Industry News of the Day for February 27, 2024

By iDEA | February 27, 2024

Industry News

  • SBC Americas: Saturday Night Live Spoofs Sports Betting And Responsible Gambling
    • Getting the Saturday Night Live treatment is generally an indicator that a person, a business or an industry has fully infiltrated the mainstream. This past weekend, sportsbooks were the target of a spoof commercial on the program. SNL aired a fake commercial for fictitious operator Rock Bottom Kings, a sportsbook that allows you to wager on the problematic behavior of your peers who may be struggling with a gambling problem. The ad mimics the look and feel of BetMGM’s spots with Jamie Foxx and the vocal delivery and graphics employed by just about every operator. More than anything though, the skit sends up the company’s approach to problem gambling, oscillating between humor and the idea you can win from gambling to periodic moments of seemingly insincere concern about addiction.
  • Gambling Insider: Jackpocket Casino Attains iCAP Certification For Player Protection
    • Jackpocket Casino, an iGaming operator in the US, has become the first iGaming operator in the country to receive the Internet Compliance Assessment Program (iCAP) certification for best practices in player protection. The wider Jackpocket organisation was recently acquired by industry giant DraftKings for $750m. Administered by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), iCAP represents the highest standard in the US for online responsible gaming. Jackpocket demonstrated its commitment to player safety by implementing various features on the app to earn this certification. Users can access customisable play limits, for example, including restrictions on deposit, spending, playtime and logged-in time levels.

Arizona

  • iGaming Business: Arizona Sports Betting Revenue Reaches Record High In December
    • December gross revenue in Arizona amounted to $66.1m (£52.1m/€60.9m). This was up 22.1% from $54.4m in the previous year and also 62.4% ahead of November’s total. Of this total, $65.2m came from online betting and $625,986 retail sportsbooks. A further $240,604 was generated by limited event wagering (LEW) operators. This came off the back of $693.3m in total wagers placed during the month. Total player spend was 21.1% ahead of December 2022 but behind the record $713.6m wagered in November. Online spend amounted to $685.1m, retail sportsbooks $6.4m and LEW operators $1.8m. A total of $17.8m in free bets and promotional credits were noted in December. Almost all of this came from online betting.

Delaware

  • Bonus.com: Change Of Operator Creates Night-And-Day Difference For Online Gambling Revenue
    • The Delaware Lottery has reported its first online casino revenue numbers since relaunching with BetRivers, and it is immediately apparent that the market’s poor performance over the past decade was primarily related to its previous operator partner. In the first month since operations changed hands, the state’s igaming revenue was nearly triple what it had been. Delaware first cracked $1 million in monthly revenue during the 2020 retail casino closures and had never exceeded $1.5 million until now. In January 2024, however, BetRivers net winnings on behalf of the Lottery totaled $3.4 million.

Iowa

  • Iowa Capitol Dispatch: Iowa Lawmakers Advance Tax Cut For Casinos
    • Lawmakers on an Iowa House panel approved a bill Monday to lower Iowa’s tax rate for licensed casinos, hoping to help the state’s 19 casinos compete with opening gambling facilities in the neighboring states of Nebraska and Illinois. Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, R-Northwood, said the bill comes amid discussions of other tax cuts, including the governor’s proposal to speed up and further reduce Iowa’s individual income tax rate. “We’re lowering taxes for individuals, we’re lowering taxes for corporations, but we’re not lowering taxes for casinos,” Bloomingdale said. “It just doesn’t seem fair. If we’re going to lower taxes for everyone across the state of Iowa, we maybe need to look at everyone.”

Maryland

  • PlayUSA: Labor Testimony Dominates House Hearing For Maryland Online Casino Bill
    • Maryland’s first hearing on online casino legislation this year showed just how complicated iGaming passage will be. The Maryland House Ways and Means Committee heard more than five hours of testimony about online casinos on Monday. While more than half was gaming industry people testified in support, the hearing continued with wave after wave of six-person panels testifying against the bill for economic or problem gambling reasons. Committee Chairwoman Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, who authored HB1319, opened the hearing by saying that there has been no cannibalization of brick-and-mortar casinos in other states with iGaming and online gaming has an opportunity to provide safer protections for problem gamblers than a land-based facility.

New York

  • PlayNY: NY Sees Big Growth In Super Bowl Betting
    • The NFL has already turned its attention to the future, leaving Super Bowl 58 – and the Kansas City Chiefs celebrating a third title in five years – in its rearview mirror. But before we completely move on to the 2024 NFL Draft and the ensuing season, we should reflect on the amount of action seen around the New York sports betting industry. The New York State Gaming Commission has not released revenue data specific to the NFL championship game played on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas. But GeoComply provided some insight into how much the Empire State was active during the Super Bowl.
  • SportsHandle: New York Mobile Sportsbooks Bounce Back, Win $38 Million For Week
    • DraftKings and FanDuel led a bounce back among New York‘s nine mobile sportsbooks the week after the Super Bowl as the New York State Gaming Commission reported just over $38 million in adjusted gross sports betting revenue for the week ending Feb. 18. The two digital powerhouses combined for $34.9 million of that revenue haul as they were the only sports betting operators to post a hold above 8%. Operator winnings were up more than 650% from the previous week, when they combined for an all-time weekly low of $5.1 million. All nine sports betting apps finished with positive AGR, while the $406.8 million handle was down 14.3% versus the previous week.

North Carolina

  • Legal Sports Report: Online NC Sports Betting Could Create $7 Billion In First-Year Wagers
    • The forthcoming launch of online NC sports betting could produce $7 billion in handle in the market’s first 12 months, according to LSR projections. Regulated online NC sports betting would generate at least $600 million of gross revenue in its first full year of operation at that rate, with some additional room to grow that over time. Legislative researchers anticipate around $65 million in first-year tax revenue from North Carolina sports betting, a number that registers as conservative against LSR’s expectations. Numbers in that ballpark would put the Tar Heel State in immediate contention for a top-five spot in the country.
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