Industry News of the Day for March 19, 2024

By iDEA | March 19, 2024

Industry News

  • Legal Sports Report: Business By The Books: MGM Close To Securing Sports Betting Tech
    • MGM has two big focuses for its digital business and expects to check off acquiring sports betting technology soon. That is according to CEO Bill Hornbuckle, who spoke at a JP Morgan investor forum Thursday. MGM is partnered with Entain in the US for BetMGM but uses sports betting tech supplier Kambi for its LeoVegas business. “There’s two things missing in my mind: sports betting and sports betting technology, which we are hot on the track of and we openly plan on securing in the next couple of months,” he said. Hornbuckle briefly mentioned the search for tech on the company’s fourth quarter call as well: “We are on the heels of buying sports technology. We want to obviously be in our own sports betting business with our own technology.”
  • SportsHandle: As Rebet Goes Live, Dartmouth Founders Aim To Revolutionize Social Sports Betting
    • In an appetizer to the main course that is March Madness, Yale outlasted Brown in Sunday’s delicious Ivy League tournament final. Trailing by one in the waning seconds, Yale guard Bez Mbeng drove into the lane and fed a wide-open Matt Knowling, who swished a one-handed floater at the buzzer. Knowling’s basket unleashed a wild celebration as the Bulldogs deprived Brown of its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1986. Had Rebet been live on Sunday, scores of college hoops fans could have engaged with their followers in real time on the platform. As happenstance, the social sportsbook launched on Monday, one day before the First Four in Dayton. The platform is dubbed as the market’s first-of-its-kind, free-to-play social sportsbook.

Arkansas

  • SBC Americas: Lottery Courier Jackpot.com Set To Launch In Arkansas
    • Lottery courier service Jackpot.com has expanded its reach to Arkansas. Jackpot.com, which allows players to purchase official state lottery tickets and collect winnings directly from their phone, desktop or tablet, currently operates in Texas. Ohio, New York and Massachusetts. Jackpot.com has received funding from a plethora of major players in the sports and gaming industry in the last few years. Investors include the ownership groups of several NFL teams, the founder of Fanatics Michael Rubin and NBA stars James Harden and Joel Embid.  “We’re thrilled to announce Jackpot.com’s launch in the Natural State,” said Jackpot.com CEO and co-founder Akshay K. Khanna. “Jackpot.com is happy to help Arkansas lottery players order official state lottery tickets online with increased safety, security and convenience.

Colorado

  • PlayColorado: Colorado Sports Betting Taxes Exceeded $4 Million In January
    • The Colorado Department of Revenue released its first batch of 2024 numbers for sports betting. The state reached a big milestone, marking the first month that taxes on sports betting exceeded $4 million. Colorado imposes a 10% tax on sports betting operators. The money raised goes to the state’s water fund, dedicated to protecting water resources and ensuring everyone has access to enough water. Handle jumped 16.71% compared to December 2023. That increase was 9.05% compared to January of 2023. Taxes saw a 12.11% month-over-month bump and a whopping 59.61% increase from last January.

Georgia

  • Capitol Beat News Service: Georgia House Committee Takes Up Sports Betting
    • A proposed constitutional amendment the state Senate passed late last month letting Georgia voters decide whether to legalize sports betting got its first hearing in the state House of Representatives Monday. While Georgia lawmakers have considered bills in recent years calling for legalizing sports betting by statute without changing the state Constitution, a statewide referendum should be the preferred route for the General Assembly, Sen. Bill Cowsert, the legislation’s chief sponsor told members of the House Higher Education Committee. “When you have this major a policy shift, the public ought to be allowed a buy-in, to vote on it,” said Cowsert, R-Athens.

Maine

  • Gaming Today: Maine Sports Betting Handle Reaches Record Low In February
    • Maine sports betting handle continued its downtrend in Feb. 2024 with the state collecting $33.6 million in wagers, down from $38.1 million in January this year. Collections for both months this year have been down from the $44.4 million in betting handle from Dec. 2023, a concerning trend that is indicative of a decreasing appetite for sports betting in the NFL’s offseason months. There are various factors to consider while analyzing these numbers. Firstly, only two sportsbooks – DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook – operate in the state of Maine. In terms of adjusted revenue, both operators combined for $4.6 million in total collection of over $33 million. Revenue in February was almost $1 million down from January, where these operators managed $5.5 million in adjusted revenue with a hold of close to 15%.

Maryland

  • PlayUSA: Watson To Push For Maryland Online Casino Referendum, Leave Details For Next Year
    • Maryland Sen. Ron Watson holds out hope for convincing colleagues to pass the online casino legislation sent over by the House, but he admits that doesn’t appear likely. So Watson is working on an alternate plan that could cut the delay from legislative inaction from years to mere months. If the Senate isn’t ready to pass Maryland online casino legislation this year, legislators could still let voters decide on if they want it legalized. “I hope at minimum to pass a referendum and put this to voters,” Watson said. “Because if we don’t do a referendum this year, we have to wait until 2026.”

New Jersey

  • PlayNJ: February Handle At Sportsbooks Tops $1B In New Jersey, Revenue Spiking YoY
    • New Jersey sportsbooks cooled down in February after starting 2024 on a white-hot, record-setting run. Sports gamblers in NJ laid down more than $1.08 billion in legal wagers last month, according to data released Friday by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. Nearly 96.5% of the amount wagered came via online sportsbooks in New Jersey, based on the NJDGE reports. New Jersey sports betting generated $67.6 million in revenue last month. That figure is the sum of all 18 mobile sportsbooks as well as retail sportsbooks at Atlantic City casinos and licensed racetracks in the Garden State.

North Carolina

  • NCSharp: North Carolina Betting Apps Flooded With iOS Device Log-On Attempts
    • Early geolocation data from the NC Lottery Commission suggests that iOS devices have a strong foothold in the official launch of online sports betting in North Carolina. This should come as no surprise as, statistically, Apple has more than a 50% share of the US market, with nearly half of all Americans owning an iPhone or iPad. The data also suggests that North Carolina online sports betting is off to a strong start. A recent tweet by Rep. Jason Saine, the key protagonist in North Carolina’s journey towards legal sports betting, revealed insights into the current mobile betting landscape in the Tar Heel State.

Pennsylvania

  • Bonus.com: More Pennsylvanians Using Text Messages & Online Chat for Problem Gambling Help, 2023 Data Shows
    • Last year, Pennsylvanians increasingly sought problem gambling help via text and online chat, according to data from the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania (CCGP). CCGP is responsible for promoting and monitoring 1-800-GAMBLER helpline use in the state. Ahead of the release of its annual report, CCGP shared its call data with Bonus and PlayUSA. In addition to more people reaching out via chat or text, the data shows that more Pennsylvanians called for help with problem gambling in 2023. However,  the numbers also show requests dropped dramatically in the year’s latter months. This suggests the crisis may have peaked last spring, according to Alex Weldon’s analysis at PlayUSA.
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