Sports betting – Page 24

July 23, 2024

DraftKings announces plans for DC sports betting launch

The pool of sports betting operators in Washington, DC got a little bit bigger on Tuesday (23 July) when DraftKings announced intentions to launch its platform in the newly opened competitive market.
With the addition of DC, DraftKings will have launched in 29 North American jurisdictions.

“We would like to thank the DC Council for creating a path to bring DraftKings’ top-rated sportsbook to the nation’s capital,” DraftKings’ North American president, Matt Kalish, said in a statement.

“Together with DC United, we look forward to delivering fans a best-in-class experience through our customer-friendly product.”

DraftKings will join FanDuel, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook in offering mobile sports betting throughout the District. The latter two operators went live in the nation’s capital on 17 July.

They had expected to launch two days earlier. But there was a short delay related to the city’s FY2025 budget, which included the provisions needed to open the marketplace from a monop..

July 23, 2024

EveryMatrix enjoys “best ever period of sustained growth” as Q2 hits new heights

EveryMatrix reported record quarterly revenue of €42.4m (£35.7m/$46.1m) in Q2 following year-on-year growth across all products, while the supplier also saw EBITDA reach an all-time high.
Net revenue was 56.5% higher than the €27.1m posted by EveryMatrix in Q2 last year. It is also ahead of the previous quarterly record – €39m for Q1 this year – by 14.3%.

This figure does not include the impact of recent M&A activity. When the revenue total is adjusted to account for acquisitions, it reaches €82m, some 45% higher year-on-year compared to 56.5% net revenue growth, showing strong growth in the underlying business.

Group EBITDA for Q2 hit €25.1m, up 67.3% from last year and 12.6% higher than Q1’s existing record. As was also the case with revenue, it was the third consecutive quarter of a new high for EveryMatrix, while EBITDA margin also reached 59%.

“It’s difficult to know what to say when our results just keep getting better and better,” CEO Ebbe Groes (pictured above) said. “What..

July 23, 2024

Esports suspicious betting cases rise in IBIA Q2 integrity report

Esports accounted for 54% of suspicious betting activities recorded by the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) in Q2, while the total number of alerts during the quarter jumped 80% year-on-year.
Some 90 suspicious betting alerts were tracked by the IBIA in Q2, according to its latest Integrity Report. This is up from 50 in the previous year and also higher than the 56 initially noted in Q1 this year. However, the Q1 figure has since been revised to 93.

Esports led the way by some distance, compared to just one suspicious esports betting alert sent out in Q2 of last year.

The IBIA noted a single esports case related to suspicious betting activity on 68 esoccer matches played in Q1 and Q2. This, it said, has caused a significant increase in the overall number of esports alerts in 2024, with esports accounting for 50% of all alerts across the first two quarters.

Integrity concerns over esports betting, however, have been present for some time now, with efforts to combat ..

July 23, 2024

DraftKings sells VSiN to Musburger Media

DraftKings has sold the Vegas Sports Information Network (VSiN) to Musburger Media for an undisclosed price after first acquiring the network for $70m in March 2021. The deal was announced on Monday (22 July).
As part of the deal, VSiN’s original founders, Brian Musburger and Bill Adee, will take back control of the company. The two men founded the sports betting network in 2017 and guided it through the original 2021 sale to DraftKings. The network features 18 hours of daily original betting-focused content and streams 24/7.

In a statement on Monday, Musburger said the “original vision for VSiN still holds” despite the relatively quick sell-off.

“We truly appreciate the work we’ve done with DraftKings and look forward to continuing to collaborate on future projects,” he said. “Bill and I couldn’t be more excited about leading VSiN into the future and cementing our position as a trusted authority in sports betting.”

DraftKings thanked VSiN “for a great relationship” and said it “..

July 22, 2024

In Macau, most suspects bail out in illegal sports betting case

Prosecutors in Macau have indicted 59 people swept up in a sports betting sting earlier this month. All but two have been released on bail. The illicit operation purportedly reaped millions per week during the recent UEFA Euro 2024 tournament.
The Macau Public Prosecutions Office has indicted 59 people allegedly involved in an online sports betting ring. Two of the defendants remain under pre-trial detention. The rest have been released on bail, with orders not to leave the city.

A total of 93 people were arrested in the 2 July sting in Macau, Hong Kong and Guangdong. Police seized MOP88.4m (£8.5m/€196.2m/US$11m) in cash and froze bank accounts containing MOP22.1m.

The websites, based outside Macau, took bets on football and basketball games. They reportedly generated about MOP72m per week during the recent UEFA Euro 2024 tournament.

Authorities estimate the illegal operation has pulled in more than MOP1.08bn since 2016.

Online gambling is illegal everywhere in China, including M..

July 22, 2024

US round-up: online growth drives Louisiana in FY, mixed June for Mississippi

Rounding up some of the latest gambling figures in the US, Louisiana reported a year-on-year rise in sports betting revenue and handle despite a decline in the retail market during its 2023-24 financial year, while Mississippi saw player wagers fall in June.
Starting in Louisiana, players staked $3.33bn, an increase of 32.1% figures from the state Gaming Control Board show. Of this, $3.04bn was bet online, a rise of 37.2%, and $291.7m at retail sportsbooks, down 5.0%.

After promotional spend – something that skewed Michigan sports betting figures in June – of $44.4m, net revenue from sports betting came to $388.1m, up 58.3% on the prior year.

Mobile betting accounted for $358.2m of the total (a rise of 73.2%) although retail’s $29.9m contribution was down on the prior year. Mobile launched in January 2022, months after the first retail bets were placed in October 2021.

