I am not sure everyone is taking the threat/opportunity of nationwide sports betting via Kalshi and Robinhood seriously enough. I think a lot of people believe this will eventually get shut down, when there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Anyway, you can listen to me rant about it for five minutes on the podcast. Some reading notes for the episode:
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on the launch of prediction markets/March Madness betting.
Gambling industry reverse job board
Are you hiring for a role right now? Or are you looking for your next opportunity in the gambling industry? I run a free-to-use reverse job board with about 200 prospective hires across all segments of the industry. Take a look, and please share with anyone who is hiring or looking for work!
Gambling news roundup
Sportradar Announces Agreement to Acquire IMG ARENA and Its Strategic Portfolio of Global Sports Betting Rights (Sportradar): “Sportradar Group …today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. to acquire IMG ARENA and its global sports betting rights portfolio. IMG ARENA’s portfolio will enhance Sportradar’s content and product offering and further strengthen its strategic position as a leading content provider in the most bet upon global sports, including tennis, soccer and basketball.
Adding these betting rights to its content portfolio increases Sportradar’s depth and breadth in key global sports, expanding the Company’s content distribution and further fueling product development.”
“Sportradar will not be required to pay any financial consideration; Transaction provides financial consideration totaling $225 million comprised of $125 million paid to Sportradar and up to $100 million cash prepayments made by Endeavor to certain of the sports rightsholders.”
“This incoming portfolio of global betting rights comprises strategic relationships with over 70 rightsholders covering approximately 39,000 official data events and 30,000 streaming events across 14 global sports on six continents. Prominent global properties include Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Roland-Garros, Major League Soccer, EuroLeague basketball and PGA Tour. Combined with existing tennis rights, Sportradar will now hold betting rights to three of the four Grand Slams.”
The immediate reaction is this seems like a slam dunk for Sportradar, whose stock was up 10% intraday on the news.
AGA releases January gambling revenue numbers (AGA): “U.S. commercial gaming revenue expanded in January by 11.9 percent compared to the previous year. Combined revenue from traditional casino games, sports betting and iGaming reached $6.51 billion, a new January revenue record. While iGaming continued its very strong growth and sports betting continued to perform strongly in January, brick-and-mortar gaming revenue grew by the fastest rate since January of 2023.”
As always, I am interested in the “online casino hurts retail casinos” debate and what the numbers day. It’s hard to draw anything conclusive from one month, but all but one state with online casinos saw retail growth year over year. As always, I think the story of retail casino revenues is more complicated than ONLINE CASINO BAD.
PA sportsbooks take a beating after Eagles’ Super Bowl win (PA Gaming Control Board):”The taxable revenue figure for February 2025 was $7,485,177, or 75.26% lower when compared to February 2024, when taxable revenue was $30,252,627.”
This is perhaps the most visible example of a state taking a bath on a local team in the short history of expanded legal betting in the US. Pennsylvania will end up being an outlier for February/Super Bowl revenue.
More on this and other recent numbers in Friday’s Cashout.
Apple, Google, And Sweeps Operators Off The Hook In New Jersey RICO Lawsuit (Casino Reports): “It feels like it’s been a while since any social/sweepstakes casino operators have received good news in the U.S., but here’s a rare ray of sunlight for them: A high-profile lawsuit several sites were facing in New Jersey has been dropped. High 5 Casino, McLuck, Wow Vegas, and CrownCoins Casino were all named, but they were definitely not the most noteworthy defendants in the case, which also targeted Google and Apple and accused them of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by hosting sweeps apps. New Jersey plaintiff Julian Bargo filed the complaint on Nov. 27, and it was winding its way through the legal process until last Thursday, when Bargo and his attorney Gary Meyers filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice.”
It’s a pretty rough go when “getting out of a RICO lawsuit” is the best news you’ve got.
Meanwhile, the Social And Promotional Games Association continues to fight the good fight against a barrage of bad news for sweepstakes operators. This time, it’s a bill in New York that advanced and seeks to ban the industry: “The Social and Promotional Games Association (SPGA) strongly denounces the blatant overreach of Senator Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.’s SB5935, which was rushed through the NYS Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee without opposition or proper scrutiny. This legislation recklessly mischaracterizes sweepstakes gaming and threatens legitimate businesses with unnecessary and harmful regulation.”
