The Wednesday Line: More Bad News For Fantasy Pick'em
Here’s today’s quick rundown in the world of US gambling. ICYMI, here’s yesterday’s roundup.
More bad news for fantasy vs. the house
The first two months of 2024 have been extremely bad for the fantasy vs. the house industry. It’s only gotten worse this week:
Massachusetts has now sent cease and desist letters to a variety of fantasy parlay companies.
Underdog pulled out of both Mississippi and North Carolina with its parlay offering. In the latter, it plans to launch sports betting in March.
The map continues to shrink and become more negative for the industry. At the simplest level, none of it should be surprising. Despite arguments for its legality, fantasy parlays vs. the house are mechanically the same as parlays wagered at a sportsbook. Occam’s razor would point to the idea they would (eventually) be treated the same as sports betting, especially in states that legalized sports betting.
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NC sports betting projection
How will the North Carolina sports betting market perform after it launches in March? An estimate from Legal Sports Report puts it at $7 billion in handle and $600 million in revenue in year one. Estimates are always just educated guesses, but I know personally how much time and effort LSR’s Eric Ramsey puts into his projections. North Carolina is the only big launch currently on the horizon, so the top-tier operators are already putting a ton of money into acquiring customers here.
Quick hitters
A petition to put sports betting on the ballot in Missouri is picking up steam.
An interesting look at the integrations of ESPN/ESPN Bet and Twitter/BetMGM. Neither of which are great, yet.
I am begging people not to try to pay off student loans via sports betting.
Florida is the latest state to see an uptick in gambling hotline calls after a rollout of online sports betting.
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