Industry News of the Day for February 8, 2022

iDEA Growth in the News: 

• Sports Handle, 2.7.22: What If California And Ohio Had Legal, Live Sports Wagering For Super Bowl LVI? (iDEA Growth tweet featured) 
  • Bettors in California and Ohio, neither of which currently offer live digital sports betting, may have wagered as much as $400 million on Super Bowl LVI if able to do so legally, according to research conducted by Sports Handle. 

iDEA Growth Member News: 

• SBC, 2.8.22: Evolution Expands Live Dealer Games Deal With FanDuel Across US 
  • Evolution has renewed its existing agreement with FanDuel Group, becoming the operator’s sole live dealer table games provider across the regulated US online gaming market. 
• US Bets, 2.7.22: Entain Purchases Avid Gaming, Owners Of Sports Interaction 
  • Entain has purchased Avid Gaming, owners of the Canadian operator Sports Interaction, for $300 million (CAD), the companies announced in a press release Monday. 
• Play PA, 2.7.22: PointsBet Sportsbook Soft Launches In Pennsylvania And Should Be Live 24/7 By Super Bowl 
  • PointsBet Sportsbook arrived in Pennsylvania on Feb. 7. All new sports betting apps are required to go through a testing/soft launch but if all goes planned, it should be fully live soon. 
• Play NY, 2.8.22: Evaluating The Empire State: January Q&A With NY Online Sports Betting Operators (DraftKings & Johnny Avello quoted, FanDuel & Kevin Hennessy quoted) 
  • PlayNY decided to ask all four operators who have been in business since Day 1 — Caesars, FanDuel, DraftKings and BetRivers — about their respective performances to date, from what they’ve done well to where they could improve. 

Overall Industry News: 

• Legal Sports Report, 2.7.22: The Week In Sports Betting News: Earnings Season Gets Rolling 
  • Happy Monday, everyone. There will be no shortage of sports betting news over the next few weeks thanks to Super Bowl LVI. 

Missouri:  

• FOX 2, 2.7.22: Lawmakers Pushing To Legalize Sports Betting In Missouri 
  • There is a new push to allow sports betting in Missouri. More than 30 states have it, including Illinois, which ranks third in dollars bet, behind only Nevada and New Jersey. 

Georgia:  

• Sports Handle, 2.7.22: Georgia Stakeholders Optimistic 2022 Is The Year For Legal Sports Betting 
  • In early January, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston met with reporters and discussed the potential for gambling legislation in his state. Ralston’s words sparked some hope among sports betting supporters that online sports wagering could soon be coming to Georgia. 

North Carolina:  

• The News & Observer, 2.8.22: ‘Time For Us To Step Up And Do It.’ Gov. Cooper Backs Legal Online Sports Betting In NC 
  • Legislation to legalize online sports gambling in North Carolina is likely to be considered in the state legislature this year. 

South Dakota:  

• Fairfield Citizen, 2.7.22: South Dakota Senate Oks Online Sports Bets Ballot Question 
  • A proposal to allow voters to decide whether to expand online sports betting across South Dakota narrowly passed the state Senate on Monday. 

Illinois: 

• IGB, 2.7.22: Illinois Breaks $7bn Handle Mark In 2021 
  • Illinois’ sports betting operators saw handle rise during December 2021 as the state became the third state to smash the $7bn mark for a calendar year. 
• Legal Sports Report, 2.7.22: IL Sportsbooks Revenues Dip In December, But Better Days Ahead 
  • Illinois sports betting took a step back in December.