And a reminder from me via LinkedIn: Some operators are running businesses that do their best to follow sweepstakes laws and focus on free play. Then there’s this sweepstakes sportsbook that is sending me three push alerts in an hour to try to get me to make a purchase. The industry, which consists of more than 100 different sites and apps, is not one homogenous group of operators.
More on FanDuel’s responsible gambling efforts (FanDuel PR): FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and others in the online gambling space have been putting a lot of effort into Problem Gambling Awareness Month. Here’s some more from FanDuel after the launch of its show dedicated to responsible gambling with Craig Carton:
“New resources from the Trusted Voices: Conversations About Betting program are coming to ConversationsAboutBetting.com. The updates include new resources for college students, their parents and university staff, including content from KnowYourPlay.org, co-developed by ROGA in partnership with EPIC Global Solutions, Kindbridge Behavioral Health and the Responsible Gambling Council. … The program is designed to equip trusted adults, including parents, guardians and coaches, with tools and resources to talk to young people about gambling, associated risks, how to recognize warning signs and where to go for support. FanDuel is putting paid support behind the program across radio, digital, social and digital out of home.”
“This year’s Gambling Disorder Screening Day, an effort originally founded by the Cambridge Health Alliance’s Division on Addiction, took place on March 11, and FanDuel partnered with Kindbridge Behavioral Health to empower customers nationwide with resources for informed decision making. FanDuel provided customers with Kindbridge’s free, confidential Gambling Disorder Screener and highlighted the telehealth counseling and support services available through Kindbridge for those seeking help.”
“FanDuel is donating $150,000 to the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) that will further support the NCPG's Agility Grants program, which is funded by the NFL via the NFL Foundation. … FanDuel will also make an additional $150,000 donation to the International Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG).”
Penn’s complicated history with theScore, Barstool, ESPN Bet show perils of sports betting competition (Awful Announcing): “Penn later acquired the Ontario-headquartered Score Media and Gaming Inc. for $2 billion in October 2021 from founder John Levy, whose family was the majority shareholder of theScore. At last week’s NEXT Summit gaming industry conference in New York City, Levy made his first public comments since his family stepped down from their roles at Penn in early 2024. ‘I just think you had to give more trust to the people who brought you to the party, which was us. There was a bit of—we bought it and we’ll take it from here, thank you very much,’ Levy said of Penn’s relationship with theScore. ‘When you’re as involved in the business as we always were and you can see where it was going, and when things you might have been doing were happening differently—it was very hard, very frustrating.’”
I am not saying that more involvement from Levy et al would have changed the outcome for Penn and its struggles in sports betting — though it’s worth pondering. Levy’s comments at Next.io continue to paint a picture that Penn’s online sports betting strategy has left something to be desired for some time.
Nebraska lawmaker's bid to put mobile sports betting on ballot advances from committee (Kearney Hub): “A bid to allow Nebraska voters the chance to legalize mobile sports betting in next year's election took a crucial first step forward Monday as a committee of state lawmakers sent the proposal to the floor of the Legislature. … In a vote Monday afternoon that signaled bipartisan support for the measure, the Legislature's General Affairs Committee voted 6-2 to advance the proposal to the full Legislature. Republican Sens. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue and Jared Storm of David City voted against the move, while the rest of the committee — three Democrats and three Republicans — voted for it.”
Texas jackpot winner will not get $83.5 million winnings… for now (KXAN): “A Texas woman who won an $83.5 million jackpot in February through a courier service said the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) advised her the winnings may never be paid out as the Texas Rangers investigate the lottery drawing. ‘I’m being treated as the bad guy,’ the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Nexstar. The woman used Jackpocket, an app that allows you to buy lottery tickets and scratch-offs over the phone, to purchase $20 worth of Texas Lotto tickets for the February 17 drawing.”
This is most certainly not it, Texas. No matter what’s going on around couriers, this woman better get her money eventually.
Gambling newsletter roundup
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