It’s not often that offshore online sportsbooks — where tens of billions of dollars are wagered by Americans every year — get much in the way of bad press. In fact, they’re often really good at getting good press mentions in the US.

That’s why it captivated the sports betting world and some of the mainstream media when Barstool Sports — and its leader, Dave Portnoy — suddenly took aim at one offshore book, called MyBookie.

We won’t detail the feud, but here’s a pretty good summation of what happened from Portnoy (warning, not at all suitable for work):

Only idiots would gamble with @betmybookie pic.twitter.com/4QqoMnbKF5

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 9, 2019

Anyway, we’re not here to recount the blow by blow of the simmering feud. What we are here to tell you is what you should know about offshore sportsbooks, if you’re familiar with them or not:

Offshore sportsbooks like MyBookie operate illegally

Offshore sportsbooks are not sort of illegal or kind of illegal. They are operating illegally if they are taking wagers from bettors in the US. Full stop.

MyBookie is hardly the only sportsbook site or app that does this. There are dozens, if not more, although there are a handful of truly major players offshore.

Offshore sportsbooks violate at a minimum:

• The federal Wire Act
• Likely some other federal laws
• A variety of state laws that prohibit unregulated sports betting, or just ban it altogether.

The fact that some offshore books have a license to operate in Costa Rica or some Caribbean nation is great and all, and it makes them legal in that jurisdiction. People might cite an ongoing World Trade Organization dispute between the US and Antigua, but that is not a magic elixir for legality, either.

I’ll preface this next part as saying I am not a lawyer, and don’t take this as legal advice. But individual bettors at offshore sportsbook don’t seem to be under any kind of legal threat.

That doesn’t mean it’s entirely safe to do so, or that your money is under no threat if US law enforcement suddenly decided to start enforcing existing laws.

Anyway, the takeaway is that MyBookie (and other books) are illegally operating, like Portnoy says. Lots of people think, erroneously, that the US Supreme Court just legalized sports betting everywhere last year, which is not at all the case.

Legal US sportsbooks have an inherent disadvantage vs. offshore books

Other than the fact that you are trying to evade US authorities and likely have difficulties with payment processing, offshore books have a decided advantage over legal ones in the US.

First off, there aren’t many of the legal variety. There are legal mobile apps only in New Jersey and Nevada. There will be later this year in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and possibly Rhode Island.

If you’re in any other state — and this is important — you’re not betting on a legal app. That’s one of just several advantages that offshore books have that legal books don’t have to contend with. Offshore books:

• Operate in just about any state they choose to serve. Legal sportsbooks must operate only in the states in which they are authorized.
• The regulatory regime for offshore sportsbooks is basically non-existent, while legal books have to deal with more strict regulation, and different regulations in every state. This takes money and manpower to deal with.
• Offshore sportsbooks don’t have to pay the same kinds of fees and taxes that regulated books do, especially a .25 percent tax on all wagers that the US government levies.

MyBookie going away doesn’t solve much for legal sports betting

Portnoy’s rant against an illegal bookmaker is certainly welcome news for proponents of legal betting. But let’s not make it out to be more than it is, which is a pissing match between a media outlet that thrives on such things and exactly one (1) illegal sportsbook.

It does shine a light on something that doesn’t get much play in the US — the fact that a sportsbook is taking wagers illegally. Far too often I see media outlets citing offshore books for quotes or odds, with no mention of their status in the US.

But Portnoy wasn’t ranting against ALL illegal sports betting. Portnoy got mad at one of them on Twitter, and he is trying to shut them down.

That’s great. But if MyBookie gets shut down, all of that action just moves to another offshore sportsbook. Nothing is really solved.

There are plenty of believers and supporters of the offshore books, and I don’t take any issue with people who have no other options for legal betting.

But in order to have a legal sports betting market truly succeed, you can’t just let these sportsbooks exist in the status quo. Normalizing them alongside the legal bookmakers just reinforces their inherent advantages, as they ride the wave of popularity and increased search traffic around sports betting.

So it starts with MyBookie. But it doesn’t end there.

If you bet on Alabama to win the national championship at FanDuel Sportsbook: Congrats, you’re already a winner.

FanDuel Sportsbook pays for the Crimson Tide

FanDuel announced that it was paying out any futures bet that it’s taken on the Crimson Tide to win the national title. If you’re keeping track, that’s before Alabama even plays in the SEC Championship game or has officially reached the College Football Playoffs.

