The Monday Line: Fliff, 60 Minutes Aftermath, Sports Betting Poll
Here’s today’s quick rundown in the world of U.S. gambling. Check out The Friday Line if you are catching up on last week.
Scrutiny for “sweepstakes” betting
There has been a lot of scrutiny on the fantasy vs. the house industry over the past year. There has been less scrutiny of the “sweepstakes” industry, which finds ways to offer gambling-like products largely via sweepstakes laws. That’s changing of late; a new Washington Post piece on the social and sweepstakes sportsbook Fliff is the latest example. Fliff, like the fantasy industry, is serving a large U.S. market that doesn’t have access to legal sports betting currently, as well as 18- 20-year-olds. (It’s worth noting that sweepstakes casinos are an even bigger category; operators recently left Michigan). I’d argue the legal argument for sweepstakes sportsbooks and casinos is far better than for fantasy vs. the house, but of course, I am not a lawyer. The story from WaPo has some issues in it (not enough space to get into it in this format), but the takeaway remains the same. If Fliff has gotten the attention of a publication like The Post, more attention will follow.
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60 Minutes aftermath
If you missed the 60 Minutes piece on sports betting, you can check it out here. Some of my takeaways:
It was negative for the industry but could have been a lot worse. This fell short of the 60 Minutes “gotchya” stories I’ve watched over the years. I believe it had little that will be aggregated and shared in the wider consciousness, especially in the noise of Super Bowl week.
The offshore sports betting industry was mentioned as an aside and more or less ignored.
Some of the time spent on responsible gambling was worthwhile.
The piece badly needed someone representing the sports betting industry beyond the American Gaming Association. We don’t know why DraftKings bailed but it could have used their perspective.
New sports betting poll
More interesting than 60 Minutes is a new poll from Siena College about sports betting in the U.S. The topline takeaway is that it reports that 39% of Americans bet on sports in some way. Some of the more interesting data points:
19% have a sports betting account.
75% have seen a sportsbook ad.
40% of bettors “have felt ashamed about their gambling, or bet more than they should, and one in five have lost money they needed or lied to someone about their betting.”
There’s lots of interesting data in the presser and crosstabs.
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