The Current: FanDuel Launches My Spend
TCL will offer a newsletter on something new in the US gambling space in The Current every Tuesday.
I don’t plan to write about FanDuel every Tuesday in this space, but here we are. Last week I wrote about their investment in women’s sports. This week, I am here to write about their new responsible gaming program, called My Spend.
It comes at a pretty opportune moment, from where I sit, with more of this kind of news needing to be in the universe. Efforts like My Spend are good because 1. more emphasis on responsible gambling from the operators is justified and helpful and 2. it’s good from an optics and PR standpoint.
So what is My Spend? It’s “a new personalized responsible gaming dashboard designed to help customers track spending patterns and manage their budget.”
More from the presser:
Customers can view personal stats related to their engagement with FanDuel, including amount deposited and net winnings over the last seven days, four weeks or three months. The My Spend dashboard also encourages customers to utilize the existing suite of responsible gaming tools FanDuel offers, including deposit limits and wager limits. The tool was developed based on internal and external research demonstrating players' interest in personalized activity insights and a deeper understanding of their own behavior.
To be fair, FanDuel is not inventing the wheel here; it’s a lot like what DraftKings rolled out earlier this year, called My Stat Sheet. Either way, they are both good programs! (I only have DraftKings Sportsbook here in Oregon, but I use their tool regularly.)
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The other cool part is that FanDuel is promoting the rollout of the program with an advertising campaign:
I am sure people out in the world will pooh-pooh this, but efforts like this are a step in the right direction. Getting people to engage with RG tools or think about their spending/betting habits is not easy, but an effort needs to be made.
I particularly like that FanDuel is putting the commercial out into the world on television and digital platforms. It helps combat the incessant drumbeat of critics saying “there are too many sports betting commercials!” Okay, this is just another commercial, but it helps communicate the tool and the messaging to bettors while also allowing FanDuel to put its money where its mouth is on RG.
In any event, we continue to need more of this, and certainly not less. This kind of tool being available at the biggest US sportsbook — and that FanDuel is spending actual American dollars to promote and support it — is a good development.
Gambling industry reverse job board
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US gambling roundup
An analyst says the call for FTC or DOJ action against FanDuel and DraftKings presents “negligible risk.”
A new bill in Michigan would change how operators are taxed for sports betting and online casino.
Quick update on ESPN Bet’s November numbers after account linking rolled out, with the addition of Maryland’s metrics. ESPN Bet’s share of revenue and handle is up about .2% for the month in MD, but it is still a pretty distant sixth place in the state in terms of how much people are betting. More from Friday’s Cashout (paywalled) here prior to the Maryland numbers.
California cardrooms spent a lot of money to oust some lawmakers.
This story from the Defector cites an affiliate (LegalSportsBetting dot com) that only works with offshore sportsbooks, GJGE. Please stop handing these sites link equity and more reach.
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