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    Big pharma’s patent cliff is fast approaching

    Aprice tag of $10.8bn would look hefty for most acquisitions of smallish and newish companies. But for Merck, a drugs giant known as msd outside America, the money it is spending to buy Prometheus Biosciences, a biotech firm based in California, is relatively small change. In the world of big pharma such deals have the potential to generate enormous returns. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

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    What makes a good office perk?

    When companies tighten their belts, they look first to discretionary spending. Meta got rid of free laundry for its workers last year. In January Google announced a round of lay-offs that included 27 in-house massage therapists. Salesforce, another tech firm, has axed its contract with a Californian “wellness retreat”, where employees would have done God-knows-what with each other. The chopping of such benefits has been christened the “perkcession”. But just as perks get cut in bad times, so they return in the good. Eventually you can expect to read articles about a “perkcovery”. What makes a good perk? Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

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    Why crashing lithium prices will not make electric cars cheaper

    Among the commodities that are key to decarbonisation, lithium is in the driving seat. Dubbed “white gold”, the metal is needed to produce nearly all types of batteries powering electric vehicles (evs). A single pack typically includes ten kilograms of the stuff. In the past two years turbocharged ev sales worldwide helped boost prices twelve-fold, prodding miners to invest, carmakers to sign supply deals and governments to label it a strategic material. Most commodity prices stalled this winter, but lithium continued to ride high. The rally has since gone into reverse. Prices for Chinese lithium carbonate, one of the two main forms of refined lithium, have more than halved this year (see chart). One reason is slowing demand for evs in China, the biggest market for them. Another is that carmakers such as Ford and Volkswagen, eager to enter a race dominated by Tesla and Chinese rivals, signed battery-supply deals at high prices last year. They are now reviewing the terms, further dampening appetite.Global supply of mined lithium is rising fast, meanwhile. After growing by 1% in 2022, to 575,000 tonnes, it could jump by nearly a fifth this year as big mines come online in Australia and Chile, says Tom Price of Liberum, an investment bank. The sudden price slide has hit the valuations of sqm and Albemarle, the world’s largest miners of the metal. But the big miners are unlikely to suffer too much. Lithium is still expensive. Benchmark Minerals, a consultancy, estimates that carbonate prices are four times what they were, on average, between 2016 and 2021, when many big projects were commissioned (mines take about five years to build). Prices have yet to reach a floor but they are unlikely to fall far enough to bury big miners’ profits. Prices below $22,000 a tonne, far lower than today’s levels, would cause many of China’s domestic mines to shut down, lowering supply. And even as the refined product has become cheaper, the price of spodumene, a feedstock used to transform lithium ores, remains high, squeezing processors’ margins. They too may be forced to slash production, supporting prices of the refined stuff. And there are signs demand will revive. In April the chief of the China Passenger Car Association said he expected sales of evs in the country to rise by 30% this year. JPMorgan Chase, a bank, reckons a rebound will tip the lithium market into a deficit in 2023 and 2024. ev sales elsewhere remain healthy. The price of lithium hydroxide, a refined form of lithium used in more expensive, longer-range batteries, which are preferred outside China, has held up better than that of carbonate. It will help that hydroxide cannot be stored for ever. In the longer run rising demand for lithium for energy storage, supported by green policies in America, Europe and China, could make the market even tighter. This explains why big miners are still moving forward with new projects, such as Albemarle’s $1.3bn lithium hydroxide plant in South Carolina. A slump in the share price of rivals could allow them to grow bigger. In March Albemarle offered to buy Liontown Resources, an Australian producer, for $3.7bn. Insiders expect more deal activity. Carmakers, for their part, are anxious to secure more lithium. In April General Motors said it would invest in a startup that proposes to extract metal from previously ignored deposits, the latest in a series of recent bets on lithium ventures. A recovery in prices would disappoint carmakers. Lithium-ion battery prices have plummeted over the past decade or so, yet last year soaring metal prices helped to push up battery costs by 7%. The recent fall in lithium prices should again mean cheaper batteries, but it typically takes months for lower prices to translate into cheaper cars, by which point prices may be rising again. After a multi-year tear, white gold is taking a pause. Enjoy the pit stop while it lasts. ■To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the Bottom Line, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter. More

