Industry News of the Day for April 8, 2024

By iDEA | April 8, 2024

Industry News

  • Gambling Insider: RSI Appoints Brian Sapp CMO
    • Rush Street Interactive (RSI) has appointed Brian Sapp as its new CMO. Sapp previously worked as the Head of Growth at Rec Room, a virtual reality space that acts as a hangout area for users. Rec Room brought Sapp to the team in 2021, after it achieved unicorn status and went on to raise a total of $3.5bn in funding in the next few years. During his time at the company, Sapp was responsible for overseeing marketing, publishing, consumer insights, first-party revenue and the life cycle of the product. This is especially interesting, seeing as Inspired recently debuted its virtual sports product through RSI in New Jersey.

Rhode Island

  • Gaming Today: Rhode Island Sports Betting Handle Drops Below $40 Million In February
    • Sports betting handle dropped below $40 million for the first time in five months in February in Rhode Island. After a strong start to the year, the Rhode Island Lottery reported that the state picked up $38.8 million in wagers, with total gaming revenue down significantly from January this year. Revenue dropped by almost half in February to $2.8 million from January’s record high of $5 million. Rhode Island reported revenue of more than $40 million for four successive months from October last year to January this year. That streak broke in February due to the NFL’s offseason as has been the case with most other states across the USA.

New York

  • SportsHandle: New York Mobile Sportsbooks Claim $41.9 Million To Close Out March
    • The New York State Gaming Commission reported $41.9 million in adjusted gross weekly sports betting revenue from its nine mobile operators for the week ending March 31 as the group improved their collective hold by more than three percentage points to 9.2%. New York remains the only state to eclipse $2 billion in monthly handle, setting the U.S. record in November at $2.12 billion. That came during a three-month stretch when wagering topped $2 billion from October through December.

California

  • Legal Sports Report: California Sports Betting Future Front And Center At IGA Conference
    • Indian Gaming Association conference chair Victor Rocha says the future of California sports betting remains in a state of flux. “Everything is up in the air. It’s exciting and terrifying,” Rocha said on his podcast last week. Still, with FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook sponsoring the 2024 Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention, which takes place April 8-11, there is hope that a pathway toward legalization can eventually be found. Perhaps, as Rocha suggested, it involves the legalization of in-person California sports betting for 2026, with online sports betting going live in the Golden State in 2028.

Washington D.C.

  • SportsHandle: Fanduel ‘Tentatively Scheduled’ To Take Over For GambetDC On April 15
    • FanDuel is “tentatively scheduled” to take over for GambetDC as the primary sports betting app in Washington D.C. on April 15, according to an FAQ posted on GambetDC’s website and app. GambetDC plans to accept its final wagers on April 14, and customers will need to withdraw funds from GambetDC by Oct. 15, 2024. The switch comes after several years of poor performance from GambetDC, including an iOS failure on Super Bowl Sunday in 2022. The D.C. Lottery proposed earlier this year that third-party provider Intralot make FanDuel its subcontractor to offer widespread mobile sports betting in the District.

Colorado

  • SBC Americas: Sports Betting Operators in Colorado Close February With 4.8% Hold
    • The Colorado Department of Revenue reported a total sports betting handle of $536.9 million in February 2024, a 26.3% increase compared to the same month last year. Despite the year-over-year uptick, February’s results represent a 10% decrease from January 2024. Between January 2024 and February 2024, Colorado has posted a $1.13 billion handle. The two-month handle surpasses 2022’s previous record of $1 billion for January and February.

Florida

  • SBCAmericas: SCOTUS Grants Second Extension In FL Sports Betting Case
    • The Supreme Court of the United States has granted a second extension to the Department of Justice in the case challenging the legality of sports betting in Florida. The DOJ requested the extension last week, once again citing problems with the workload of the attorneys assigned to this case. The group initially requested an extension on March 5, giving them until April 12. Now, the government has until May 13 to file a response. With that delay, it will be well into the summer if the Supreme Court chooses to hear the case.
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