10,000 In This Week’s Virgin Casino Slapshot Sharepot
October is the month when you can enjoy all four major professional sports at once. In fact, Wed., Oct. 2 marks the start of the 2019 NHL season.
Here in New Jersey, if you’re so inclined, you can bet on these games, and you don’t even have to leave home, as 16 NJ gambling websites currently offer that option. But whether you’re a hockey fan or not, if you’re a Virgin Casino player, you’ll be a fan of the Slapshot Sharepot that the casino is offering this week.
Fun, exciting, easy to enter, and everybody’s a winner
Think back to the many times you entered a drawing at a NJ online casino, imagining yourself the lucky winner of a vacation getaway, car, or cash, only to walk away empty-handed. Virgin Casino Sharepots are a different and fairer way to earn rewards for your play. Instead of you and hundreds of other players all hoping for the luck of the draw, everybody who participates gets something extra.
I won’t lie and tell you that your Sharepot prize is going to be spectacular. But as long as you meet the very reasonable requirements for entering, you’re in the Sharepot, which means you’re guaranteed to win a piece of it. No deposit is required. Simply play your favorite Virgin Casino games, as usual, and wager at least $50 on at least one qualifying day.
The number of tickets you earn based on your play during the promotion period will determine what your share of the Sharepot will be. So if you play more than the minimum, you will earn more tickets and receive a bigger share of the Sharepot, which is only fair.
But there is also a cap on the number of Sharepot tickets any individual player can earn, and no one is under any pressure to wager any more than he or she can afford. Furthermore, the Slapshot Sharepot, like many others at Virgin Casino, includes $10,000 in bonus money. So there’s plenty to go around for any player of any bet size who wants a piece of it.
How to participate in the Slapshot Sharepot at Virgin Casino
If you have been playing at Virgin Casino a while and have been following my posts on NJ Gambling Websites, the material in this section should already be very familiar to you. Perhaps you have already taken advantage of such promotions as the Ice Cream Sharepot in July and the Primetime Sharepot that Virgin Casino ran last week. The only thing that’s different this time is the name of the promotion and the period for earning tickets. Otherwise, the way it works and all of the terms and conditions are almost identical.
The period for earning tickets for Slapshot Sharepot started at 12:01 a.m. on Mon., Sept. 30 and continues until 11:59 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 3.
How to earn Sharepot tickets
Like the Primetime Sharepot and the Ice Cream Sharepot before that, the Slapshot Sharepot will be divvied up based on play over the four-day promotion period. The more you wager on each day of the promotion (up to the specified maximum), the more tickets you earn and the bigger your share of the Sharepot.
The most tickets anyone can earn is five per day, or 20 for all four days combined.
Last week, in the Primetime Sharepot, Virgin Casino raised the wagering requirement for earning each ticket from $50 to $100. That meant, in order to earn the maximum of 20 tickets, instead of only having to wager $250 per day ($1,000 total) one had to wager $500 per day ($2,000 total). I criticized that move because it entailed more wagering than many players could probably afford. It might have limited some participants to only wagering the minimum (or a small multiple thereof) and getting a very small share of the Sharepot.
Well, here’s some great news. Virgin Casino has restored the previous wagering requirements for this promotion. Now you will earn one Sharepot ticket for every $50 you wager on any given promotion day, up to a maximum of five tickets if your day’s wagers total $250 or more.
If you can’t play the maximum, no problem
The change back to the previous wagering requirements should make the Slapshot Sharepot a lot more affordable. However, keep in mind that you cannot carry over one day’s play to the next day. So you still need to wager at least $50 on any one day for that day’s play to count.
If you started playing and earning tickets on Monday this week (before this post was published), great. But if not, don’t worry about it. If you start your qualifying play a day late (Tuesday), you can still earn up to 15 Sharepot tickets.
Also, the beauty of this promotion is that it lets you adjust the amount of your qualifying play to what works for you. So if earning five tickets per day would entail more wagering than you can afford or have time for, you can scale down, knowing that you will still receive your fair share of the Sharepot. Play as often as you can and for as much as you can comfortably afford. And if that means having to settle for a smaller share of the Sharepot than other players, so be it. Don’t put yourself in a position where you might put your bankroll in jeopardy.
How Virgin Casino will determine each player’s share of the Sharepot
As soon as the earning period for the Slapshot Sharepot ends, Virgin Casino will evaluate each participant’s play to determine how the $10,000 prize pool will be distributed. All prizes will be in the form of bonus money credited to the player’s account.
The math is somewhat complicated, but that’s for Virgin Casino to handle, not you. You won’t know ahead of time what your bonus will be, but rest assured that you will get a bonus and it will be a fair share based on how your play compares to everyone else’s.
