In a recent FanDuel promotion, 20,000 fans bet that every NFL team would kick at least one field goal during week two of the regular season.
They did. FanDuel paid out $23 million to the winners. “It was fun, because I think it’s indicative of what sports betting is doing, which is driving real engagement and excitement,” CEO Amy Howe told CDC Gaming Reports during a keynote session October 11 at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas.
The session, billed as “The Playmakers,” also spoke about pickleball, Formula 1 racing and the Kelce-Swift love affair.
Combined, FanDuel and DraftKings account for about 80 percent of sports betting in the United States. How companies do business has changed since the end of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018.
“Live betting has grown a lot,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said at the session, per CDC. “There are a lot of exciting new features, and a lot of new markets for customers. But I also think that the way that customers engage with the product has changed.”
Robins said Swift’s presence in the Chiefs’ box has not yet affected odds but contributed to more prop bets on Kelce.
American football remains popular, but in some quarters, the U.S. Women’s National Team ranks at the top, Robins said. “The only (soccer) team that’s bet on more than the USWNT is Miami with (Lionel) Messi. We’re definitely seeing a growth in women’s sports, with the WNBA and everything else.”
The marketplace is still in its infancy, Howe said, per CDC. “If you think about the market overall, we’re still in relatively early days. You have New Jersey and Pennsylvania that you might think of as mature states, but the penetration rates are relatively low compared to what you see in more mature markets. And we still have more than 50 percent of the U.S. to open up from a product perspective. I think we’re at an inflection point where the U.S. is really driving innovation forward.”
Still, how do you innovate from here, Robins said. “How do you bring new players in by making it a less intimidating experience, a little bit more user friendly to a casual player who doesn’t know what minus 150 means?”
Moderator Contessa Brewer of CNBC cited a figure from the American Gaming Association that Americans bet a half-trillion dollars on unregulated markets. Around 50 percent of internet searches for sports wagering land on illegal sites. California, Florida, and Texas where sports betting remains illegal, this figure can top 80 percent.
“We’re in an interesting time where because sports betting has become so mainstream, it’s confusing the consumer,” Howe said, per CDC. “And because some of these sites actually look legitimate, at the end of the day, we’ve got to keep doing the hard work to open up states (where sports betting is illegal).”
In other G2E action, Justin J. Carter of Penn Entertainment participated in a panel looking at the future of gaming and sports betting.
“In and of itself, (sports betting) is not an extremely profitable venture,” Justin J. Carter, Penn Entertainment’s senior vice president of regional operations said October 10 at a G2E panel, “Looking at the Crystal Ball: The Future Gaming Landscape.” But that viewpoint could cover up a greater pull.
As popular culture continues to intersect with sports, with the storyline of Swift and Kelce just one example.
“Sports betting is an amazing tool to create energy and excitement and to open up our venues to an entirely different segment of people,” Carter said, per CDC.
Michael Soll, a founding member of The Innovation Group team, moderated.
The gaming industry has become much bigger than just slot machines and table games,” panelist Andrew S. Zarnett, managing director and head of gaming investment banking for Jefferies, said.
Although media companies have signed deals with sports betting and iGaming companies, Zarnett does not foresee mergers between the two industries, each preferring “to stay in their own lane.”
Andrew Burke, CEO of Bluberi, another panelist, said sports betting products are still in their infancy, promoting the difference between betting online and betting in-game.
“Companies are evolving their product offerings very quickly, and you’re getting a lot more options and real-time dynamic,” Burke said, per CDC.
The subject turned to responsible gaming.
Carter said operators grow from the larger source of periodic gamblers, not those with an addiction. The big evolution is the emphasis on knowing the customer, he said.
“We want to be self-regulated,” Zarnett said, per CDC. “We don’t want to have third-party regulation like they do in the U.K. or Australia. And to do that, you need to stay on top of everything.”
Burke said the industry is behind in technology, including slots, online space, and casino operations. The slot business, in many cases, is based on a 25-year-old proprietary code. “When you try to attract somebody, they want to work on the newest, freshest technology because that is a transferable skill across the business.”
Business at regulated casinos could grow through the American Gaming Association’s encouragement of a crackdown on illegal slot machines, Burke said. Between 500,000 and 600,000 illegal slots operate in the United States, he said, about half the number regulated ones.
