The Thursday Line: PrizePicks, Southern Progress, Super Bowl Ads
The first one did pretty well, so let’s do another. Here’s today’s quick rundown in the world of U.S. gambling:
PrizePicks + Stephen A. Smith
Fantasy parlay operator PrizePicks is now an official partner of the podcast of ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith; PR here. From PrizePicks’ side, they have ramped up sponsorship of late; the fantasy vs. the house app has also been promoted by the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast and The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton show. PrizePicks appears to be the clear leader in the fantasy space right now and is going to spend to keep or extend its dominance. Conversely, it’s a weird development for Penn Entertainment and ESPN Bet. One of ESPN’s best-known personalities is now promoting a fantasy product that competes with the ESPN sportsbook in some markets. Smith can do what he wants in his private endeavors, but I’d argue it’s some bad optics for Penn and its ESPN deal.
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Southern progress
Expectations are tempered for online sports betting expansion this year, but we do have some early momentum:
Mississippi’s legislature is advancing a bill, with a chance it passes the House and reaches the Senate in the short term.
In Georgia, there’s good news and bad news. The Senate passed a sports betting bill, but added language to the bill that would require a constitutional amendment for legalization as well. Proponents had hoped they could bypass that step.
Super Bowl commercials
You’ll see three sports betting commercials during the Super Bowl broadcast: FanDuel and BetMGM during the game, and DraftKings in the pre-game. By process of elimination that means the bigger brands that didn’t spend on a commercial include Caesars, Fanatics and ESPN Bet. FanDuel is bringing back the Kick of Destiny with Rob Gronkowski. BetMGM is doing a spot that features Tom Brady and Vince Vaughn:
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