Here, step by step, is what Virgin Casino will do on Friday, Oct. 4 to determine each participant’s share of the Slapshot Sharepot.
- Count the number of Sharepot tickets (1-20) each participating player has earned.
- Get a grand total of the number of tickets that all participants combined have earned.
- For each individual player, divide the number of tickets that person earned by the total number of tickets earned by everyone combined.
- The result is each player’s percentage of the Sharepot. Multiply that percentage by $10,000 (the total amount of bonus money in the Sharepot ) to get the amount of bonus money going to each player.
For example, let’s say you earn 15 tickets and all of the players combined (including you) earn 7,500 tickets. Since 15 is .20 percent of $10,000, your bonus is equal to $10,000 multiplied by .0020, or $20.
When will you get your bonus?
Although the period for earning Sharepot tickets ends at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3, Virgin Casino will need the following day to tally up the results and compute everybody’s share. Therefore, you should see the bonus money in your account within 24 hours thereafter. But allow up to three business days in case of technical difficulties.
Slapshot Sharepot bonus wagering requirements
Every time an existing player at Virgin Casino or sister NJ gambling website Tropicana Online Casino, receives a bonus, whether it is from a Sharepot or any other source, the terms and conditions remain the same.
You have up to 30 days to wager the bonus 1x on any game of your choosing. As soon as you complete this very minimal wagering requirement, you are free to withdraw any resulting winnings. But unfortunately, that is all that the casino will let you withdraw. The bonus money itself is not yours to keep then or ever. As soon as you wager it once, the casino removes the bonus from your account and you never see it again.
Virgin Casino Slapshot Sharepot pros and cons
This promotion shares the same advantages and disadvantages as this casino’s many other Sharepots. First, we will describe what could be better. Then we will conclude with a summary of the various positive features that make this offer a good one in spite of the shortcomings.
What could be better
Sticky bonus that you can only wager once
Unlike a traditional bonus that needs to be wagered many times over, this Virgin Casino Sharepot bonus, like all others at this casino, is sticky. You can only wager it once, and that’s it. While the very small wagering requirement saves you money if you are losing, not having the option to capitalize on a possible winning streak by wagering the bonus any further significantly limits the amount you can win. Not being able to keep the bonus along with your winnings further reduces the amount you can win.
Strong likelihood of only a small bonus
Bonuses like this, which you can only wager once and where you can only keep your winnings (if any) and not the bonus itself, need to be larger than traditional bonuses to give you a reasonable opportunity to win any amount worth mentioning. However, with the strong likelihood that hundreds of other players besides you will also qualify for a piece of the Sharepot, individual shares will probably be small. This will be especially true if you’re a small player and don’t have as many tickets as most of the other players.
Virgin Casino Slapshot Sharepot great features
Appeals to all types of players
One problem that small players have with many NJ online casino promotions is that they are priced out because the deposit and wagering requirements are too high for them. No one should have that problem here since no deposit is required at all and the wagering requirements are very reasonable, too.
As long as you are able to wager at least $50 on any game on at least one of the four days of the promotion, a piece of the Sharepot is guaranteed. Then when you get your bonus, your out-of-pocket cost is zilch since you only wager the bonus once—with the casino’s money, not your own.
On the other hand, it is to your advantage to play more than just the minimum so you can earn more Sharepot tickets and get a bigger share of the Sharepot. Now that Virgin Casino has lowered the wagering requirements for each ticket from $100 back to $50, it will be easier for many players to earn the five tickets per day maximum. As long as you can afford to bet $250 per day, this is what you should do.
An individual cap of five tickets per day and 20 for the promotion
Those who play more should be duly rewarded, so using the amount of play as the yardstick for determining your share of this Virgin Casino Sharepot is completely fair. But the whole point of a Sharepot is to allow any participating player to share in the bounty. If the casino set no limit on the amount one could wager and the number of tickets earned as a result, as some other NJ online casinos do with their drawings, the distribution of prizes would be greatly skewed. The biggest players would hog the lion’s share of the pie and leave everybody else with virtually no chance to receive more than crumbs.
It is to Virgin Casino’s credit that it limits each individual player to a very reasonable five tickets per day based on a total wager of $250. Of course, anyone who wants to can wager more than $250 per day. But by placing a cap on the number of tickets you can be awarded, everybody benefits and nobody gets left out.
Added allure of a mystery bonus
Virgin Casino is promising a bonus to every player with one or more Sharepot tickets. So obviously, if you’re going to be playing there this week anyway you should participate in this promotion.
But what you don’t know ahead of time is what your bonus will be. Even if it only turns out to be a small amount, the fact that it’s a mystery makes participating fun and exciting.