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Carnival Cruise Line Industry

Carnival Cruise Line Takes US Sports Betting to International Waters

By Amelia Walker Senior Content Writer Updated: 06 November 2021

Amelia Walker Senior Content Writer

Amelia Walker is a Senior Content Writer at Betting.US. She has a law degree and deep knowledge of the gambling laws in the United States. Her mission is to keep players informed about responsible gambling, while her passion for sports helps her create useful guides. Amelia has over a decade of experience in betting, which has positioned her as a trusted voice among our readers.

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Last week saw the world’s largest cruise line take US sports betting to international waters, as it made good on a promise that it made earlier this year.

In February 2021, Carnival Cruise Line said that once COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted, it would add sports betting facilities to its onboard casinos to ensure that sports fans could continue placing bets even once they had boarded their vessel.

The first bet was placed when the launch of cruise liner sports betting took place in the latter part of last month. This was on the Majestic Princess. Princess Cruises is part of the Carnival Cruise Line group, and it has now become the first cruise line to provide passengers with sports betting facilities when entering international waters.

A Move That Makes Sense

The sports betting facilities on Princess Cruises is being provided via its Ocean Sportsbook. This is a platform that was developed by Miomni Gaming, which is based in the United Kingdom. The odds on the sportsbook are provided through Sportradar via a satellite feed.

Jeremy Hall from Cruise Vacations International said that this type of entertainment being available on cruise ships would be a huge boon for the industry. He added:

I don’t see sports betting having any negative effect on passengers, as it seems the wagers are placed either in the casino or on the app. Gambling and watching sports onboard are both staples for many cruise passengers, so kudos for those who found a way to blend both together.

One industry official said that the move to provide sports betting action in international waters to cruise passengers made sense given the huge popularity of sports betting these days.

The owner of cruise booking company Travel by John, John Maddox said that sports betting was everywhere these days, so it made sense to give people who enjoy gambling a chance to win big even while at sea.

A Tightly Regulated Operation

Until the overturning of PASPA back in 2018 by the US Supreme Court, legal sports betting was only available in Nevada. However, over the past few years, more and more states have begun to offer sports betting, which has delighted sports fans, increased the success of sportsbook operators, and helped to raise huge amounts in state taxes.

The offering of sports betting facilities on cruise liners will, therefore, make sense to many people, and it means that sports fans can now enjoy access to sports betting both on land and at sea.

Both Carnival and Princess are part of the largest cruise industry group in the world, Cruise Lines International Association. As such, it is mandatory for them to regulate their onboard casinos to the same standards imposed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

This means that passengers who use the casino and sports betting facilities onboard their vessel will be able to benefit from peace of mind. They will have the reassurance that the processes are tightly regulated using standards that are already in use by one of the world’s gambling capitals.