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    Why Apple is betting big on India

    The intricate timber roof-tiles were assembled in Delhi, the bright stone walls sourced from Rajasthan. But the man who opened the door of Apple’s gleaming new Mumbai outlet on April 18th had been flown in from California. Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, dispensed high-fives and namastes as he opened that shop and, two days later, an equally ritzy outlet in Delhi, the first Apple stores in India.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

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    Paramount fires back at Warner Bros. Discovery in ‘South Park’ streaming lawsuit

    Paramount Global responded to Warner Bros. Discovery in the feud over the streaming rights for cartoon comedy series “South Park.”
    Paramount has denied the allegations and filed a counterclaim this week, seeking more than $50 million it believes it is owed.
    Warner Bros. Discovery brought the lawsuit against Paramount in February, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for what it views as a breach of contract for the exclusive rights to “South Park.”

    Stan And Kyle From The Episode “Clubhouses.”
    Getty Images | Hulton Archive | Getty Images

    It’s going down in “South Park.”
    Paramount Global snapped back at Warner Bros. Discovery in a lawsuit over the streaming rights for the comedic cartoon, and is seeking more than $50 million in unpaid fees.

    The counterclaim, which Paramount filed on Wednesday, comes nearly two months after the feud between the two media giants kicked off.
    In February, Warner sued Paramount, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for what it believed was a breach of contract. Warner alleged Paramount withheld specials and other related “South Park” content as its own fledgling streaming service, Paramount+, was lifting off.
    Paramount filed a counterclaim on Wednesday, once again denying allegations that it didn’t live up to its end of the bargain in its contract to license the rights of “South Park” to Warner for its HBO Max streaming service.
    The related “South Park” content was created during the height of the pandemic, when the show’s creators and staff couldn’t meet normally to turn out episodes and instead worked on features that ended up being double the length of the usual 22-minute installments.
    “Warner Bros. Discovery has indefensibly refused to pay more than $50 million it owes for South Park content that it has undisputedly received, and which HBO Max continues to air and exploit,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. “Warner Bros. Discovery’s argument that Paramount Global was required to deliver additional South Park content is baseless and wholly unsupported by the parties’ agreement.  Furthermore, it certainly does not justify WBD’s refusal to pay for immensely valuable content all of which it has received and from which it continues to profit.”

    In the initial lawsuit, Warner said it agreed in 2019 to pay more than $500 million, or roughly $1.69 million per episode, to license episodes of the long-running cartoon that features bad-mouthed elementary school children for HBO Max. “South Park” has been airing on Paramount’s cable-TV network Comedy Central for decades.
    Warner said in the earlier filing that during the bidding process for the streaming rights Paramount had allegedly asked if they could share the rights for Paramount+. Warner rejected that proposition, and said during the height of the pandemic, Paramount went back on its contract and withheld content.
    “We believe that Paramount and South Park Digital Studios embarked on a multi-year scheme of unfair trade practices and deception, flagrantly and repeatedly breaching our contract, which clearly gave HBO Max exclusive streaming rights to the existing library and new content from the popular animated comedy ‘South Park,'” according to a Warner spokesperson.
    Warner has alleged that the scheme was concocted when Paramount’s subsidiary MTV signed a deal with the “South Park” creators in 2021, which called for exclusive content for Paramount+, reportedly worth $900 million.
    Paramount alleges that Warner refused two payments of more than $26 million in licensing fees it was owed in December 2022 and again in March 2023, adding there has been “indications that it will continue to withhold the $225 million in license fees still owed for the rest of the five-year term.”
    The company added that Warner’s HBO Max – which is being relaunched as Max – continues to feature the entire “South Park” library. More

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    Ford F-150 Lightning fire footage highlights a growing EV risk

    New video footage of a fire that started in a Ford F-150 Lightning earlier this year highlights an emerging concern regarding the adoption of electric vehicles.
    The previously unreleased footage, obtained by CNBC, shows smoke billowing from three tightly packed electric pickups. Moments later, flames shoot several feet above the vehicles, which were unoccupied.
    Fires involving EV batteries can burn hotter and longer and require new techniques to extinguish, posing a growing challenge to first responders.

