Touting the ‘Flutter Edge’
Sept. 25 was a tour de force for global wagering giant Flutter, as the company’s executives touted its worldwide success to investors and detailed plans for future growth.
The company held its annual investor day presentation in New York on Wednesday. Several executives presented details in an extensive breakdown about Flutter’s tentacles around the globe. Investors heard from group CEO Peter Jackson, FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, Flutter’s U.K. & Ireland and international CEOs Ian Brown and Dan Taylor and more.
Overall, the executives heralded the “Flutter Edge,” reports iGB. This, they said, is the formula that has vaulted the company into “gold-medal positions” in several large markets, such as the U.S., U.K., Italy and Australia. It consists of four main tenets: product, technology, expertise and scale.
This quartet was referenced ubiquitously as the key driver for the company’s success. Throughout the presentation, the company’s widespread dominance of odds pricing and parlay products was a core theme.
From 2019 to 2023, Flutter executives said, the share of bets that are parlays has grown by 65 percent. The average number of legs per parlay has also increased by 38 percent over that span.
ESPN Bet Prepping to Go Live in New York
The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) Sept. 23 voted to transfer the Wynn Resorts digital sports betting license to Penn Entertainment. A company executive said the ESPN Bet platform could be live in the state by the weekend, per iGB.
As of Sept. 26, ESPN Bet had not launched, and Penn Entertainment had not indicated when that might happen.
The state of New York has a cap of nine digital wagering licences. All nine were accounted for at the beginning of 2024, but WynnBet decided to get out of the digital betting business and exited the state in July. In February, Penn made a deal to buy WynnBet’s NY license for $25 million.
At the meeting, Penn executive vice president, chief strategy and legal officer and secretary Chris Rogers told the commission that his company still has “a couple of boxes to check” on technology. But he said the plan is to “launch in several days, perhaps a soft launch in advance of the weekend.”
Mizuhara Sentencing Date Moved to December
A federal court has moved Ippei Mizuhara’s sentencing date from Oct. 25 to Dec. 20. Mizuhara is the former Japanese language interpreter to Shohei Ohtani who racked up tens of millions in gambling debt with illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer. Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to bet with. In June, he pleaded guilty to three federal counts and faces up to 33 years in prison.
After Mizuhara’s guilty plea, Bowyer in August pled guilty to running a massive illegal betting ring that had 700 customers at its height. Bowyer admitted to using illegal offshore betting platforms in his business and to laundering money through multiple casinos. His sentencing is set for Feb. 7, 2025.
MGC: No Betting on Heisman Trophy, Other College Awards
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) Sept. 26 changed its bet menu to ban betting on individual college awards, like the Heisman or Wooden Award, per iGB. The state already prohibits college-player prop bets. The commission also updated its rules to allow its Investigations Enforcement Bureau to have three years to complete “durable sustainability investigations.”
Additionally, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook and MGM Springfield all asked for and got changes to their house rules. The changes, in general, add or subtract betting markets. BetMGM, though, did ask for changes to same-game parlays that would allow parlay odds to be recalculated if one leg includes a canceled event in Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL or NFL.
Commercial Retail Sportsbooks Closer to Reality in NC
The North Carolina State Lottery Commission Sept. 25 approved requirements to open a “Place of Public Accommodation” for sports betting. This means that operators interested in opening brick-and-mortar sportsbooks can begin the process of doing so. North Carolina already has two tribal casinos that offer in-person wagering. Eight operators went live with digital sports betting in March.
The commission also passed esports guidance and posted a petition for esport events or wagers form on its website. Operators interested in offering esports can submit the form as the first step to offering esports betting. In addition, the commission got an update on next steps to launch pari-mutuel wagering. A public-comment period on the notice of rulemaking is open until Oct. 18 and an in-person public-comment period is set for Oct. 8 at 9 a.m. at the North Carolina State Lottery Commission Headquarters in Raleigh.
NJ Proposal: No Deals Between Books and Universities
A New Jersey bill that would prohibit partnerships between sportsbooks and universities — with some exceptions — got out of an assembly committee Sept. 23.
