The Early Line: BetMGM Upgrades FY 2025 Guidance
Gambling news roundup: NY sweepstakes ban bill progresses; tribes organize to oppose Kalshi sports betting in court; Illinois sports betting tax signed by governor.
The Early Line offers a look at the top stories heading into the week, along with some analysis.
BetMGM - Upgraded FY 2025 Guidance (press release): “BetMGM LLC, one of the leading sports betting and iGaming operators across North America, jointly owned by MGM Resorts International and Entain plc, is today providing an update to FY 2025 guidance. …
BetMGM's positive momentum seen during 1Q 2025 has continued for the period 2Q 2025 to June 13, 2025, with strong Net Revenue growth across both iGaming and Online Sports, driven by handle growth
Trading for the period is broadly consistent with +34% YoY Net Revenue growth delivered in 1Q 2025
This continued strength provides BetMGM increased confidence in its performance for 2025 and as a result BetMGM upgrades its guidance for FY 2025:
FY 2025 Net Revenue is now expected to be at least $2.6 billion (up from the previous guidance range of $2.4bn to $2.5bn)
FY 2025 EBITDA is now expected to be at least $100 million (up from the previous guidance to be EBITDA positive)
Reiteration of the expectation that Online Sports will be contribution positive for FY 2025, in addition to strong contribution from iGaming.“
Reading the line: Shares of both MGM Resorts and Entain were up on the news. The early published May numbers for US sports betting are looking good, with hold at more than 11% over the first states to report; more in The Cashout (paywall). BetMGM is trying to hold onto its position as the No. 3 online sportsbook in the US behind DraftKings and FanDuel as Fanatics has been growing its market share. No matter what happens with the podium, business is clearly still good for BetMGM. Online casino remains a strong revenue driver for operators — especially BetMGM.
FanDuel’s Trusted Voices: Conversations About Betting is designed to equip adults, including parents and coaches, with tools and resources to talk to young people about gambling, including information on warning signs, risks and proxy betting. The program is led by retired professional basketball player Randy Livingston and his wife, basketball agent Anita Smith, who share their personal stories related to problem gambling, with the hope of preventing others from experiencing similar harms. Learn more and join the conversation here.
The Kalshi files:
Tribes Set To File Amicus Brief In Kalshi Vs. New Jersey (Event Horizon): “Tribal gaming interests appear to be set to file an amicus brief in the federal court case involving Kalshi and New Jersey. A draft brief from the Indian Gaming Association posted on Pechanga.net asks for tribes to sign onto the brief by Monday at noon Eastern. Attorneys from four different firms are listed on the brief, which appears to be set for filing on Tuesday. The case — Kalshi vs. Flaherty et al — is currently in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.”
Reading the line: Tribes have been voicing their displeasure with sports betting via prediction markets for months now. After a meeting with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission resulted in little hope for change, tribes are shifting tactics to the courts. Tribes might also try to coalesce under a more direct court challenge under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. For now, anyone opposing Kalshi’s foray into sports betting must turn to the federal courts — either by joining existing lawsuits or starting new ones. Opening as many legal fronts as possible against Kalshi is likely a viable strategy to try to slow or even stop the spread of nationwide sports betting via the CFTC. But for now the biggest case is Kalshi vs. New Jersey, which is already in federal appeals court. Any ruling there will set the stage for how other courts view Kalshi’s legality.
How Is Kalshi Doing In Customer Acquisition After Going Viral? (Event Horizon): “The prediction market platform has been growing in recent months and got a small bump after a viral commercial, but downloads still trail most established sportsbooks and fantasy sports apps.”
Reading the line: Kalshi is behind sportsbooks in download numbers, despite being in all 50 states. That can be explained by a lot of factors, including a less robust product and less marketing spend by Kalshi. Kalshi continues to set a new floor for expectations, with the ability to bet on football games in the fall looming large over its growth moving forward. We also presumably will see Kalshi’s product and betting menu continue to grow and emulate sportsbooks moving forward. But as time goes on and legal clarity grows, Kalshi may no longer have the sandbox to itself.
Jefferies Survey Reveals Optimism In In-Play Betting, And DraftKings Is Main Beneficiary (InGame): “A rising interest in in-play betting could be an advantage for DraftKings, according to a Jefferies Equities Research survey published June 11. Jefferies surveyed 768 U.S. adults aged 18-44, 509 of whom reported they had participated in online sports betting at least once. Survey analysts, led by David Katz, wrote that those 509 respondents made up a fairly accurate representation of the broader U.S. online sports betting total addressable market (TAM). The survey found that about 80% of players have tried in-play betting at least once. Although only about 15% of respondents said they consider in-play their most popular choice, 92% reported feeling that more in-play betting opportunities would improve their experience.”
Reading the line: There’s still clear upside in live sports betting. Sportsbooks can learn something from Kalshi here, which is almost entirely a live betting product for sports. There’s something that Kalshi captures in the experience of being able to enter and exit positions that most sportsbooks aren’t able to capture currently.
Governor signs bill with per-wager tax for sports betting (ABC 7): “Gov. JB Pritzker signed Illinois' fiscal year 2026 budget into law Monday, taking shots at President Donald Trump's budget management to defend hard choices state lawmakers were forced to make this year. … A new tax on sports bets will charge betting sites 25 cents for the first 20 million wagers and 50 cents for each bet following that. It's projected to raise $36 million. Sports betting sites FanDuel and DraftKings have both announced they will implement 50-cent transaction fees on Illinois customers in response to the tax.”
Reading the line: The move to sign the budget was expected. Now the questions are: Will other sportsbooks follow the lead of FanDuel and DraftKings, and will other states follow Illinois?