    DEARBORN, Mich. — New video footage of a fire involving a Ford F-150 Lightning this year highlights a growing concern around electric vehicles: volatile fires from the batteries that power them.
    The previously unreleased footage, which CNBC obtained through Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act from the Dearborn Police Department, shows smoke billowing from three tightly packed electric pickups in a Ford Motor holding lot in Dearborn, Michigan.

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    Moments later, flames shoot several feet above the vehicles, which were unoccupied. It wasn’t clear based on public documents and police video how long the fires burned. Experts say EV fires can take hours, rather than minutes, to extinguish.
    EV fires have become a growing concern as automakers push to increase sales of electric vehicles and meet tightening emissions standards.
    The Biden administration has set a target for half of new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be electric. Automakers are spending billions of dollars to electrify their lineups. However, there’s been little to no discussion about first responder training for when the vehicles catch fire, whether due to a malfunction or, more commonly, a crash.

    An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker’s suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford’s in Dearborn, Michigan.
    Dearborn Police Department

    The Feb. 4 holding lot fire at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn prompted the company to quickly halt production of the new pickup for five weeks. The automaker also recalled 18 of the vehicles, which Ford has likened to the Model T in terms of importance to the company.
    Ford identified the root cause as related to battery cell production made by supplier, SK On.

    Police officers responding to the blaze described the vehicles as being “engulfed in flames” and can be heard on video worrying that the vehicles could “blow up.” Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in EVs, can be volatile and extremely difficult to put out once on fire.
    “We’re not putting this f—er out. Look at it,” said one responding officer during the February F-150 Lightning fire.
    First responders can be heard on video expressing concern about how much water is needed to put out EV fires and whether a special foam would be required. They also questioned the viability and safety of electric vehicles.
    “They have to put like a whole f—ing lake on it to put them out,” the same officer said during the Feb. 4 event.

    An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker’s suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford’s in Dearborn, Michigan.
    Dearborn Police Department

    The footage obtained by CNBC totaled about two hours of video, including overlapping footage, from 17 police bodycams and vehicle dashcams between 3:36 p.m. and 4:22 p.m. ET, according to time stamps on the bodycam videos.
    Photos obtained from Dearborn Police through a separate Michigan FOIA request show the aftermath of the blaze. One of the three vehicles is barely recognizable, with its body nearly melted down to the ground. The two neighboring vehicles were also heavily damaged.
    “There was only one [vehicle on fire] when we got here. They’re catching. It’s these frickin’ batteries,” that same responding officer said, according to the footage.
    The F-150 Lightning fire occurred while the vehicle was charging in a holding lot during a pre-delivery quality check and was caused by an internal short circuit due to a manufacturing issue when cells in the battery were at a high state of charge, according to public documents associated with the recall. Ford said engineers determined there was no evidence of a charging fault.
    “Together with SK On, we confirmed the root causes and swiftly implemented quality actions,” Ford said in a statement to CNBC. “The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center has been back up and running since March 13 and is back to full production and shipping vehicles to customers.”
    The fire added to ongoing quality and execution issues that have plagued the automaker as it attempts to restructure its business and position itself better for EVs.

    An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker’s suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford’s in Dearborn, Michigan.
    Dearborn Police Department

    Growing concern

    Vehicle fires are not new. They regularly occur in traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. But the fires that can result from EVs such as the F-150 Lightning and their batteries are increasingly worrying for first responders across the country, in part because they involve a chain reaction between battery cells known as thermal runaway.
    Such fires also are a growing problem for automakers who could lose the momentum they’ve built with car buyers and climate-conscious lawmakers if the risk continues shaking public confidence in the technology.
    Fires involving EV batteries can burn hotter and longer and require new techniques to extinguish.
    “This is a big issue globally,” said Michael O’Brian, board member of the International Fire Chiefs Association, who leads fire and life safety. “We need to better understand what the best processes are through testing and evaluation with real firefighters.”

