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Three political representatives in Ohio have penned a joint letter to the state making a case for the introduction of iGaming. 
The trio of Ohio House Republicans, Jay Edwards, Jeff LaRe, and Cindy Abrahms, want the Buckeye State to introduce online casino games and iLottery, following the green light given to sportsbooks in January last year. 
A study commission report, assessing the future of gambling in Ohio, included the letter proposing the legalizing of iGaming as a “net benefit” to the state. The report showed a majority of Ohio General Assembly members also recommended approval. 
There was bipartisan support for the evolution of the gaming industry, even though Republicans are firmly in control in Ohio, at Senate, House, and Governor levels.
“While the state should proceed with caution and care with any expansion of this magnitude, with the right regulatory framework, these types of gaming can thrive with nominal impact to our current system,” the representatives detailed in the letter.
Ohio can act as a bellwether for iGaming change elsewhere
The communication also included a forecast for further growth on the potential introduction of iGaming next year.
“Looking at other states who have implemented either or both iLottery and iGaming, we see significant increases to tax revenues generated with greater participation but also that in-person sales continued to increase,” it read.
The proposals will meet resistance along the way as only seven other US states provide online casino and lottery provisions. Lawmakers have found the pursuit to be difficult, despite the introduction of online sports betting in more than 25 states. 
Other jurisdictions within the US will be looking at Ohio, with interest, to gauge how its legislators cast their votes and what is contained in the bills. The Midwest state is sometimes considered a bellwether for political developments so it could influence further movement on iGaming elsewhere.
Image credit: Via Ideogram
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This really does seem to be renaissance times for driving and flight simulators. Everybody is recognizing that the hardware is there now to create hyper-realistic experiences both in the air and on the track. Peripheral companies are getting in on the act and home simulators are being built the world over – more on that in readwrite Gaming soon.
Now, GIANTS Software, the studio behind the behemoth that is Farming Simulator and its upcoming 25 iteration has signed a deal with Straight4 to publish the ambitious race sim Project Motor Racing.
We have just got Rennsport and Assetto Corsa Evo is in the pipeline, so what’s the deal with this latest kid on the block?
Project Motor Racing is being developed by Ian Bell and his team of award-winning developers who said: “Our partnership with GIANTS is the last piece of the puzzle for the development of Project Motor Racing. “It’s fantastic news not only for our studio but the sim racing genre as a whole.
“Those who are familiar with GIANTS’ best-selling franchise will recognize why this partnership is going to refresh the sim racing genre in ways that the community is going to love.”
Bell is basically the don when it comes to recent motor racing sims, and his studio Straight4 had been working on GT Revival, which now becomes Project Motor Racing, but his other credits lie as creator of games such as GTR, GT Legends, Project CARS, Need for Speed, Shift and Test Drive
GIANTS CEO Christian Ammann said, “We are very excited about Project Motor Racing and welcome Straight4’s genre-leading talents with their decades of know-how recreating the world of adrenaline-fueled motorsports to our simulation venture,”
Bell’s Straight4 studio features many of the key talents that have shaped sim racing’s heritage for over two decades. With over 20 years’ worth of remote work experience and working from three continents, Straight4 Studios’ veteran staff have earned dozens of industry awards.
Further information on Project Motor Racing is to follow soon once the dust of the deal settles and we can’t wait to see what Ian and GIANTS can do with it.
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Major record labels have banded together to sue Verizon for violating copyright law by serving those accused of music piracy.
On Friday July 12, major record labels including Universal, Sony, and Warner have alleged that internet service provider Verizon has violated copyright law by continuing to offer services to those accused or pirating music, as reported by Arc Technica. The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims that Verizon “knowingly provides its high-speed service to a massive community of online pirates.”
Universal, Sony, and Warner claim that they have sent more than 340,000 copyright infringement notices to Verizon between them since early 2020.
“Those notices identify specific subscribers on Verizon’s network stealing Plaintiffs’ sound recordings through peer-to-peer (‘P2P’) file-sharing networks that are notorious hotbeds for copyright infringement,” the lawsuit reads.
Verizon has allegedly ignored those notices, with the lawsuit adding that “Verizon has knowingly contributed to, and reaped substantial profits from, massive copyright infringement committed by tens of thousands of its subscribers.” The plaintiffs are claiming to be owed damages of up to $150,000 for each work infringed. Considering that the plaintiffs have filed what is described as a “non-exhaustive” list of infringed works including 17,335 titles, that would suggest final damages could reach over $2.6 billion.
Music piracy and internet providers
This isn’t the first time record labels and movie studios have filed similar lawsuits against internet providers, with an ongoing case involving Cox Communications fighting a $1 billion jury verdict since 2019.
In the Verizon case specifically, record labels claim that thousands of Verizon subscribers “were the subject of 20 or more notices from Plaintiffs, and more than 500 subscribers were the subject of 100 or more notices.
One particularly egregious Verizon subscriber was single-handedly the subject of 4,450 infringement notices from Plaintiffs alone.”
Two others were also allegedly the subject of 2,703 and 2,068 infringement notices, respectively. Although Verizon has acknowledged it received those notices, the company has allegedly not taken sufficient action to address “illegal use of the network”.
According to copyright law, any party knowingly assisting someone engaging in copyright infringement is also liable for that crime. The lawsuit also complains that Verizon doesn’t make it easy enough for copyright owners to file complaints about its customers.
Featured image: Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0
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