Industry News of the Day for April 24, 2023

iDEA Growth Member News

  • The Wall Street Journal: This Couple Built An Obscure Corner Of Sports Betting Into A Billion-Dollar Business
    • A husband-and-wife team founded a tech company here that is quietly policing the multibillion-dollar online-gambling industry in the U.S. GeoComply scrutinizes nearly every online bet on sports to determine whether the wager is happening in a state where it’s legal. Over the past five years, the company has signed on DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars and other betting operators as customers as online gambling rapidly expanded across the U.S.

Industry News

  • Legal Sports Report: Rubin Lowers Expectations For Fanatics Sportsbook Launches By NFL Season
    • CEO Michael Rubin appears to be tempering expectations for the anticipated launch of Fanatics Sportsbook this year. According to Sports Business Journal, Rubin expects Fanatics to be live with US sports betting in 12-15 states by the start of the 2023 NFL season. Rubin had projected 15-20 states live in time for 2023 NFL betting in October 2022.
  • The New York Times: NFL Walks A Fine Line On Players’ Betting
    • When the Supreme Court legalized sports gambling in 2018, the N.F.L. rushed to embrace a lucrative line of business it had denounced for decades as bad for the sport. There was, after all, new money to be made. The consequences of that about-face are now coming due. The league on Friday handed down some of the strictest penalties it has ever issued, banning three players for at least the 2023 season for betting on N.F.L. games and suspending two others for six games for other violations of the league’s betting policy.

Colorado

  • PlayColorado: Colorado Per Capita Sports Betting Among Highest In US
    • Colorado ranks third in sports betting per person. That probably comes as a surprise. But it’s true when looking at per capita sports wagering over the last 12 months. Sports bettors in The Centennial State wager $883 on average each year. It’s difficult to explain why Colorado ranks so high, but it’s probably because Coloradans are obsessed with sports.

Illinois

  • PlayIllinois: FanDuel, DraftKings Dominate Illinois Sports Betting Market Share
    • PlayIllinois took a deep dive into the Illinois Gaming Board’s numbers and found that DraftKings and FanDuel have over 60% of the market combined. That leaves the five other IL sports betting sites duking it out for the remaining 40%. By handle, DraftKings is the king of the Illinois sports betting sites. More than $6.8 billion has been wagered through DraftKings Illinois.

Iowa

  • PlayIA: Iowa House Bill Would Alter Distribution Of Sports Betting Taxes
    • The Iowa House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that will change the distribution formula for taxes collected from sports wagering. Iowa sports betting has been legal in the state since August 2019. However, the tax revenue has not gone into the state infrastructure fund. The bill would have all 99 Iowa counties, including those with state-licensed casinos, receiving the funds for quality-of-life improvement projects.

Mississippi

  • PlayUSA: Mississippi Reports March Casino And Sports Betting Revenue Increases
    • The Mississippi Gaming Commission’s (MGC) latest report shows monthly revenue and betting handle increase in March. However, both revenue and handle were down compared to March of last year. Mississippi casino gambling revenue in March has increased month-over-month, surpassing January and February numbers from this year. Altogether, casinos in the state brought in $230.97 million in gambling revenue for the month.

New York

  • PlayNY: Experts: After Striking Out In 2023, NY Online Casinos Have Hope Next Year
    • New York will not be getting online gaming in 2023. But neither is anywhere else in the United States, according to a panel of industry experts. Although legal online sports betting has spread to over two-thirds of the US population in less than five years, internet casino gambling has not kept pace. As shown in New York, where lawmakers have fervently attempted — and failed — to legalize NY online casinos.

North Carolina

  • NC Sharp: Will North Carolina Colleges Create Their Own Sports Betting Bans?
    • College sports are an important part of the sports betting industry. However, it’s become a contentious topic in North Carolina as the state tries to legalize online betting. As it stands, North Carolina sports betting will include college wagering. Some lawmakers have already tried to remove it from the picture. The argument is that the current version of the bill doesn’t include enough protections to alleviate integrity concerns.

Ontario

  • SBC Americas: Q4 Handle Up 21% In Ontario Igaming Market, Reports iGO
    • The numbers in the Ontario igaming market keep on rising as evidenced by iGaming Ontario (iGO) in its fourth quarter of operations market performance report. In total, C$13.9bn ($10.2bn) was wagered between Jan.1 and Mar. 31, triple that of Q1 (C$4.08bn/$3.02bn) and up 20.8% on Q3 (C$11.5bn/$8.5bn), taking total wagers for the year to $35.5bn ($26.25bn).

Tennessee

  • Sports Handle: Tennessee Passes Nation’s First Handle Tax, Removes Mandatory Hold
    • Changes are likely coming to Tennessee’s sports betting market. State legislators…passed SB 475 on Friday. The bill changes the state’s mobile sports betting tax system from a 20% tax of adjusted gross revenue to a 1.85% tax on an operator’s handle. The bill “prohibits licensees from deducting payouts to bettors or promotional wagers or payouts from total gross wagers.”

Texas

  • PlayTexas: Sports Betting Legislation Fails In Oklahoma, A Bad Omen For Texas
    • In a surprising turn, sports betting legislation in Oklahoma has failed this year despite a strong showing in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. House Bill 1027, which would have allowed retail and online sports betting through tribes with existing gaming compacts, failed to advance through the Senate Finance Committee before an April 13 legislative deadline.