The Early Line: March Madness Betting Is Now In All 50 States
College basketball betting expands in deal between Robinhood and Kalshi; FanDuel launches show about problem gambling with Craig Carton; more bad news for sweepstakes operators.
TCL offers a roundup of recent US gambling news with analysis called The Early Line every Monday.
Robinhood Launching Prediction Markets (and March Madness Betting) Via Kalshi (Robinhood press release/The Event Horizon) | “Trading platform Robinhood announced it is partnering with Kalshi to offer a ‘prediction markets hub’ directly in its app starting today, including the ability to bet on the upcoming men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.”
Today, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC (RHD) announced a prediction markets hub directly within the Robinhood App, giving customers the opportunity to trade on the outcomes of some of the world’s biggest events. At launch, the hub will allow customers to trade contracts for what the upper bound of the target fed funds rate will be in May, as well as the upcoming men’s and women’s College Basketball Tournaments. “We believe in the power of prediction markets and think they play an important role at the intersection of news, economics, politics, sports, and culture,” said JB Mackenzie, VP & GM of Futures and International at Robinhood. “We’re excited to offer our customers a new way to participate in prediction markets and look forward to doing so in compliance with existing regulations.”
Kalshi rolled out markets for individual March Madness games (or “who will advance to next round?” markets) overnight.
Reading the line: If you don’t think this is a seminal moment in US sports betting, I don’t know what to tell you. You can now BET ON THE OUTCOME of COLLEGE SPORTS GAMES in ALL 50 STATES via a platform with 25 MILLION USERS. I mean, please go read that sentence again.
Kalshi and Robinhood are going YOLO into full-on sports betting for March Madness, and daring anyone to try to stop them. Yes, sports gambling has been de minimis so far at Kalshi, but that’s not going to last long with Robinhood in the mix. The product may be fairly vanilla today and not geared toward sports bettors, but do you really think that status quo is going to persist?
The question remains of whether the courts/states/CFTC/etc. will allow this to continue. Right now, Nevada is trying to put a stop to it, although that would only be within state borders, and even then it’s not clear if they’ll succeed. Where else a successful effort to slow or stop sports event trading might manifest is unknown.
The integrity of college sports and betting is a hot topic in the US, including growing calls to ban college betting either entirely or in part. There are more than a handful of active investigations regarding men’s college players and gambling. While Kalshi et al call this “federally regulated” sports betting, make no mistake that very few if any of the integrity safeguards that exist in the regulated market are in play here. The first foray into gambling for Robinhood (after a short-lived Super Bowl deal with Kalshi) being March Madness seems like a giant middle finger to everyone. It’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for ‘em.
FanDuel launches problem gambling recovery show with Craig Carton | From a press release: “FanDuel TV has launched ‘The Comeback With Craig Carton,” a new show focused on problem gambling recovery hosted by FanDuel’s responsible gaming ambassador and FS1’s ‘Breakfast Ball’ Craig Carton. Carton sits down with those who have experienced the highs and lows of gambling addiction to amplify their stories, break down the stigma surrounding gambling disorder, raise awareness of support resources for individuals and their families, and show that recovery is possible. ‘As someone who has personally navigated the challenges of gambling addiction, I understand the impact it can have on your life and the lives of those you care about,’ Craig Carton said. ‘The road to recovery isn’t easy, but I’ve committed myself to helping others who are facing similar struggles. My mission for this show is to inspire hope, offer support, and remind everyone that the path to regaining control starts with understanding.’”
In the first episode now streaming on YouTube and FanDuel TV Extra, Carton speaks with former 11-year NBA veteran and recovered problem gambler Randy Livingston. You can watch below. There’s also a Substack.
Reading the line: Whether you think the effort will be effective or not, it’s hard to say FanDuel isn’t trying on the problem/responsible gambling front. Doing an entire show just about the topic will certainly help optically, but telling people’s stories might also do some actual good in the world. If you try to make this effort from FanDuel/Carton into a bad thing, please touch grass. More on this in The Current on Tuesday.
Last Week Tonight tackles sports betting (YouTube) | “John Oliver discusses sports betting, how it became so popular, why it can be so damaging, and – of course – how toned John’s shoulders are. Very toned. According to him.”