The NJ bill, A4113, was originally introduced last session, but did not gain traction. On Sept. 23, the Assembly Higher Education Committee voted out an amended version. In general, the proposal would make it illegal for sportsbooks or “intermediaries” to make deals with public institutions of higher learning.
This means that state universities, like Rutgers, could not partner with sportsbooks. But the bill does not address private universities or colleges, of which there are 13. Among them in Division I are Fairleigh Dickinson, Monmouth, Princeton and St. John’s. The bill passed unanimously, with little discussion and few public comments.
U.K., Others Could Inform Canadian Wagering Policy
Canada’s Senate Transport and Communications Committee Sept. 24 got an earful from Michael Grade, a lord from the U.K., who has experience with the gambling sector via roles in the House of Commons and as a media executive. Grade, according to Covers, told the committee that it could learn from the U.K. and other countries with longer histories of digital gambling. Canada’s first legal market launched in Ontario in 2022.
Grade was testifying in relation to S-269, a bill that calls for a federal framework around wagering advertising and marketing, including limiting ads during televised sporting events. The CFL has spoken in opposition of the proposal, but Grade told the committee, “With the knowledge that you have of what’s gone on around the world, most particularly in the U.K. and Australia and other places, you would be in dereliction of duty, if I may be so bold, if you ignore this problem now that you’ve legalized [sports betting] in the way that you have.”
Canada is among several countries considering federal guidelines around gambling advertising. The Canadian Gaming Association Sept. 25 released an academic and policy paper it commissioned that found that regulators and governments may be moving too quickly in terms of regulations. Study authors suggested that the Canadian government, provinces and regulators might benefit from more evidence-based data before crafting rules that lack enough nuance to be effective.
Small Guys Getting the Squeeze in Colorado
Colorado has long been the testing ground for small or alternative sports betting operators in the U.S. But SI Sportsbook has become the seventh platform in about a year to announce that it is exiting the state, iGB reported Sept. 23.
The last 12 to 18 months have seen more contraction than expansion in the wagering world. No U.S. jurisdiction in 2024 has expanded gambling, whether that be sports betting or online casino. In November, Missouri voters could approve legal wagering. If they do, Missouri will be the only state this year to legalize. If they do not, 2024 will go down as the first year since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was overturned during which no U.S. locales legalized.
Legislators from Georgia to Minnesota tried again in 2024 to legalize digital wagering, but ran into a variety of issues from moral objections to trying to tie legal wagering to other issues like video lottery terminals to managing charitable or tribal gaming.
Congratulations, New York
The New York State Gaming Commission’s “Small Risk & Big Gamble” responsible gambling campaign was honored at the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries’ (NASPL) 2024 Batchy awards. The campaign won three of four categories, the agency shared in a press release Sept. 25. The accolades come on the heels of winning the National Council on Problem Gambling’s annual “Gift Responsibly Campaign Award” from July. The campaign won in the radio, digital/social media and coordinated campaign Batchy categories.
The advertisements focus on how we all take risks in life – some small, like hitting the snooze alarm or eating gas-station sushi – but when it comes to gambling, the smart move is to play responsibly.
In other news …
Late last week, ESPN Bet opened a retail sportsbook at L’Auberge Casino Resort in Louisiana. The book is the second opening in a week. The company opened its venue at the Margaritaville Resort Casino Sept. 14. And Sept. 26, it got approval from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to rebrand its Plainridge Park sportsbook to ESPN Bet.
The Wyoming Gaming Commission in partnership with Spectrum Gaming has started work on a feasibility study to explore the future of gambling in the state. Initial results of the study are expected in early November.
The Gaming Innovation Group announced Sept. 23 that its name change to the “Gentoo Media, Inc.” has been completed. Later in the week, the company’s Oslo Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stockholm ticker symbols were changed.
Covers is reporting that black-market sportsbook Bodog is exiting Nova Scotia. The platform is no longer offering services and accounts with be closed Oct. 3. Consumers are recommended to withdraw funds by Oct. 2.
