Industry News of the Day for September 11, 2023

iDEA Growth Member News

• CDC Gaming Reports: Analyst Sees “Continued Momentum” At Light & Wonder
  • Low leverage, “a strong balance sheet” and well-performing games added up to “continued momentum” across the board for Light & Wonder. That was the verdict of Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas, following meetings with LNW CEO Matt Wilson and Senior Vice President of Investor Operations Nick Zangari in New York. Boosting his price target on the stock from $78 per share to $86, Jonas stuck with his “Buy” rating.

Industry News

• Axios: Charted: Sports Betting Explodes
  • 73.5 million Americans said they planned to bet on the NFL this season, according to a survey released Wednesday from the American Gaming Association — a new record, and a nearly 60% increase from last year. By the numbers: An Axios analysis of Sports Handle data shows that states have generated over $3.5 billion in tax revenue in the past five years from legalized sports betting.

Kansas

• Sports Handle: Kansas Sees Highs And Lows In First 12 Months Of Sports Wagering
  • Sports wagering has experienced an appropriate bloom in the Sunflower State. Kansas, which raced by neighboring Missouri with a passage-to-launch sprint taking just three-plus months in 2022, put the cap on its first year of legal betting earlier this week when the Kansas Lottery released its figures for August. The 12-month totals are somewhat impressive considering there were four retail books and six mobile ones, with operators accepting $1.85 billion worth of wagers and generating $166.4 million in gross revenue to produce a hold of 9%.

Kentucky

• WCPO: Kentucky’s 10 New Sports Betting Regulators Have No Prior Experience In Gaming
  • Kentucky’s sports betting market went live Thursday with 10 newly minted gambling regulators who have 100 years of combined work experience in government and no experience in the gaming industry. Seven of the 10 new employees, hired between June 16 and Aug. 16, transferred to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission from other state jobs, according to personnel files obtained by the WCPO 9 I-Team in a public record request.

Michigan

• PlayMichigan: Caesars Trending Up To Become A Top-Five Michigan Online Casino
  • It’s easy to put the focus on the big three online casinos in Michigan when it comes to breaking down revenue. But, one online operator whose success in 2023 is getting lost in the shuffle is Caesars Casino MI, now known as Caesars Palace Casino MI. With nearly 30% revenue growth for the year, the Caesars brand has quietly crept into a top-5 position in Michigan’s online casino industry.

Missouri

• KMBC-TV: After Legislators Fail To Pass A Bill, Petitions Filed To Let Missouri Voters Decide On Sports Betting
  • A new initiative is underway to possibly allow Missouri voters to have their say on the issue of sports betting. Four separate petitions were submitted Friday to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office with the aim of getting the matter placed on the 2024 ballot. The new effort follows closely on the heels of neighboring Kansas, which legalized sports betting last year. Since its launch in September 2022, GeoComply, a company that specializes in geofencing data, recorded that Missouri residents made nearly 14 million attempts to place bets in Kansas.

New York

• PlayNY: NY Online Sports Betting Back Above $1 Billion In Bets In August
  • Online sports betting in New York returned to form in August. The total amount wagered eclipsed $1 billion for the month after briefly falling below the threshold in July. Despite the standard summer dip, NY sports betting is well ahead of last year’s record-setting pace, according to data from state gambling regulators. Sports gamblers in NY bet more than $1.1 billion in August, a 27.5% year-over-year increase from the $872 million in August 2022.

North Carolina

• PlayUSA: North Carolina Senate Playing Hardball To Get Casinos Into State Budget
  • With House Republicans not supporting additional gambling expansion, North Carolina Senate Republicans are playing hardball to get the legalization of commercial casinos and video lottery terminals (VLTs) in the state budget. A North Carolina legislative source tells PlayUSA that Senate Republicans are “dug in” on including the gambling expansion in the appropriations bill. The source says Senate leadership is telling House members that without the revenue from commercial casinos and VLTs, lawmakers in both houses won’t get their local spending projects in the budget.

• NC Sharp: Who Lobbied For Sports Betting In North Carolina?
  • Out-of-state lobbying groups with a heavy interest in gambling poured nearly half a million dollars into supporting legislation that legalized sports betting in North Carolina, according to a noted campaign finance watchdog. According to Bob Hall, the former executive director of Democracy North Carolina, “38 gambling-related businesses and associations – including 29 based outside North Carolina – are paying 71 different lobbyists to promote their agenda this year to 170 state legislators.”