Industry News of the Day for December 7, 2023
iDEA Growth Member News
- Legal Sports Report: DraftKings Launches Over-Under Pick6 DFS Game; Progressive Parlay Is Next
- DraftKings has launched a daily fantasy sports game centered on picking a combination of different professional athletes to go over or under a given statistic. DraftKings Pick6 debuted in six states Wednesday as a standalone DFS app and website, with additional states planned for the future. Pick6 comes more than a decade into DraftKings’ DFS business and half a decade into its sports betting business, which now sits at 23 states. Through the first 13 weeks of the NFL season, DraftKings DFS downloads are down 19% year-over-year, per Citizens JMP Securities. DraftKings ranks fifth among DFS operators in downloads, behind PrizePicks, Underdog, Sleeper and Betr — each of whom offers pick’em. Those operators’ app downloads are all up at more than 100% year-over-year.
Industry News
- Forbes: Baseball Writers Looking To Formalize Rules To Address Growing Gambling Partnerships In MLB
- As partnerships with the gaming industry continues to grow, and more websites catering to gambling emerge, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) has formed a committee with designs on proactively updating their constitution to allow clear guidance on expectations for their members. Tuesday at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville the topic was discussed with the hopes of voting to accept the recommendations next year. While not all facets of the proposed update have been finalized, the focus has been to remove conflicts of interest. One example would be a writer that has been assigned a vote for one of the major awards such as MVP or Cy Young would be required to recuse themselves from voting if they wished to wager on the same award.
- Gambling Insider: Genius Sports Launches Identification Solution, FanHub ID
- Genius Sports has launched a new identification solution, FanHub ID. The solution can identify and collect different groups of fans together into profiles, which allows marketing teams to create and distribute tailored campaigns for them. It will utilise both online and offline data signals to create fan-based identity graphs across multiple marketing channels. Manny Puentes, Genius Sports GM of Advertising, said: “Sports fans make up the world’s most passionate audiences, but marketers and content owners still struggle to identify, measure, and engage their fan personas. “FanHub ID gives them the ability to activate fan data to enable long-term loyalty.”
Florida
- PlayFL: Seminole Tribe’s Online Sportsbook Now Available To All Florida Bettors
- The Seminole Tribe’s Hard Rock Bet online sportsbook is now available to all Floridians. Hard Rock Bet was open to a limited group of Florida sports betting customers since its return on Nov. 7. However, the betting app wasn’t available statewide until Tuesday. Many speculated that the full launch would come on Thursday. An announcement coinciding with the Dec. 7 launch of craps, roulette and retail sports betting seemed to make sense. However, the tribe surprised customers by beginning to accept wagers across the state on Tuesday. The Seminole Tribe soft-launched Hard Rock Bet Florida in early November. But it was only available for two groups of bettors.
Missouri
- Sports Handle: Try, Try Again: Missouri Lawmaker, Pro Teams Will Continue Push For Legal Betting
- With the approach of the 2024 legislative session and another opportunity to try to get Missouri sports betting legalized, a total of 12 proposed ballot initiatives have been approved for circulation, and at least one lawmaker says he will try again in the General Assembly. Missouri’s sports teams in August filed four initiative proposals that would allow for statewide sports betting sites. The proposals have all been approved for signature gathering, in addition to eight others that were subsequently filed. It’s not clear which proposal will move forward, but to get on the November ballot, proponents must collect 171,592 verified signatures by early May.
New York
- PlayNY: BetMGM ‘Eagerly Anticipating’ Legislation To Legalize NY Online Casinos
- For years, New York lawmakers have attempted to further expand legal online gambling. So it should come as no surprise the Sen. Joe Addabbo, arguably the leading proponent of expansion, expects to introduce legislation before the end of the year that would legalize online casinos in New York. Similarly, it should not come as a shock that a giant in the gambling industry expects “some movement on the legislative front” in the near future. That’s how Adam Greenblatt put it during a 2023 business update for BetMGM. The CEO mentioned to investors that BetMGM is looking at potential new iGaming states, ones that he called “highly coveted,” despite being “both surprised and disappointed in the past.”
- PlayUSA: Two NY Lawmakers Propose Legal Online Casinos To Help Budget Deficit
- New York lawmakers who head gambling committees in the Senate and Assembly are looking to improve legislation legalizing a new form of online gambling. Officials say legalizing NY online casinos and an online state lottery could bring in another $1 billion in revenue to the Empire State. It could also help close budget gaps projected over the next few years. Addabbo and Pretlow said their expectations were proven correct – legal online sports betting, which began in January 2022, was and continues to be a major success in NY. Online sports betting brought in nearly $1 billion in tax revenue throughout its first year. That’s more than any other state collected. Most funds go to education aid and sports programs for underserved kids.
North Carolina
- NC Sharp: Online Sportsbooks Move Quickly To Request Betting Applications In North Carolina
- As of Dec. 6, 11 sports betting operators have requested online sports betting applications in North Carolina. Sterl Carpenter, deputy director of sports betting for the NC Lottery Commission, presented the numbers for operator application requests as well as suppliers and service providers at today’s NCLC Sports Betting Committee meeting. The application portal opened on Dec. 1 and will remain open until Dec. 27. In his presentation today, Carpenter stressed the importance of operators submitting their completed applications before the deadline to give regulators enough time to vet them properly. The NCLC has 60 days from the submission date to either approve or reject an application. As a result of this timeframe, the Commission has indicated that online sports betting in North Carolina will not launch before the 2024 Super Bowl on Feb. 11.
Ohio
- PlayOhio: Here’s How Ohio Sports Betting Revenue Will Look If Lawmaker Gets Wish
- The Buckeye State’s sports betting market became one of the nation’s strongest in less than a year. However, one state lawmaker sees room for improvement. Sen. Niraj Antani introduced legislation proposing that would halve the current tax rate for Ohio online sportsbooks. His proposed bill seeks to cut the gross receipts tax rate from its current 20% mark to a more industry-friendly 10%. When Ohio sports betting first launched in January, the tax rate was 10%. However, state lawmakers voted to double the tax rate to 20% through the state budget this past summer.
Ontario
- PlayCanada: BetMGM Touts Success In Ontario, Claiming 22% Of Online Gambling Market
- BetMGM has established itself as one of the online gambling leaders in North America. However, it couldn’t get there without the aid of its offerings among the Ontario online casino and Ontario online sportsbook markets, which is proving to be one of its top markets. On Monday, BetMGM presented a business update and its success in the province was certainly highlighted. BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt touted BetMGM’s 17% market share in the online sports betting and online casino market across the United States and Ontario. Earlier this year we looked at Ontario online gambling revenue over the first year of the province’s regulated market (April 1, 2022-March 31, 2023).
Pennsylvania
- PlayPennsylvania: Jackpot City Launches As Newest Pennsylvania Online Casino
- Another online casino has entered the Pennsylvania market. Jackpot City became the latest operator available in the Keystone State after launching a platform earlier this week. The addition of Jackpot City gives the state a total of 21 PA online casinos. Along with Jackpot City’s surprise debut, the Pennsylvania market has seen some changes, but no signs of slowing down. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) confirmed to PlayPennsylvania that Jackpot City launched as the 21st operator within the state, and the fourth to go live in 2023. Jackpot City debuted earlier this week in partnership with certificate holder, Live! Casino Philadelphia.