BetMGM suffers a TKO for allowing Pa. wagers on unapproved Evander Holyfield boxing match

Pennsylvania has fined a casino and sports betting operator $10,000 for taking wagers on an unapproved 2021 event, an exhibition boxing match between aging fighters that was over in less than two cringeworthy minutes.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Wednesday approved a consent agreement with Hollywood Casino Morgantown, the licensed casino operator, and its sportsbook, BetMGM. Their offense: taking bets on an unapproved exhibition bout between Evander Holyfield, a 58-year-old former boxing champ, and Vitor Belfort, a 44-year-old mixed martial artist.

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It’s the first violation by a bookmaker for unapproved wagers since legal sports betting was launched in Pennsylvania four years ago.

Hollywood Casino is owned by Penn Entertainment Inc., formerly known as Penn National Gaming. BetMGM operates the casino’s sports-betting operation, and BetMGM officials attended the gaming board meeting in Harrisburg on Wednesday and apologized for the misadventure.

Two days before the bout, the gaming board notified licensed bookmakers that betting on the event was unapproved in Pennsylvania. But BetMGM accepted 76 wagers totaling $2,064, a modest handle. The bookmaker recognized the error and reported the violation to regulators.

The incident, the first violation for Hollywood Casino Morgantown since it opened a year ago, highlights the role that state gaming regulators play in the freewheeling world of sports betting. Betting operators are required to submit in advance a catalog of events and proposed wagers, which regulators review to assure that they are legitimate events overseen by approved governing authorities.

“For the most part, we approved anything that’s a legitimate athletic event that has proper oversight,” Kevin Kile, the gaming board’s director of sports wagering operations, said in an interview.

The Holyfield-Belfort match raised concerns. Holyfield was a last-minute substitute in the exhibition for Oscar De La Hoya, 49, a former boxing champ who came down with COVID-19. Pennsylvania regulators had approved betting for the De La Hoya match, which was to be conducted in California under the auspices of that state’s boxing regulators.

But after Holyfield was named as the stand-in and California boxing regulators balked at sanctioning the fight with an aging athlete, the event was moved to Florida.

“When it was moved to Florida, it wasn’t clear to us if it was sanctioned or not,” Kile said. “It was kind of a last-minute event that was put together, and ultimately, we just decided it wasn’t appropriate.”

“If you look at the replay of the fight, I think we made the right call,” he said.

A referee stopped the fight at 1:49 of the first round, awarding Belfort a technical knockout.

Kile said it’s unusual for the regulator to disallow betting on an event — most major sports events that attract heavy action are monitored for integrity by leagues. Some obscure events require more scrutiny: Pennsylvania this year approved betting on the American Cornhole League national championship, but not on regional or preliminary events in the beanbag-tossing sport, he said.

Just this week, Kile said a Pennsylvania sports betting operator sought permission to offer odds on the PNC Championship, a golf event scheduled to begin Thursday in Florida in which professional golfers team up with a family member, often a child, to compete. The gaming control board nixed betting on the event because wagering on the performance of underaged amateur athletes is generally prohibited.