Betting News – Page 199

August 16, 2022

DC sports betting handle continues downward trend in July

Washington DC’s sports betting handle declined for the second consecutive month in July, while both revenue and player spending in the market fell year-on-year.

Consumers bet a total of $11.3m (£9.4m/€11.2m) on sports during the month, down 11.7% from $11.3m in July 2021, while the monthly total was also 18.1% lower than $13.8m in June this year.

Gross gaming revenue from sports wagering stood at $1.2m, which was 33.3% lower than $1.8m in July last year, but 20.0% up on June 2022’s total of $1.0m.

Looking at individual operator performances, Caesars again processed the largest amount of bets during the month, posting a handle of $4.3m and $378,662 in revenue.

Gambet, which is operated by the DC Lottery and powered by Intralot, claimed top spot in terms of revenue, as after paying out $2.8m in winnings from $3.3m in bets, this suggested revenue for July was $457,616.

BetMGM, which operates in DC in partnership with Major League Baseball franchise the Washington Nationals, ranked th..

August 16, 2022

News Corp venture adjusts wagering plans with TexBet acquisition

News Corp Australia and Tekkorp’s new NTD Pty wagering venture will acquire assets from local operator TexBet, as part of a change to its agreement with betting supplier BetMakers.

NTD agreed to purchase certain assets owned by O’Shea Bookmaking Pty, which trades as TexBet, with support from BetMakers. TexBet is a long-standing SaaS platform customer of BetMakers.

Effective from completion of the sale of TexBet, BetMakers shall receive ownership and IP rights for the betting platform technology currently owned by TexBet, while BetMakers will also support the migration of TexBet users to the NTD platform.

This follows an initial deal, agreed in April when the NTD venture was first announced, which stated that News Corp will run the venture with backing from gambling executives Matt Davey of Tekkorp and Matt Tripp, while BetMakers’ technology will drive NTD.

The deal said that BetMakers’ OM Apps subsidiary would provide B2B platform technology and wagering solutions to NTD, which wi..

August 16, 2022

GiG sets €65m EBITDA goal for 2024 as Sportnco contributes to record Q2

Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) drastically upped its long-term targets – now aiming for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around €65m (£54.7m/$65.9m) by 2024 – following a record quarter bolstered by the acquisition of Sportnco.

The results – for the second quarter of the year – were the first to include sportsbook supplier Sportnco. GiG acquired Sportnco for €51.3m (£43.2m/$56.7m at the time) as the quarter began after agreeing the deal in December.

The business set an all-time record in revenue with €22.1m, up 37.1% year-on-year. While the acquisition helped the business, GiG also noted the total was up by 24.0% organically.

Media – covering GiG’s affiliate brands – continued to make up the majority of revenue, with €14.8m, up by 35.1% year-on-year, and by 5.0% from the previous record high set in Q1.

Of this total, €9.8m came from publishing brands and the remaining €5.0m from paid media. New launches for the division included a brand focuse..

August 15, 2022

NeoGames’ BtoBet enters Ethiopia with UtopBet

BtoBet, the sports betting supplier subsidiary of online lottery platform provider NeoGames, has expanded into Ethiopia after entering into a partnership with UtopBet.

Under the deal, BtoBet will provide its proprietary sportsbook platform and other sports betting services, including risk management, to UtopBet in the East African country.

The Ethiopian online and retail sports betting operator will offer betting on both local and international sports events, while it will also add esports betting to its offering for the first time.

BtoBet’s deal with the UtopBet brand means the supplier has a presence in 28 different jurisdictions around the world.

“We are pleased to further strengthen our presence in Africa, by going live in the highly competitive Ethiopian market,” NeoGames’ chief executive Moti Malul said. “UtopBet is one of the more well-known brands in the local market and I am pleased that the choice to power their retail and online channels fell on our flexible solutions an..

August 15, 2022

Indiana sports betting handle decline continues in July

Indiana’s sports betting handle fell for the fourth consecutive month during July, with the $206.6m (£170.9m/€202.5m) wagered by players the lowest monthly total of the calendar year.

