View in browser   PRESENTED BY BANK OF AMERICA   Axios AM By Mike Allen · Nov 26, 2023 Good Sunday morning! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,190 words ... 4½ mins. Edited by Donica Phifer.      1 big thing: Legal betting surge  Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   More states, hungry for revenue, plan big moves toward legalizing sports betting over the next two years:  Maine and Vermont are close, according to Legal Sports Report. States expected to revisit sports-betting efforts that recently failed include California, Texas, Georgia, Minnesota and Missouri. Why it matters: This has been a debate in nearly every U.S. legislature since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports betting in 2018, Axios' Analis Bailey reports. In 37 states plus D.C., retail and online sports betting is legal and operating. 🔎 Between the lines: Online sportsbooks account for the majority of legal betting options in the U.S., and are available in 27 states + D.C. 🔮 What's next: A bill in Texas to legalize sports betting passed the state House this year but stalled in the Senate. The bill can be reconsidered in 2025. Florida sports betting is tangled in a legal battle involving state and federal courts. State-by-state tracker ... Share this story.         2. ⚡ American hostages slated for release Yoni Asher cradles three family members who were released by Hamas after being taken hostage from a kibbutz on Oct. 7 — his wife, Doron Katz Asher, and their daughters, Raz, age 4½ (left), and Aviv, 2½ — at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel. Photo released by family permission, via Reuters The list of hostages Hamas provided for today's expected release includes Americans, two Israeli officials tell Axios' Barak Ravid. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC News' Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press" that the White House has "reason to believe that at least one American will be released today. We hope [4-year-old] Abigail Edan will be released. But we can't know for sure until it happens." State of play: The Biden administration was involved at the highest levelsin the Qatar-mediated talks that led to the deal. The agreement includes a four-day pause in the fighting in Gaza and the release of dozens of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Hamas is expected to release 50 women and children over the four-day pause. About 150 Palestinian prisoners, mainly women and children, will be released in return. Hamas freed a total of 26 Israeli women and children over the first two days of the pause. Israel released 78 Palestinian women and minors from Israeli prisons.  President Biden is expected to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, Sullivan said.  Get the latest.         3. 📈 Shoppers set online Black Friday record Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios   Americans set a new online spending record for Black Friday, Axios' Hope King and Kelly Tyko report. Why it matters: The tradition of whipping out wallets right after turkey remains strong, overcoming consumer gloom. 🧮 By the numbers: Shoppers shelled out $9.8 billion online Friday — a 7.5% jump from last year, Adobe Analytics reported yesterday. The momentum was set on Thanksgiving Day, which saw a 5.5% increase online from last year to $5.6 billion, per Adobe data. 🛍️ A measure that includes in-store sales, Mastercard SpendingPulse, also found Black Friday spending was up year over year. 📦 Fun facts: On Black Friday, 80.5% of all online orders used standard shipping instead of premium.  Curbside pickup was used for 13% of online orders on Friday with retailers who offer the service. The bottom line: "Black Friday reasserted its dominance," said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst for Adobe Digital Insights. Holiday shopping data (updated daily) ... Share this story.         A MESSAGE FROM BANK OF AMERICA Perspectives from Hispanic-Latino small business owners      Bank of America's 2023 Women & Minority Business Owner Spotlight found that more than half of Hispanic-Latino small business owners plan to expand their business in the next 12 months. Plus, plus, plus: Nearly half plan to hire more employees. See how they're growing.     4. 🧊 Megaberg on the move after 30+ years This satellite image shows the A23a iceberg (center) moving through the sea near Antarctica Nov. 15. Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP The world's second-largest iceberg is drifting beyond Antarctic waters after running aground in 1986.  The iceberg, A23a, split from the Antarctic's Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. It became stuck to the ocean floor and remained for many years in the Weddell Sea, the British Antarctic Survey says (via AP). The megaberg is three times the size of New York City and more than twice the size of Greater London, measuring around 1,500 square miles. Andrew Fleming, a remote sensing expert from the British Antarctic Survey, told the BBC the iceberg has been drifting for the past year — and now appears to be picking up speed and moving past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, helped by wind and ocean currents. 🧠 What's happening: "I asked a couple of colleagues about this, wondering if there was any possible change in shelf water temperatures that might have provoked it, but the consensus is the time had just come," Fleming said.  "It was grounded since 1986 but eventually it was going to decrease [in size] sufficiently to lose grip and start moving. I spotted first movement back in 2020." See a map ... Go deeper: Using AI to track icebergs.         5. 📊 Americans bearish on American dream Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   Americans are increasingly unlikely to believe their children will be better off, Axios' Dave Lawler writes from two recent polls. Why it matters: America's enormous wealth gap is often cited as a reason for the decline in faith in the American dream. 🧮 By the numbers: A Wall Street Journal/NORC poll asked respondents whether they believe "the American Dream — that if you work hard you'll get ahead — still holds true." Just 36% said it's still true. 18% said it was never true. 45% said it was once true, but no longer is. In an NBC News poll released this past week, just 19% of respondents said they're confident their kids' generation will be better off than their own. That's a record low in the 33 years the poll has asked that question.  🔎 Between the lines: In the Journal poll, women were more pessimistic about the state of the American dream than men. Younger people were much more pessimistic than people over 65.  Reality check: An Axios-Ipsos Latino Poll last year found that 61% of Latinos believe that if they work hard, they can achieve the American dream. WSJ toplines (no paywall) ... Share this story.         6. 💭 Tweet du jour: Putting it in perspective  Via X           7. 🎹 Hall & Oates mystery solved  Daryl Hall (left) and John Oates perform in Sacramento in 2017. Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images In Axios PM last week, we told you the iconic rock duo Hall & Oates is in the thick of a mysterious litigation battle in Nashville. Daryl Hall was granted a restraining order against John Oates — but details were sealed. Now it's less mysterious: Hall's court filing asserts that Oates plans to sell off his share of their joint venture, which would violate confidential terms, AP reports. A judge blocked the sale while arbitration and Hall's lawsuit are ongoing.  A Nashville chancery court judge said in the Nov. 16 temporary restraining order that, for now, Oates and others involved in his trust can't move to close the sale of their share of Whole Oats Enterprises to Primary Wave IP Investment Management. Primary Wave has held a "significant interest" in Hall and Oates' copyright catalog for 15+ years. 🥊 In a 2021 interview with Sky News, Hall showed he was bitter about the sale of his back catalog. "Oh, in the early days, it got sold off for me and I didn't get the money," he said. He advised artists to retain their publishing rights: "[A]ll you have is that." 🔮 What's next: A Thursday court hearing is scheduled.         8. 🏈 1 for the road: Before/after Screenshot: Michigan Athletics This 20-second time-lapse video shows Michigan fans swarming the field at The Big House in Ann Arbor after beating rival Ohio State in "The Game" for the third year in a row.  No. 3 Michigan toppled No. 2 Ohio State, 30-24, in an exciting game that wasn't put away until the final 25 seconds.  Screenshot: Michigan Athletics Watch ... Read ... Playoff scenarios.         A MESSAGE FROM BANK OF AMERICA Women small business owners expect to grow in 2024      Bank of America's 2023 Women & Minority Business Owner Spotlight found that women small business owners have a positive business outlook. Here’s what else: Nearly two-thirds expect their revenue to increase over the next 12 months.