    EVs are powered by a series of battery cells inside an airtight pack that’s designed to prevent any substances from passing in or out. The packs also are mainly built into the underbodies or frames of the vehicles, a spot that can be difficult for first responders to reach. And even if they could easily access the cells, the “fire” is actually a chemical reaction and far more difficult to handle than a traditional gasoline fire.
    “You’re now dealing with a vehicle that doesn’t work like anything else you’ve been taught,” said David Dalrymple, a volunteer firefighter in New Jersey who owns a first response training and consulting business called RoadWay Rescue. “It’s a totally different animal. … The primary goal is to cool it down to take away that chemical reaction.”
    Dalrymple, who also serves on a Society of Automotive Engineers committee focusing on EV fire issues and standards, noted some other countries allow first responders to look up what hazardous materials are in a vehicle based on the license plate. A similar system could be useful in the U.S., he said.

    A 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV caught fire at a home in Cherokee County, Georgia on Sept. 13, 2021, according to the local fire department.
    Cherokee County Fire Department

    Experts are still trying to determine EV fire incident rates; the data is difficult to collect from disparate fire departments. Vehicle fires involving internal combustion engines are far more common than EVs, however experts expect that to continually even out as more electrified vehicles are sold. 
    Problems with plug-in vehicles that use such batteries have led automakers including Ford, General Motors, Hyundai and Porsche to recall models. GM from 2020 to 2021 had to recall all of its electric Chevrolet Bolt models built up to that point due to a battery issue that resulted in several reported fires.
    As a result, GM expanded an ongoing nationwide program to educate public safety, fire and emergency service providers on how to most effectively handle emergency situations involving electric vehicles.
    The state of Virginia has taken it upon itself to train firefighters. A bill that requires them to complete a training program about the risk of electric vehicle fires passed unanimously this year.

    Trial by fire

    Firefighters increasingly are facing the challenges created by EV fires. This is made more complicated by what some experts say is a lack of regulations and standards, which allows automakers to do as they like regarding the design and rollout of EVs.
    For more than a century, first responders have quite easily extinguished vehicle engine fires by popping the hood and drowning the area in water. That playbook doesn’t work with EVs.

    An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker’s suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford’s in Dearborn, Michigan.
    Dearborn Police Department

    Each vehicle is unique and may require different techniques to extinguish, which means there are no set standards for putting out an EV fire.
    Current best practices for an EV fire, depending on who you speak with, include submerging the vehicles in water, piercing the battery pack and inundating it with water, disabling a vehicle’s 12-volt circuit, or simply letting the fire burn until it’s out, emitting chemical toxins into the air.
    O’Brian, a fire chief in suburban Brighton outside of Detroit, said the bigger the battery, the higher the concern for first responders. He also noted that new battery plants to produce the cells for the vehicles often cost billions of dollars, highlighting what he saw as comparatively little funding being directed to the training of fire departments.
    “I continue to keep advocating that both state and federal government needs to truly invest within the fire service on this topic for training, best practices, lab time,” O’Brian said. “It’s as simple as what’s the best way to turn up your efforts when exposed to lithium-ion off-gassing” when the vehicles catch fire.
    O’Brian said once the thermal runaway starts there’s really no putting the fire out unless you stop the chain reaction of lithium-ion cells from overheating.
    It’s unclear how many, if any, people have died from an electric vehicle spontaneously catching fire. There have been reports of fatal fires following crashes, but many times EVs have caught fire when charging and unoccupied.
    There’s also the risk of reignition: Lithium-ion battery fires can re-engage weeks later with little to no warning. The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responded to such an incident last year involving a Tesla that had been in an accident three weeks prior.
    William Lerner, an independent safety tech inventor and delegate for the International Organization for Standardization, said best practices would call for a three-week monitoring period after a fire, with particular attention during the first 24 hours.
    Lerner, who works closely with first responders and their trainers, expressed concern that first responders may not have the appropriate personal protection and safety equipment to handle the fires. He said the equipment used for a traditional vehicle fire may not suffice.
    “The whole way of dealing with this is completely different,” he said. “The only similarities are they have four wheels, and they look like cars. It’s a completely different product, and that’s the problem.”
    Ford, in its Emergency Response Guide for the 2022 Lightning, broadly details some issues about the potential for reignition in the event of a fire and suggests storing the vehicle outside or at least 50 feet away from other objects. It does not offer a solution for putting out a battery fire other than “LARGE amounts of water” or using a “Class ABC powder-type extinguisher to contain and smother the flames.”
    Ford said the company “took part in an information-sharing session on how to handle battery fires in summer 2022 with members of the Dearborn fire department,” which responded to the blaze in February.