American football was the sport that generated most revenue across online ($30.1m) and retail ($3.5m). However, pa..

July 22, 2024

Michigan sports betting figures skewed by BetMGM deductions in June

While Michigan posted strong year-on-year growth in online gross gaming revenue (GGR) in June, hefty promotional deductions attributed to BetMGM meant adjusted sports betting revenue swung to a loss for the month.
Total online gambling gross receipts, across the state’s tribal and commercial licensees, hit $214.1m in June, figures from the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) show. This was generated almost entirely from online casino, which accounted for $183.2m of the total. A further $30.9m of revenue came from sports betting, from $276.8m in stakes, an 11.2% hold.

June, with only Major League Baseball (MLB) in action, is traditionally a quieter month for US sports betting. However, Michigan sports betting operators, as in many other states, reported strong year-on-year growth in player wagers. Handle was up 21.4% from June 2023 to $276.8m.

BetMGM deductions hit Michigan sport betting performance
A hefty promotional deduction for BetMGM meant adjusted revenue for sports betting..

July 22, 2024

Student athletes face new wave of harassment – how is the NCAA and the betting industry addressing the issue?

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) are working together to afford collegiate athletes safety in the new world of sports betting.
Dangers for student athletes range from integrity to the illegal betting market, to physical danger to athletes from bettors who lose individual player prop bets said panelists on Friday (19 July) at the NCLGS summer meeting in Pittsburgh.

The NCAA and NCLGS are banding together for a solution, said Clint Hangebrauck, the NCAA’s managing director of enterprise risk management. The two entities have formed a special committee on education to create draft legislation that can address protecting student athletes.

“We have drafted a model legislative framework that starts with really enforcing the unregulated market,” Hangebrauck said. He went on to say that the current situation presents a “clear and present danger to the safety and well-being of our student athletes”.

Wayne ..

July 22, 2024

SuperBook shuts down in eight states

Late Friday (19 July) SuperBook Sports became the latest casualty in the digital sports betting world when it shut down in eight states. The company, which has its flagship retail sportsbook at the Westgate in Las Vegas, remains live online in Nevada.

In an 8.38pm ET tweet, the company announced that it had shuttered its platforms in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia at 8pm ET on Friday. SuperBook is the fourth platform to wind down operations this year.

Prophet Exchange, SaharaBets and Unibet all closed earlier in 2024. Like those three, SuperBook was unable to capture significant market share in any state outside of Nevada.

SuperBook is known for its massive retail location in Nevada and its NFL SuperContests. SuperBook had plans to offer the contests in other states. But it could not bring in players outside of Nevada without violating the Wire Act. However, plans to offer similar contests locally did not materialise.

SuperBook’s clos..

July 19, 2024

Bettor perspective? Walters, “Spanky” say US sportsbooks have much to learn

As legal sports betting in the US proceeds in its seventh year, many have expressed concerns about whether the current wagering model is sustainable for the long term.

A panel discussion on Friday (19 July) at the summer meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) in Pittsburgh featured views on the subject from legendary sports bettors Billy Walters and Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos. Both the legendary Walters, 78, and Kyrollos said sustainability depends on treating sports bettors fairly.

That, they said, means an equal playing field for all customers.

Richard Schuetz, a veteran casino executive, regulator and onetime Las Vegas sportsbook operator, moderated the panel. Schuetz hosted Walters when Schuetz ran the sportsbook at the Stardust.

Transparency, betting limits are concerns

One problem threatening the long-term sustainability of legal sports betting, panelists said, is a lack of knowledgeable operators. “The (legal) industry is new in this country..

July 19, 2024

State of the Union: ESPN Bet layoffs, SEC should be “vigilant” to protect athletes

Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.

Penn lays off some ESPN Bet employees

Less than a year after launching its ESPN Bet platform, and about three years after buying Canadian-based theScore, Penn Entertainment announced layoffs.

Front Office Sports on Wednesday (17 July) tweeted a letter from Penn CEO Jay Snowden to employees. In the letter, Snowden says the company will be “implementing changes” to “streamline the reporting lines”. He also wrote that this process will “result in a limited number of team member separations”.

PENN Entertainment—the gambling company behind ESPN Bet—had a round of layoffs, including multiple employees who focused on ESPN Bet, a source tells @FOS. (Layoffs first reported by @DustinGouker)
Here's an email that was sent to employees this afternoon from the company's CEO: pic.twitter.com/zW7LKOVI9U
— A.J…

July 19, 2024

Pennsylvania gaming market shored up by record icasino performance in FY23-24

Pennsylvania reported year-on-year declines in slots, table games, sports betting, VGTs and fantasy sports in its fiscal year ended 30 June, yet a strong performance from online gaming was enough to push the state to record revenue and taxes.

Total gambling revenue for the 12 months to 30 June came to $5.89bn (£4.55bn/€5.41bn), 6.9% ahead of last year’s $5.51bn according to full-year figures from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

This generated $2.36bn in tax revenue for the Keystone state, a record breaking total. Of this total, $1.34bn came from casino slots and $157.6m table games. Sports betting generated $175.2m, video gaming terminals $21.4m and fantasy sports $2.9m.

However, it followed a year in which all verticals – bar one – declined year-over-year. The land-based casino market made the biggest contribution, with slots making up $2.44bn of FY23-24 revenue, down 0.6% from the prior year. A further $958m came from table games, with video gaming terminals (VGT) revenue ..

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Tag: Sports betting