The Early Line: Missouri Sports Betting, More Sportsbooks In Florida?
TCL will be offering a roundup of recent US gambling news called The Early Line every Monday.
Big spending on Missouri sports betting | A ballot measure to legalize sports gambling has generated record spending in the Show Me State, with tens of millions of dollars flowing into campaigns for and against. DraftKings and FanDuel pouring money into the attempt to legalize surprises no one. But Caesars has raised eyebrows by spending against the measure; the company has a retail presence in the state and is also solidly in a tier behind the top operators in the country.
Reading the line: After six years of rapid expansion in sports betting, Missouri is one of the few realistic chances of seeing online gambling legalized in the coming year. If a ballot measure doesn’t win here, it could portend bad things for expansion in the short term.A new negative piece on sports betting | The Athletic/New York Times detailed the story of a person and his family dealing with an addiction to sports betting. The story is a good (and sad) read. But it’s a continuation of legal sports betting having a PR problem, at a time when gray/black market gambling mostly gets a pass or not covered at all in the mainstream. It seems like a good time for the newly minted Responsible Online Gaming Association to get involved and weigh in, and the story also misses on attempting to spend much time on RG efforts. It mentions that the subject of the story was able to self ban, but it’s a throwaway line.
Reading the line: Advertising continues to be what drives the negative narrative and seemingly puts people off about legal sports betting in the United States. That includes the proposed federal bill that includes limits on sports betting ads. I think many would like to see operators try to rein in advertising and take this issue on head-on sooner rather than later.Florida not closed for new sportsbooks? | Hard Rock and the Seminole Tribe currently run a Florida sports betting monopoly. But it’s always been at least possible that Hard Rock could allow other brands into the state … for a price. The interesting news from last week’s G2E is that Hard Rock didn’t shut the door on potential expansion.
Reading the line: DraftKings, FanDuel or anyone else getting into Florida under current conditions would likely be very expensive. But with expansion slowing and California and Texas as longshots to legalize in the near term, paying that price might be something some operators are willing to do.G2E in the books | I was at G2E, but I was there to take meetings related to my consulting business rather than cover the event. Here’s a good quick roundup of news and chatter. I can confirm that through eavesdropping and casual conversation sweepstakes sportsbooks and casinos were a hot topic. Anecdotal, but at one point, I could hear sweepstakes being discussed at two nearby tables independent of one another. Some of the largest sweepstakes operators were around the conference, even though some parts of the gaming industry are not fans of the model.
Reading the line: PR and lobbying efforts in favor of the sweepstakes industry have begun in earnest. It feels like the status quo of the industry will be hard to maintain, given its growth and some of the pushback it’s gotten. But this can go many different ways, from increased lobbying for and against the product to a gaming operator deciding “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
The Closing Line is now five days a week!
TCL is going to a regular publishing schedule:
Monday, The Early Line: What you read today. A look ahead and a look back at what’s going on in gambling, in a short, digestible format.
Tuesday, The Current: A short piece on something new in the space. Think a startup, a product, a development in the market.
Wednesday, The MiniPod: A super short podcast, often just me, sometimes with guests!
Thursday, The Takeaway: My take on something in the gambling industry, i.e. the backbone of what The Closing Line has been since its inception.
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I've tried to come up with a format and content that serves a need and is a bit different from what's already out there. And one that I can hopefully succeed in publishing every day. All of this may change as needs, feedback, and metrics warrant. But that's how I'll start!
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