Industry News of the Day for April 24, 2020

iDEA Growth Member News:

• The Wall Street Journal, 4.23.20 – Sports-Betting Operator DraftKings Set To Go Public
  • DraftKings Inc. is set to begin public trading Friday after shareholders of a special-purpose acquisition company voted to approve its takeover of the sports-betting operator.
• Bloomberg, 4.24.20 – DraftKings CEO Defies The Odds To Go Public
  • DraftKings Chief Executive Officer Jason Robins discusses taking his sports-betting company public on Friday after agreeing to a $3.3 billion merger with Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp.
• Bloomberg, 4.24.20 – DraftKings Bull Sees Shift To Online Gambling Amid Pandemic
  • DraftKings’s price target was raised to $25 from $20 at Craig-Hallum Capital Group, which expects a surge in interest for online sports gambling when games resume after the pandemic.
• Legal Sports Report, 4.23.20 – DraftKings Goes Public After Shareholder Approval, Business Combination
  • DraftKings is now a publicly traded company. The acquisition of DraftKings and SBTech received shareholder approval Wednesday, and DraftKings announced late Thursday that it completed the complex transactions to finish its reverse merger.
• Sports Handle, 4.23.20 – DraftKings Goes Public Despite Unprecedented Challenges
  • DraftKings made its public market debut on Friday under less than auspicious circumstances.
• Baltimore Sun, 4.24.20 – DraftKings Shares Jump 15% In First 3 Minutes Of Trading
  • You can now bet on DraftKings … as a company.
• Online Poker Report, 4.24.20 – US Online Casino Market Drives Growth For NetEnt, Evolution
  • US online casinos are an increasingly important part of the global gambling business.
• Gaming Intelligence, 4.24.20 – US Sports Betting Expansion Drives Kambi Growth In Q1
  • Stockholm-listed sports betting technology supplier Kambi has reported a 33 percent increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2020, despite a 70 percent fall in trading in the final weeks of the quarter due to the cancellation of sports in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• SBC Americas, 4.24.20 – Sportradar And SportsGrid Secure Multi-Year Sports Data Partnership
  • SportsGrid, the streaming video platform dedicated to the sports betting and DFS audience, has reached a multi-year agreement with Sportradar to power its real-time data, statistics and analytic solutions.

Industry News:

• Legal Sports Report, 4.23.20 – New Player In Town: Boom Sports To Launch B2C Sportsbook
  • US sports bettors could soon have a new out, as New York-based Boom Sports announced plans to launch its consumer-facing sportsbook.
• Gambling Compliance, 4.24.20 – Regulators Weigh Measures To Reopen US Casino Industry
  • As some politicians and executives lobby for U.S. casino to reopen, state regulators are not ready to commit to any timeline even as they begin to discuss plans to bring the industry back online.
• Bloomberg, 4.23.20 – NFL Draft Becomes Lifeline For Sports Betting And Broadcasters
  • This year – when the rest of the sports world is shut down because of the coronavirus — the NFL draft has become a lifeline for broadcasters, advertisers and bookmakers that are all starved for content.
• Penn Bets, 4.23.20 – Boom Stepping Up In Sports Betting World With New Penn National Deal
  • Boom Sports, a company that started with alternative versions of daily fantasy sports and pivoted into developing games for league and network partners, is aiming now to enter the sports betting and iCasino world.
• PlayUSA, 4.24.20 – No Sports? No Problem. New Jersey, Pennsylvania Online Gambling Grew In March
  • Both online casinos and online poker have seen an uptick. And last month, industries in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania seemingly compensated for a lack of sports.

Overall Industry News:

• Online Poker Report, 4.23.20 – Is 2020 The Right Time To Reimagine The World Series Of Poker?
  • The World Series of Poker (WSOP) announced this week that its flagship summer series will be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sports League News:

• US Bets, 4.23.20 – ‘Somewhere In Florida’ – Is The UFC Teasing Sports Bettors, Books Once Again?
  • The UFC is moving full steam ahead to reschedule its postponed April 18 event for May 9, according to MMA Fighting.

New Jersey:

• PlayNJ, 4.23.20 – New Jersey Gaming News: Visiting A Post-Pandemic AC, NFL Draft, WSOP Moves To Fall
  • As the calls for reopening the city become louder, New Jersey remains under lockdown orders. Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to update residents by the end of the week.

Pennsylvania:

• Online Poker Report, 4.23.20 – Caesars Online Casino Launches In Pennsylvania; WSOP PA Coming Soon?
  • Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday became the ninth land-based casino in Pennsylvania to offer online gambling in the state, doing so under the brand of its parent company Caesars.

Illinois:

• Legal Sports Report, 4.24.20 – Finally, An End To Years Of Madness In The Illinois DFS Saga
  • The 2015 opinion by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan concluded that daily fantasy sports (DFS) violated state gambling law. The 2020 decision by the Illinois Supreme Court determined at least some daily fantasy contests are games of skill and are, therefore, permissible within the Prairie State.

Colorado:

• The Denver Channel, 4.23.20 – Sports Betting Adapting To Obscure Wages; Colorado Gets Closer To May 1 Legal Sports Gambling Date
  • Sports betting without sports, it’s quite a predicament for gamblers. But, gamblers have the itch and sportsbooks are willing to do what they can to scratch.
• Affiliate Insider, 4.24.20 – BonusFinder Awarded Colorado License
  • Player-centric affiliate website BonusFinder has been given permission to expand its services to Colorado.

Oregon:

• KLCC, 4.23.20 – The New Favorite For Oregon Sports Bettors? Russian Table Tennis
  • With nearly all organized sports shut down worldwide due to the coronavirus, gamblers looking to place their sports wagers through the Oregon Lottery have slim pickings. And that’s caused the number of wagers placed to drop dramatically.

Oklahoma:

• Law360, 4.23.20 – Okla. Leaders Fault 2 Tribes’ New Gaming Compacts With Gov. (subscription paywall)
  • The Comanche Nation and Otoe-Missouria Tribe’s newly signed gaming compacts with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin J. Stitt have drawn criticism from lawmakers and the state attorney general, who question the validity of the deals announced right after the governor moved to release the two tribes from a gambling suit.
• The ADA News, 4.24.20 – Legislative Leaders Say Stitt’s Compacts Not Lawful
  • State House and Senate leaders sent a pointed letter to Oklahoma’s governor Wednesday evening, warning him not to “waste” resources submitting the two new gaming compacts for federal review.