Industry News of the Day for November 4, 2022

iDEA Growth Member News

• Poker Industry Pro: Kindred Shifts North America Focus To “Multi-Product” States
  • The Kindred Group announced it would pull its Unibet-branded sportsbook out of Iowa before the end of the year as part of an evolving strategy to expand in North America — by investing in jurisdictions with multiple verticals, not just sports betting.

Industry News

• Legal Sports Report: Sports Betting, Online Casino Turns Profitable For Caesars A Year Early
  • The digital sports betting and iGaming segment of Caesars was profitable in October, CEO Tom Reeg said. The comments came on the Caesars third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, which included plenty of discussion about the growing digital segment.

• SportsHandle: Hard Rock’s Expansion Plans Figure To Continue In 2023
  • A company executive says the Seminole Tribe isn’t slowing down its digital sports betting efforts. While some key players in the sports betting industry are retrenching by cutting back on money-losing aspects of their businesses or reducing marketing and customer-acquisition costs in a search for profitability, one entity stands out for its aggressive growth despite 2022’s high inflation and challenging economic conditions.

• iGB North America: Penn Interactive turns profit in October after successful Q3 results
  • Penn Entertainment has recorded an increase in revenue to $1.65bn (£1.46bn/€1.69bn) for its third quarter 2022 results, while the business revealed its online arm turned a profit in October. Jay Snowden, chief executive officer and president of Penn Entertainment, said that the quarter had been “solid” and cited Penn’s acquisition of theScore as a particular positive.

• SBC Americas: IGT’s Joe Asher joins USAbility’s newly formed advisory board
  • USAbility has added sports betting experience to its newly formed advisory board with the appointment of industry veteran Joe Asher. Currently, the President of Sports Betting at IGT, Asher joins the advisory board as a non-executive shareholder.

California

• The Center Square: If Props 26 & 27 Fail, What’s The Future Of Sports Betting In California?
  • If sports betting was legalized in California, experts say the state would be the nation’s largest market. But it’s looking unlikely that will happen this election cycle. Despite a historic amount of money spent, two sports betting propositions on California’s November ballot – Propositions 26 and 27 – appear poised to fail, according to recent polls of likely voters.

Missouri

• PlayMissouri: Sports Betting & Marijuana Could Bring In $75M A Year To Missouri
  • A recent poll shows most Missouri residents support both legal recreational marijuana and sports betting. Although neither of these industries is currently permitted, both could provide significant tax revenue to The Show Me State.

Ohio

• PlayOhio: Sports Betting Kiosk Market Taking Shape In Ohio
  • Sports betting kiosks will be a unique feature in Ohio’s new sports betting industry. With the universal launch of Ohio sports betting less than two months away, the locations and the total number of betting kiosks is becoming more clear. As of early October, the Ohio Casino Control Commission had licensed over 800 businesses to add the kiosks.

Texas

• PlayTexas: Sands PAC Donates Heavily To Abbott’s Re-election Campaign
  • The Sands PAC sent donations totaling $132,000 from July 1 to Sept. 29 to Texas lawmakers’ campaigns. Most of the money went to Democratic incumbents, though $50,000 went to Gov. Greg Abbott’s re-election effort. As the money indicates, Sands is ramping up the pressure, the focus and likely the marketing around legal gambling in Texas.