Industry News of the Day for March 27, 2024

Industry News

• SBC Americas: SBC Announces Six 2024 Sports Betting Hall Of Fame inductees
  • SBC has revealed the six individuals set to join the esteemed ranks of the 2024 Sports Betting Hall of Fame. The dignitaries who make up the Class of 2024 include:
    • Staci Alonso: Former Commissioner and EVP|CMO, Nevada State Athletic Commission
    • Richie Baccellieri: Race and Sports Industry Expert
    • Christian Genetski: President, FanDuel
    • Jay Kornegay: Vice President Race & Sports Operations, Westgate Las Vegas
    • Mike Tobin: Founder and CEO, Continent8 Technologies

• Gambling Insider: Playtech Reports Revenue Up 7% In Fiscal Year 2023 Results
  • Playtech has reported revenue for the fiscal year indicating a moderate uptick of 7%, reaching €1.7bn ($1.8bn) compared to the previous year’s figure of €1.6bn. The reported improvement in financial metrics can be primarily attributed to advancements across both Playtech’s business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) operations. Looking ahead, Playtech aims to maintain its medium-term adjusted EBITDA targets of €200-250m for B2B and €300-350m for B2C.

Delaware

• US Bets: Delaware Internet Casino Revenue Hits Record $4.3 Million For February
  • The Delaware Lottery reported a monthly all-time record of $4.3 million gross internet casino revenue for February as the switch to BetRivers Casino continues to provide early impressive year-over-year growth versus predecessor 888 Holdings. Overall slots and table drop totaled $117.2 million, also an all-time monthly high, and an increase of 208.1% compared to the $38 million reported for the previous February. The $220.5 million wagered in the first two months of the year is nearly half the $446.6 million online patrons bet for all of 2023.

Connecticut

• Gaming Today: Connecticut Sports Betting Handle Drops Despite Promising Trends
  • Connecticut endured a tough month in February, with sports betting handle dropping to $162.7 million after a strong start to the year. That broke a streak of three consecutive months of recorded sports wagers of more than $200 million each, starting from November last year into January this year. Connecticut’s handle dropped by almost $40 million after registering $202.6 million in wagers in January. Like most other states, this drop coincided with the end of the 2023-24 NFL season. Operators are required to pay 13.75% of gross gaming revenue (GGR) to the state of Connecticut as tax.

Maryland

• PlayUSA: Maryland Online Casino Hopes Rest On Unlikely Budget Inclusion
  • The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee heard HB1319, which the House passed 10 days earlier by a vote of 92-43. The discussion ended after just 18 minutes. Sources tell PlayUSA that unless Maryland online casino comes out of the budget conference committee, this likely will be its last hearing of 2024. Budget discussions are the key key to Maryland legalizing online casino. The House and Senate passed budget plans last week. While the House included iCasino revenue in its budget proposal, the Senate did not. So it’s unlikely that Maryland online casino makes it any further than Tuesday’s hearing.

New Jersey

• PlayNJ: Proposed New Jersey Senate Bill Would Double Tax Rates On Online Casinos, Sportsbooks
  • State Sen. John McKeon, D-Essex/Passaic, introduced a bill to increase the tax rates on NJ online casinos and NJ online sportsbooks to 30%. That is nearly double the current amount paid by digital gambling operators. McKeon’s proposal was first reported last week by Legal Sports Report. At the time, no details were available since the bill’s text had not been posted. PlayNJ obtained a copy of S3064 via the Office of Legislative Services on Tuesday morning. The three-page document does not include a reason or explanation for the proposed legislation.

New York

• PlayNY: While Not Officially In The Budget, Online Casinos Could Still Get 2024 Nod For Legalization
  • While Sen. Joseph Addabbo has said that NY online casinos will not be included in either one-house budget, Addabbo still holds out hope that iGaming could sneak into the budget as 2024 rolls on. Addabbo emphasized: “It’s all governor-driven. The governor has to want it.” There is no obstacle, he said, big enough to prevent iGaming from coming to the Empire State.

North Carolina

• Legal Sports Report: Mobile NC Sports Betting Activity Spikes During March Madness
  • NC sports betting activity was up 56% during the first and second rounds of March Madness compared to the same four-day period a week earlier, according to sportsbook geolocation service provider GeoComply. From March 21 to March 24, NC sports betting apps had a total of 19.5 million geolocation transactions, which include location-dependent transactions like logging in, betting, or depositing funds, GeoComply found. There were more than 743,000 unique active player accounts over that four-day span, a 39% increase from March 14 to March 17, just a few days after North Carolina launched online sports betting on March 11 and during the middle of conference tournament play.