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How to play Sticky Bombs
In June, Grasso wrote an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune criticizing what he described as media coverage that unfairly associates Italian Americans with organized crime. However, he did not directly name Rovito in the piece.
“I’ve sadly watched some members of the Chicago news media stigmatize Italian Americans as Outfit members or mafia operatives whenever it serves to embellish a story,” Grasso wrote.
“The Outfit still sells, pathetically. It’s time that it stops. Or as I like to say: Basta. Enough.”
How to play Sticky Bombs
In an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune in June, Grasso complained that “some members of the Chicago news media stigmatize Italian Americans as Outfit members or mafia operatives whenever it serves to embellish a story.”
Federal prosecutors, however, do not mention the mafia in court documents. They allege the gambling ring generated millions of dollars through illegal sports betting, video gambling, and loansharking operations, with members using intimidation and violence—or the threat of it—to collect debts.
Rovito’s past criminal record includes convictions for aggravated criminal sexual assault and possession of a controlled substance.
How to play Sticky Bombs
But Entain warned the current timeline, which would enforce the ban by August 2027, was not timely enough, allowing unlicensed operators to sponsor Premier League clubs for another full season.
Premier League clubs are prohibited from any form of gambling front-of-shirt sponsor, after a voluntary ban came in from the start of the 2026-27 campaign.
But Entain found 11 of the current 20 Premier League clubs still hold sponsorship or advertising arrangements with operators that don’t hold a UK licence, up from the government’s estimate of eight.