“Alabama’s historic and seemingly inevitable march to Levi’s Stadium deserved a history-making gesture to our customers,” said Mike Raffensperger, CMO of FanDuel Group.  “While the college football season has not had too many surprises, we wanted to surprise our customers today, thank them for their loyalty, and prove there are More Ways to Win on FanDuel.”

More from FanDuel in its announcement:

Any single futures bets on Alabama were paid out to customers today. When taking into account Alabama championship futures that are involved in parlays, the early payout could be nearly $400k. Retail customers with a physical bet slip dated prior to November 30^th can redeem it for the full amount starting this afternoon at any FanDuel Sportsbook location.

Any future wagers placed on Alabama after 5 PM ET on November 30^th do not qualify for an early payout.The early payouts apply to anybody holding a physical ticked on a bet placed at the Meadowlands or on its online sportsbook. In fact, FanDuel indicated that it already credited bettors accounts on the mobile app.

Christmas comes early for FanDuel bettors

Alabama is the odds-on favorite to win the national championship — they are currently listed at -280 if you wanted to bet on them today. And as such, FanDuel likely would have ended up paying out all these bets anyway.

But there is some risk in it, if Alabama doesn’t win, they’ll be paying out two futures bets. Of course, Alabama will be a fairly large favorite in all of its remaining games.

That includes the SEC title game against Georgia, where Alabama is a 13-point favorite at FanDuel.

While American sports bettors might be new to this kind of promotion, it’s a common move to generate some press across the pond.

“FanDuel is a customer first company and innovations like an early payout of a major sporting event is a great example of what can be done in a legal and regulated sports betting market to benefit the consumer,” Raffensperger said.  “Even if Alabama loses its next game or doesn’t win the national title, this was something that we wanted to do to celebrate our customers and show why we are the most innovative and fun sportsbook in the United States.”

But wait, there’s more

FanDuel commonly does odds boosts — enhanced odds on certain outcomes — for its users. It added one for FanDuel along with the futures bet payouts:

You can bet Alabama to cover the spread against Georgia at +150 odds instead of the normal -110, with a max bet of $25.

There’s also odds for a potential national title matchup against Clemson; Alabama is installed as an eight-point favorite in that hypothetical matchup. Bets will be voided if those teams don’t meet for the championship.

Clarification: This story initially said that the early payout included the FanDuel Sportsbook at IP Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. That is not correct.

Twitter is a great place for hot takes of all sorts, and that is just as true in the world of US sports betting regulation as anything else.

One common topic of debate: How many states are going to legalize sports wagering? Could we see as many as six in 2018? One lobbyist seems to think so.

Six states for sports betting?

This take came from a lobbyist for Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe:

We passed a single bill (Kansas) during our first year of lobbying for fantasy sports bills in 2015. I’m willing to bet that 6 states pass sports betting bills in 2018, which is the first legislative year for this issue.

— Jeremy Kudon (@JKudon) May 3, 2018

Six states seems aggressive, given that we’ve only seen one state — West Virginia — pass a law so far this year. But Kudon is no garden-variety lobbyist. He’s helped get laws passed in nearly 20 states in recent years as it relates to daily fantasy sports.

And Orrick is a part of the lobbying effort for sports betting on behalf of the NBA and Major League Baseball. So if he speaks, we listen.

How likely is 6?

If I am handicapping it, I am still betting the under on six, despite the weight that Kudon’s Twitter characters carry. Some of the states that seemed to have a good chance of passing something have run into speed bumps.

You can take a look at the legislative calendar so far for states that have at least broached the subject of sports betting. If we count WV and New Jersey — where a new bill popped — two states in 2018 seems like a no-brainer.

Several states seem like they will continue to consider the issue into the summer, including possibly Michigan and Illinois. But forecasting more than a handful of states with new laws seems difficult to do with the information we have right now.

All of this, of course, assumes New Jersey wins the Supreme Court sports betting case, in which a decision is pending. Some states appear to be waiting for a decision to come before they really start the discussion. And if that decision doesn’t come until the end of June, it shortens the calendar even more for legislatures trying to act.

And so we wait for sports betting…

The next time a decision could come from the Supreme Court is May 14.

The good news is time is getting short. In less than two months, we’ll definitely know the answer one way or another. And until then, we’ll keep guessing at what the court will rule and which states will legalize it.