    An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker’s suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford’s in Dearborn, Michigan.
    Dearborn Police Department

    “We continue to look at opportunities to help educate on this topic,” the automaker said.
    Dearborn Police Chief Joseph Murray declined to comment about the Feb. 4 F-150 Lightning fire or any training his department has done for EVs.
    Experts say such training for first responders is a start, but it needs to be constantly updated and rolled out. There are also concerns about the manpower and ability of fire departments to handle EV fires, according to several officials. Not to mention the dire circumstances they may be dealing with involving vehicle occupants, which are their first priority.
    “When you have an EV fire, you don’t have the time to stop and look through an emergency response guide or to call, you know, GM, or methodically figure out is it a 2012 Tesla or 2022,” Lerner said. “You’ve got human beings in there that can die. So, you may not have one second to waste in order to get these human beings out.”
    — CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report. More

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    Ikea to invest over $2.2 billion in new U.S. store models, pickup locations in next three years

    Ikea is making its biggest investment push since it opened in the U.S. nearly four decades ago.
    The Swedish home and furniture company’s investment will go toward omnichannel growth, including new stores, pickup locations, sustainability efforts and other developments.
    Omnichannel retail experiences, where online and in-store shopping experiences complement each other, have become increasingly popular in recent years.

    LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 2019/09/22: IKEA sign seen outside its showroom in London. (Photo by Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
    SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

    Ikea will invest more than $2.2 billion over the next three years on its omnichannel growth strategy in the U.S., marking the Swedish home and furniture company’s biggest investment push since it opened in the U.S. nearly 40 years ago. 
    Omnichannel retail experiences, where online and in-store shopping experiences complement each other, have become increasingly popular in light of a pandemic-spurred online shopping boom.

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    19 hours ago

    Its roots predate the pandemic: In the U.S., the trend was buoyed by Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods in 2017, which integrated a host of technological advancements into the in-person shopping experience. Soon, big-box retailers such as Walmart and Target followed suit. 
    Ikea, already well known for the carefully curated showrooms and model apartments in its flagship stores, has already started making moves toward such a strategy. In recent years, the company has routinely rolled out updates to its at-home augmented reality preview tools. And as a home and furniture company, there’s an added appeal to blending in-store and online shopping, since customers need to envision how products will fit into their existing homes.
    The retailer’s $2.2 billion investment will be used for a variety of efforts, including expanding new store models and pickup locations, and is aimed at improving accessibility while keeping products affordable, Javi Quiñones, CEO and chief sustainability officer at Ikea U.S., told CNBC. 
    “It’s also an indication of how important the U.S. market is for Ikea,” Quiñones said. “We started here in the U.S. almost 40 years ago, and this is the biggest [investment] we’ve ever done.”
    An exact breakdown of how the multibillion-dollar investment is going toward any of Ikea’s specific omnichannel efforts is not yet available, an Ikea spokesperson said. 

