Top Stories: Study Delves Deep Into Whether Refs Really Are Favoring Chiefs in Big Games

Submitted by C Costigan on

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C Costigan

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It's not your imagination. The Kansas City Chiefs really may be receiving favorable whistles in their biggest games. Scroll down for all the latest headlines from the world of gambling and sports as well as our top trending stories and searches. 

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Research conducted recently by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a public research university, conducted a study to arrive at these results. And it's not something they began looking into this season on a whim. 

From The New York Post:

In a dataset spanning more than 13,000 penalty calls from 2015 through 2023, researchers found that “postseason officiating has disproportionately favored the Mahomes-era Kansas City Chiefs, coinciding with their rise as one of the NFL’s most marketable franchises.”

The theory, developed by the lead author of the study, assistant professor of finance at UTEP Spencer Barnes, Ph.D., considers essential moments such as playoffs and nationally televised games.

The study states that when “the league’s financial health is at stake, rule enforcement may subtly shift to protect market appeal.”

Over the last two seasons, since Chiefs star Travis Kelce began dating mega music star Taylor Swift, NFL fans began suggesting the fairytale relationship contributed to the perceived favorable calls going the Chiefs way. They point to when Swift was present for a Sept. 24, 2023, game. That one drew 24.3 million viewers on Fox

The Chiefs enter Week 7 of this season with a 3-3 record Against The Spread, which just happens to match their overall Straight Up record. 

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More Headlines From Across the Globe

(Entertainment) - Ballad of a Small Player Review – Colin Farrell Seeks Redemption in Edward Berger’s High-Stakes Gambling Yarn - Ballad of a Small Player is in cinemas from 17 October and on Netflix from 29 October. It’s a movie of big moods and grand gestures, undercut by the banal inevitability of losing, writes Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian. Thus far, the film has garnered a mere 54% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, the film critic aggregator site. 

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(Gambling News) - Guardians Pitcher Emmanuel Clase’s Career is Over After'Irrefutable' Gambling Evidence - MLB Insider Héctor Gómez has posted on X that Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase will not play in Major League Baseball again, after the three-time All-Star closer was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave in July amid a gambling investigation into unusual betting patterns. Now it seems the results of the investigation are drawing close, with evidence found against the pitcher. “Emmanuel Clase will never pitch in MLB again,” wrote Gómez. “The gambling evidence found against him is irrefutable.” (source: ReadWrite)

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(Gambling News) - Captain Jack Andrews - What the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act Intended and What it Actually Accomplished - 19 yrs ago today. In the middle of the night, buried deep in the Safe Ports Act, Congress passed UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act). Special interest pork from Bill Frist of TN. Who had heavy campaign donations from brick & mortar casinos. It was meant to kill offshore sportsbooks and internet casinos by going after banks and payment processors. Instead:

- It created a practical use case for Crypto
- It spawned DFS via a loophole, which spawned DK, FD, as well as DFS 2.0 sites.
- It planted the seed for sweeps and P2P skill based gaming
- Even with a carve-out it couldn't save horse racing

Much of what we have today we owe to Bill Frist's special-interest politics. Less than one month after UIGEA's passing, Bill Frist was voted out of office. (source: Captain Jack Andrews

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(Sweepstakes Casinos, Poker) - ClubWPT Gold Vows to Stay in California Despite Sweepstakes Ban Signed Into Law - Assembly Bill 831, a measure aimed at banning online sweepstakes gambling — including sweepstakes-based poker - was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom over the weekend. One company is vowing to stay put however.

  • ClubWPT Gold. The site, which counts high-profile players such as Doug Polk among its ambassadors, recently switched from the dual-currency model used by the majority of sweepstakes operators to a new, apparently unique system.
  • Following ClubWPT Gold’s acquisition of the training platform Upswing Poker — previously owned by Polk — it has positioned itself as a more educational proposition. Users can still play for and with ‘chips’, which can be withdrawn as real currency, but instead of offering them with purchases of play money they come as packages with automated hand analysis credits. Read more about ClubWPT Gold's switch here.
  • ‘We are aware of the new California legislation scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026,’ reads a statement from ClubWPT Gold on its website. ‘In preparation, our team has been proactively making updates to the platform and developing new features to align with the upcoming legislative change. We are committed to continuing to operate in compliance with California law.’
  • The new legislation comes into effect on January 1, 2026.

(source: Poker.org)

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(Gambling News) - Iowa Casino Revenue Remains Fat Year-Over-Year in September - Iowa’s 19 casinos reported $131.7 million in revenue for September, slightly up from the previous year’s figure of $131.3 million, a year-over-year increase of 0.2%. Ameristar II saw profits reduce 13.3% year-over-year from $14.1 million to $12.2 million, and Harrah’s Council Bluffs Casino saw a year-over-year decrease of 12.8% from $5.2 million to $4.5 million. Three casinos saw double-digit gains, with Q Casino seeing the most significant increase of 19.5% from $3.3 million to just less than $4 million, and Lakeside Casino generating $4.4 million, up 19.2% from $3.7 million the year prior. Overall slot revenue generated $119.5 million, up 1.1% year-over-year from $118.3 million. Table games generated $12.1 million, down 7>5% from $13.1 million.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher 

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