The Early Line: More Money For Missouri Sports Betting
TCL will be offering a roundup of recent US gambling news called The Early Line every Monday.
More money for Missouri sports betting | FanDuel contributed another $4.6 million to support the effort to legalize sports betting in Missouri. That brings their total amount spent on the November ballot measure past $20 million; combined with DraftKings, the total amount exceeds $40 million.
Reading the line: While we don’t know how the vote will go next week, things are trending positively. The amount spent for and against a ballot measure is often meaningful to the final result, and the proponents of sports betting are outspending opponents. Two major media entities in the state have also endorsed the passage of the ballot measure. Missouri stands as the only realistic chance at expansion of sports betting in the short term.
Kamala Harris woos sports bettors | I am a little late to this, but I didn’t see it circulated too widely in gambling circles. The Democratic presidential candidate recently targeted sports betting and fantasy users with ads, including one at DraftKings.
Reading the line: It’s at least interesting that candidates are now using sports betting as a vehicle to reach voters. And while not legal at regulated US sportsbooks, interest in betting on the presidential election through now-legal prediction markets and illegal offshore sportsbooks is at an all-time high. Will it make a difference? Who knows. But in an election where the margins appear to be razor thin in swing states, taking a new tack with an audience that usually goes untargeted is at least noteworthy.
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Is something happening in Temple betting probe? | Sports Illustrated reported that Virginia Tech men’s basketball player Hysier Miller was dismissed from the program. We don’t know why Miller was let go, but we do know he transferred from Temple, whose program was the subject of concern because of betting anomalies in the spring. Virginia Tech shared only that Miller was released “due to circumstances prior to his at Virginia Tech” in a statement.
Reading the line: The outcome of an investigation into Temple’s basketball program hangs over the NCAA and the sports betting industry. However, since news dropped in March that there was “unusual betting activity” around Temple games, there has been little new information. The dismissal of Miller at least raises the prospect that there’s been movement on the investigation, although that’s also just speculation. There have been few true scandals in the US in the era of legal sports betting, with the biggest being the Jontay Porter case. A scandal here would have a chance of causing shockwaves in both college athletics and gambling.Tough times for big affiliate | Better Collective saw its share price drop more than 40% last week after issuing a profit warning after hours. Generally considered the leader in North American gambling affiliation, it was a fairly shocking one-day drop for the company. Shares bounced back 10% on Monday after the announcement of a share buyback.
Reading the line: It’s been a rough go for most of the publicly traded affiliates of late. (I used to work as an executive at one of these, Catena Media, before leaving a couple of years ago.) I touched more on the state of affairs in gambling affiliates in my weekly minipodcast.
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