    As part of the investment, the company will open nine “Plan & Order points,” an extension of the company’s existing “planning studios,” where customers can get personalized help on bigger home projects, such as kitchen or bathroom remodels.  
    Plan & Order points will function just as the company’s planning studios have so far: After consulting with Ikea’s in-studio planners, customers can order items to be shipped directly to their homes. No items are actually stocked for purchasing in the planning studios.
    The chain opened its first planning studio in New York’s Upper East Side in 2019, calling it its first “city center” location, and has since gone on to open several other storefronts, but it shuttered its New York store in January 2022, saying it was looking to relocate.
    These alternative in-person shopping options are meant to complement, not replace, Ikea’s flagship stores, Quiñones said. 
    The company is currently “exploring absolutely every single option” when it comes to the ideal placement of these different store models, he added. The first Plan & Order point slated to open this year will be in Arlington, Virginia, with many more in the pipeline, according to Quiñones. 
    Down the road, some might open in locations that already have an Ikea store nearby, while others might open in cities without any Ikea presence. “The whole intention here is to be closer to many more Americans,” Quiñones said. 
    As part of that effort, Ikea’s new investment will also see eight new stores added to its existing lineup of U.S. stores. To date, there are 51 stores in the United States. When combined with the Plan & Order points, the addition of those eight stores will usher in 2,000 new jobs at the company, Ikea said. 
    Ikea is also adding 900 new pickup locations to its slate, allowing customers to retrieve ordered goods from more convenient locations. Like omnichannel retail more broadly, order pickup options have flourished at a variety of retailers throughout the pandemic. 
    The majority of Ikea’s pickup locations will be tied to Ikea stores, and some stores will have multiple pickup locations, Quiñones said. In some cases, if there’s no Ikea store near the site of a pickup location, orders will be delivered from a distribution center instead, he added. 
    While Ikea is investing in expanding its pickup options, Quiñones emphasized that the company is still committed to its larger locations, saying that “the full Ikea experience” happens when customers step inside an Ikea store. “Pickup points will be there to just make things more convenient for the customers,” he said. 
    Ikea’s investment will also fund a continued effort to modernize existing stores, in part by improving energy efficiency, solar panel installations and electric vehicle fleets, Quiñones said. 
    Those efforts will be crucial for the company’s climate goals: By 2025, Ikea plans to have its home deliveries arrive exclusively via EVs, a key part of its larger plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More

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    Top pro leagues, media outlets team up to combat problematic sports-betting ads

    The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, WNBA, NASCAR, and MLS have joined media companies NBCUniversal and Fox to form The Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising.
    Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have launched legal betting markets.
    The coalition said it will work to ensure appropriate sports-betting advertising and call for publishers to implement internal reviews.

    Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce makes a catch for a touchdown in the first quarter past the defense of Philadelphia Eagles safety Marcus Epps during Super Bowl LVII Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona.
    Rich Sugg | Kansas City Star | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

    The nation’s top professional leagues are teaming up with some TV broadcasters to tackle irresponsible sports-betting advertising.
    The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, WNBA, NASCAR, and MLS have joined media companies NBCUniversal and Fox to form The Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising. The coalition, led by NFL vice president of public policy and government affairs, Jonathan Nabavi, aims to regulate sports-betting advertising as it floods television, internet and print media.

    The move comes as sports betting becomes legal in more states and opponents worry its advertising targets minors.
    Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have launched legal betting markets since a landmark 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case paved the way for any state to offer legal sports wagering.
    In 2022, commercial sports-betting revenue hit a high of $7.5 billion, a nearly 75% increase from 2021’s record of $4.3 billion, according to the American Gaming Association.
    “As the legalization of sports betting spreads nationwide, we feel it is critical to establish guardrails around how sports betting should be advertised to consumers across the United States,” the coalition said in a statement Wednesday. “Each member of the coalition feels a responsibility to ensure sports betting advertising is not only targeted to an appropriate audience, but also that the message is thoughtfully crafted and carefully delivered.”
    The coalition describes itself as voluntary and said it will work to ensure sports-betting advertising only targets adults of legal betting age; does not promote excessive or irresponsible gambling habits; remains in good taste; and isn’t misleading.

    The group also calls for publishers to implement appropriate internal reviews of advertisements and to review consumer complaints.
    “Legalized sports betting offers fans another way to engage with their favorite sports,” said David Highhill, general manager of sports betting for the NFL. “But just as we must support problem-gambling prevention and resourcing, we must also remain mindful of how sports betting is presented and advertised to consumers, and this coalition should greatly aid in that cause.”
    The National Council on Problem Gambling has commended the coalition and promised to work in collaboration with it to “better mitigate problem gambling related harm.”
    Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC. More