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More gambling news
Ex-Ohtani interpreter Ippei Mizuhara in federal prison in PA (ESPN): “Ippei Mizuhara, the disgraced former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, is in federal prison in Pennsylvania, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told ESPN on Monday. Mizuhara, 40, was ordered to surrender to federal authorities by Monday. He is in custody at Federal Correctional Institution Allenwood Low, a low-security facility, after being sentenced to 57 months in prison for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani. Mizuhara was initially ordered to report to prison in March, but a federal judge granted the delay. The reasons for the delay remain under seal.”
Reviving the Statute of Anne: Should Lawyers Mine Centuries-Old Statutes for Profit? (Ifrah Law blog): “For most of American history, state governments strictly prohibited nearly every form of gambling. In the last 100 years, however, many states have loosened gambling prohibitions in favor of a legal, regulated gambling industry. Still, remnants of strict, anti-gambling attitudes remain on the books in many states in the form of “loss recovery acts.” These centuries-old statutes allow a losing gambler to sue the winner and recover their losses. In many states, the statutes go one step further, allowing third parties to recover as much as three times the amount of the loss. While some statutes grant half the amount recovered to the state or local government, many permit the third party to retain the total amount recovered.”
“Indeed, under laws as old as the Statute of Anne, the creation of LLCs to pursue litigation for profit would almost certainly qualify as barratry, champerty, or maintenance, which remain crimes in some jurisdictions, though are rarely enforced. Barratry, for example, remains a crime in California, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Texas, Washington, and other U.S. jurisdictions. These laws were designed to prevent the fomenting or pursuit of litigation for profit or where there would otherwise have been no litigation.”
“Given the lack of injured parties involved in the lawsuits and the apparent lack of constitutional standing, the ethics of this business model appear questionable. State attorneys general exist to protect consumers and to enforce gaming laws. Lawsuits that redress no injuries and that appear to be nothing more than an investment vehicle serve no one but lawyers and their financial backers.”
New York Anti-Sweepstakes Gaming Bill Added To Assembly Calendar (Casino Reports): “New York legislators are poised to make the Empire State the fourth jurisdiction to ban online sweepstakes casinos in the legislative calendar year, as Sen. Joseph Adabbo’s bill that passed in the Senate was substituted into the Assembly companion bill Friday. The legislative maneuver is possible because the language in Addabbo’s bill is identical to the one filed by Assemblyperson Carrie Woerner. The substitution came immediately after Addabbo’s bill passed in the Senate and was delivered to the lower chamber. It was sent to the Ways and Means Committee and immediately placed on third reading, which means it could be heard as early as Monday.”
FanDuel SVP Cory Fox talks RG tech and predictive technology (SBC Americas):
SBC Americas: Tell us more about real-time check-in. It does feel like a progression.
Fox: Absolutely. Real-time check-in uses artificial intelligence to create for every user for each day a predictive deposit amount based on that individual user’s history. And when a user goes to deposit significantly more than that predictive amount, they get a little pop-up that says, “this is more than you usually deposit, you should consider lowering the amount or setting a deposit limit.”
Our customer research suggests that users really appreciate that, and I think that’s because it’s built right in and it is specific to them. So they feel like we are giving them useful information right in the flow.
And then there’s a phase of that product wherein if the amount they deposit is even more, related to the proportion of what we expected they would deposit, they are prompted to lower the amount or set a deposit limit. They can go forward with the original amount, but they’ll be required to set a deposit limit going forward.
IGT PlaySports Continues Partnership with Boyd Gaming in Nevada via New Three-Year Technology Agreement (press release): “International Game Technology PLC announced today that it recently signed a new, three-year sports betting technology agreement with Boyd Gaming Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, IGT's award-winning PlaySports platform will continue powering Boyd Gaming's retail and mobile sports betting offering in Nevada through August 2028. The new agreement builds on IGT and Boyd Gaming's long-standing sports betting technology partnership that started in 2018. … In addition to using the IGT PlaySports platform, Boyd Gaming will continue to offer IGT's PlaySports Kiosks at its 10 retail betting locations across Nevada.”
"Boyd Gaming is pleased to announce our decision to continue powering our retail and mobile sportsbooks in Nevada with IGT PlaySports technology," said Bob Scucci, Vice President of Race & Sports Operations for Boyd Gaming. "As the core technology of our sports betting offering in Nevada, IGT PlaySports' platform enables us to evolve Boyd Sports in ways that deliver incremental value to our players and seamlessly scale our offering to address new business opportunities."
"IGT PlaySports looks forward to continuing our close partnership with Boyd Gaming in Nevada for three additional years and helping them engage players across channels in the most mature, competitive sports betting market in the U.S.," said Joe Bertolone, IGT SVP of Sports Betting. "IGT PlaySports continues to invest in and grow our footprint in Nevada. The performance, reliability and scalability of our technology stack and self-service betting technologies ensure our customers benefit from the most comprehensive B2B solution in North America."
Multistate Baccarat Scam Nets $1.5 Million, Cops Hunt Cheating Ring (casino.org): “Authorities in several states are hunting a baccarat cheating ring that hit at least 10 casinos across the country for more than $1.5 million. That’s according to documents filed earlier this month to a criminal court in Lake County, Ind., where the gang allegedly bilked the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana out of more than $700K.”
Ifrah Law has been at the center of advancing iGaming in the U.S., shaping groundbreaking legislation, leading precedent-setting cases, and guiding clients that span the iGaming ecosystem through every phase of their business journey. Learn more at IfrahLaw.com.