Reading the line: John gives us a recap of how we got to where we are in US sports betting, in an often light-hearted takedown of the industry. It’s certainly not a positive look, as one would expect, but I don’t think it will end up being something that hurts the industry writ large. And while there are some funny bits in here, I didn’t think it was his best work. His work on fantasy sports a decade ago was amazing; this fake DFS commercial is one of the funniest things I have ever seen around the industry. More from Awful Announcing, which points out LWT kinda copied Saturday Night Live.
DraftKings got name-checked more than anyone. I also found it fascinating that sweepstakes sportsbooks broke through the noise to be included in the show; there is a segment on Fliff.
Sweepstakes Casino Giant VGW Ordered To Exit Maryland, Produce Legal Opinion To Regulators (Forbes): “On March 12th – just one day after VGW’s lobbyist testified in opposition to a Senate bill that would ban online sweepstakes casinos in Maryland – the state’s top gaming regulator sent a letter to VGW by email stating that ‘[i]t has come to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency’s attention that VGW d/b/a Chumba Casino and Luckyland Slots … is offering and conducting online gaming activities in Maryland without legal authority to do so.’ The letter stresses (underscore in original) that ‘[t]he only online gaming permitted in Maryland is mobile/online sports wagering and online fantasy competitions,’ while noting that ‘[o]nline casino gaming (also known as iGaming) is not [even] permitted in Maryland.’ To legally engage in those activities, a state-issued license (in the case of sports wagering and casino gaming) or registration with the agency (in the case of fantasy competitions) is required. The agency’s letter states that there is ‘no record of VGW being issued a sports wagering license, a casino gaming license, or registration as a fantasy competition operator.’”
Reading the line: The stakes for sweepstakes casinos and sportsbooks have gone up considerably just over the weekend, between this action and the revelation that Connecticut is bringing criminal charges against an operator. The actions and proposed bans of the industry are quickly reaching a critical mass; the risk profile for operators, vendors and payment processors becomes dicier with each passing day. Still, unless California and/or Texas take any action — which I still think seems unlikely — or criminal investigations expand, the sweepstakes industry remains viable.
Meanwhile, here’s a statement from High 5 Games on the Connecticut situation:
High 5 Games has always upheld the highest regulatory standards and remains committed to compliance across all jurisdictions in which we operate. Throughout our 30-year history as an established gaming brand in the U.S., we have worked closely with regulators to ensure responsible and transparent business practices, offering an experience to our loyal business partners that is both enjoyable and safe.We pride ourselves on the games we deliver as a B2B supplier to operators in all regulated markets in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Honor, trust, and legal compliance will always be cornerstones of our business. We treasure our relationships with all iGaming operators as clients, and we safeguard these relationships with extreme care. We will always continue to work hard to bring the highest value of content to our partners in a reliable, safe way.
We are committed to cooperating with Connecticut regulators to resolve this matter and maintain the integrity of our gaming licenses.
Our focus remains on delivering exceptional and innovative gaming experiences while fully complying with all state and country regulations.
Gambling news roundup
More than half of US adults don’t want legal betting on college sports in their state (AP): “The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that about 6 in 10 Americans think betting on professional sports should be legal in their state, but only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults say the same thing about legalized wagering on college sports. More than half oppose legal betting on college sports.”
I will continue to beat the drum that you can ban college betting all you want at regulated sportsbooks, but it will still exist via offshore sportsbooks, fantasy pick’em, sweepstakes and now Kalshi/Robinhood! While the idea of this might be popular, it’s a more complicated problem than just changing some regulations.
DraftKings Electric Poker: Three-Handed Tournaments With Randomized Prizes Launch in New Jersey (PlayNJ): Electric Poker has lived up to its name in other states, which is why DraftKings is bringing the exciting game to New Jersey. The company announced the launch in the Garden State on Tuesday.
DraftKings first brought the game to Michigan in August and then Pennsylvania in October 2024. New Jersey marks the third online casino state in which the title is available for players.”
Governor Hochul declares March 2025 as Problem Gambling Awareness Month amid March Madness (CNY Central): “Governor Kathy Hochul has declared March 2025 as Problem Gambling Awareness Month in New York State, emphasizing the importance of addressing an often overlooked addiction. This announcement coincides with Selection Sunday, when the brackets for the NCAA Men's and Women's March Madness tournaments are revealed.”
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Friday Night News Dumps: Kalshi Gets More Time In Nevada; Underdog Settles In NY
A couple of decently big pieces of news broke tonight, so figured I would send out a brief update.
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