The Cashout: Analyzing Fantasy & Sports Betting App Downloads Heading Into March Madness
Gambling news today: Georgia sports betting dies; the New York Times dives into lottery couriers.
TCL will offer market analysis in the US gambling space in The Cashout every weekend to paid subscribers, along with a news roundup for free subscribers.
The top two fantasy apps are still ahead of the sportsbooks in download numbers as March Madness for college basketball approaches. I’ll take a look at who’s in the top 50 and analyze their momentum (or lack thereof) in this week’s Cashout.
And sorry this newsletter is late this week, I got caught up chasing down this news yesterday:
News: Major League Baseball Decries Lack Of Protections For Sports Betting At Prediction Markets
Major League Baseball decried the current lack of protections around sports event trading via prediction markets in a letter sent today to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Before we get to The Cashout, a roundup of recent gambling news for everyone for free.
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Gambling news roundup
Efforts by Georgia lawmakers to legalize sports betting fizzle again (The Associated Press): Efforts to send a state constitutional amendment to voters failed Thursday in the state legislature, as neither the amendment nor a bill laying out details ever came to a vote in the House. … Thursday was the deadline for each Georgia chamber to pass its own legislation to the opposite chamber. The measures still could be revived in the last month of the session, but it much less likely. Lawmakers could still consider the measures in the 2026 half of Georgia’s two-year session.”
“It came in late and I guess people just weren’t there yet,” said House Higher Education Committee Chairman Chuck Martin, an Alpharetta Republican, referring to a bill and constitutional amendment that were introduced only last week.
With Georgia coming off the board, the rest of the map for online sports betting legalization continues to look rough.
Some other quick legislative stories, all courtesy of SBC Americas:
The Campaign For Fairer Gambling’s Hypocritical Embrace Of Sports Prediction Markets (Casino Reports): “Last week, as I was stepping off a plane, a text from my business partner caught my eye. It was a story about the Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG) petitioning the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to participate in a Washington, D.C. roundtable on sports prediction markets. Naturally, I assumed CFG — an organization that has spent years railing against the expansion of online gambling — was planning to oppose this new, rapidly evolving, and only lightly regulated form of wagering.
I was wrong. When I finally read CFG’s letter, I was stunned to see they advocated for these markets. It was a true WTF moment. How could an organization that claims to champion responsible gambling suddenly be endorsing a massive, federally regulated expansion of sports betting under a thinly veiled financial instrument? The hypocrisy was breathtaking.”
2 Texas Lottery Wins Prompt Investigations and Stir Public Outrage (NYT, paywall): Even the New York Times is on the lottery courier story now.
“The unusual circumstances surrounding two of the largest Lottery jackpots in Texas history have touched off a furious debate about the unorthodox methods used to snag the prizes and have led the governor and attorney general to announce investigations.”
Stephen A. Smith promotes PrizePicks over ESPNBet: In the wake of the biggest name on ESPN’s roster getting a $100 million contract, I took a look at how Smith devotes his social media presence to gambling and fantasy. Smith has tweeted about ESPN Bet five times this year; he has tweeted about PrizePicks 24 times. While they are technically different categories — which is why Smith can promote PrizePicks — they are still more or less competitors. Lots about ESPN Bet hasn’t worked, but a lack of buy-in from their flagship personality is arguably one of the worst failings.
Why is there content in the world about Fresno State basketball prop betting?: There’s literally an investigation around prop betting involving Fresno State players. Yet I see SI, and others, doing content trying to get people to bet or sign up. Please knock it off.
U.S. Regulators Report Mixed Success In Tackling Grey Market (Vixio): “Murley discussed the MGCB’s recent effort to tackle grey-market offerings in Michigan during a panel discussion on Monday (March 4) at the Gaming Law, Compliance and Integrity Bootcamp hosted by Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey. Murley was joined by Kevin O'Toole, executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board; Cathy Judd-Stein, chair of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission; Lou Rogacki, deputy director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement; and Dan Gerber, general counsel with the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB).”
Gambling newsletters
The Cashout
Here’s what we have this week for paid subscribers:
What we can learn about from sports betting (and fantasy) app downloads
FanDuel earnings paint a picture of the No. 1 operator
What Ohio sports betting numbers tell us
Betting/fantasy app downloads
Here is how sports betting/fantasy apps are ranking in the App Store for sports downloads, according to Sensor Tower. (Rank as of March 8, with analysis of trends over the past month).
A few notes:
The addressable market is larger for fantasy pick’em/parlays and sweepstakes — including California and Texas — so view all these rankings through that lens.
These figures for today only are highly variable even intra-day, so the trend lines are the more important metrics.
Downloads are only directionally interesting and informative, and not a proxy for revenue being generated.
Onto the downloads:
PrizePicks, 3. After holding steady at No. 1 for much of the year, it’s been down to No. 2 or 3 in recent days. That’s still best in the betting category, however. Around the Super Bowl, PrizePicks had been among the top 10 of all apps downloaded.
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