July’s total was 19.4% lower than the $256.3m spent by consumers in June, but 6.2% higher than the $194.5m bet during July of last year.

Of this total, $76.1m was spent on baseball betting, with $16.1m on basketball and $2.9m on football. A further $53.5m worth of parlay bets were place in the month, while $56.8m was bet on other sports.

In terms of taxable adjusted gross revenue from sports betting, this amounted to $20.9m, which was 32.3% higher than $15.8m in June this year and also 19.4% up from $17.5m in July 2021

Blue Chip Casino and partner FanDuel retained top spot with $7.4m in revenue off $61.7m in bets ahead of the Ameristar Casino and partner DraftKings with $5.0m in revenue and a $61.3m handle.

Belterra Casino and its FanDuel-operated sportsbook placed third with $3.1m in revenue off a h..

August 12, 2022

Disney continues to work on “important” ESPN betting venture, says CEO

Disney chief executive Bob Chapek said that the business remains in talks with a number of platforms in regard to the potential launch of a new sports betting offering involving the ESPN brand.

The conglomerate has been linked with a move into the sports wagering market for some time now, with Chapek in November last year saying its sports broadcasting arm ESPN is the “perfect” channel to achieve this.

Speaking in an earnings call after the group announced its second-quarter results, Chapek said talks with potential partners have been ongoing and that sports betting remains a realistic option for Disney.

“We have been in conversations for quite a long time now with a number of different platforms to add some utility to sports betting and take away some friction for that for our guests,” Chapek said.

“We have found that basically our sports fans that are under 30 absolutely require this type of utility in the overall portfolio of what ESPN offers, so we think it’s important.

“We’re..

August 12, 2022

Flutter CEO: we are well-placed to “capitalise” on UK reforms

Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson said that he expects his business to ultimately be a winner from the results of the UK Gambling Act review, as Flutter’s scale will help it navigate changes while smaller businesses may exit the market.

The comments came during Flutter’s earnings call for the first half of 2022, following results in which the business revealed that its FanDuel brand had turned a profit during Q2.

Jackson (pictured) argued that in both the UK and Australia, Flutter’s businesses had “outgrown regulations”.

He discussed the introduction of point-of-consumption taxes in these markets as an example of a regulatory challenge that had a short-term negative impact, but made Flutter brands stronger in the long term.

“Our scale and operating leverage have allowed us to mitigate the impacts, both through operational efficiencies, and also through market share gains as smaller operators were required to exit from the market.”

In the presentation, Flutter also noted that ..

August 12, 2022

Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company pens sports betting deal with Betr

Betr, the new micro-betting business founded by Simplebet co-founder Joey Levy and social media personality Jake Paul, has entered into a partnership with Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company (HOFV).

Under the 10-year agreement, which will initially focus on Ohio, Betr will become the official mobile sports-betting partner of HOFV, subject to it securing the necessary licenses.

As part of the deal, HOFV will gain a limited equity interest in Betr, as well as having access to revenue sharing and opportunities for cross-marketing, branding, and engagement with consumers.

HOFV is the only resort, entertainment and media company centred around professional football. The business earlier this year also announced a sports betting partnership with Rush Street Interactive.

“This new partnership amplifies two of our key business verticals in gaming and media to further our strategic goal of continually creating new and unique sports content and experiences for our fans and guests to ..

August 12, 2022

The winners have taken it all

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle argues that market shares within US sports betting have already shaken out four years on from PASPA’s repeal, with little room for rankings to change or new players to emerge.

It’s become a popular observation that at some point – likely in the late 2000s – much of Western popular culture became “stuck”.

If you watch a film or television show set in 1980 and 1990, it would be obvious which is which, with the fashion, technologies and soundtrack. But something set in 2010 would look an awful lot like today. Rather than something new, we’ve spent much of the last decade and a half chasing nostalgia.

In US sports betting, there’s no doubt that there will continue to be innovation: products will vastly improve and new ways of betting will emerge.

But in terms of market share and which brands matter, we may have reached the point where we’re stuck.

The leaders emerge

In fact, we got most of the way there before PASPA was even repealed: FanDuel and DraftKing..