Today's Line: Ohio Sports Betting Numbers, Assault On College Props Continues
Here’s today’s quick rundown in the world of US gambling.
What we learned from Ohio sports betting numbers
Ohio trails in reporting its numbers, so we just got February, but it does provide another snapshot of where operators sit:
FanDuel and DraftKings continue to be 1 and 2 (or 1a and 1b) by a wide margin.
ESPN Bet, several months after its launch, is now firmly in the second tier of operators but continues to lose some ground from previous months. Promotional spend is on par with the operators in the second tier of operators, which here and nationwide consists of ESPN, BetMGM, Bet365 and Caesars. ESPN was fifth by handle and fourth by revenue for the month in Ohio.
Ohio is the only state where we continue to get numbers about Betr, which recently pulled out of Massachusetts. The well-funded startup that also offers fantasy vs. the house accounted for 0.06% of online sports betting handle for the month. Betr trails all but one operator by this metric and is out-paced by most retail sportsbooks in Ohio, as well.
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Louisiana bans college player prop bets
The Bayou State is the latest to agree to put a stop to college player prop bets as the NCAA pushes for similar measures around the country. It’s a development that would have a relatively small impact on revenue but makes the sports betting product worse vs. black and gray market competitors. It could also encourage calls for more sweeping bans (all college sports, all player props) down the road that the sports betting industry would care about more from a bottom-line standpoint. It will be interesting to see if the sweepstakes sportsbook and fantasy vs. the house industries get caught up in this wave, as they offer college player props in places that don’t have legal sports betting, most notably California and Texas. Interestingly this came down after reports that Iowa-LSU appears to be the most-bet game in the history of women’s college basketball.
Quick hitters
Mississippi online sports betting has a chance to reach the finish line. More tomorrow in The Closing Line’s legislative roundup.
It’s time to admit that sports betting has a PR problem.
Fanatics officially closed its acquisition of the US assets of Pointsbet on Wednesday and launches sports betting in Arizona on Thursday.
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