Nearly $20 Million Staked So Far in Missouri Initiative Battle
Over the last week, funding for campaigns for and against Amendment 2, which would legalize sports betting in Missouri, has skyrocketed. Proponents of the proposal have contributed about $14 million while opponents have contributed $4 million to campaigns. On the proponents side, DraftKings is the main funder. The company earlier this week contributed $5 million, bringing its total contributions to about $10 million. FanDuel has contributed $3.5 million.
On the opponents’ side, so far Caesars Entertainment is the only company to put funds into the “no” campaign. The company, which has three retail locations in Missouri, put up $4 million Sept. 13.
Missourians in November will have the opportunity to vote on whether or not they want legal, digital sports betting. The issue has been hung up in the state legislature for at least five years. In 2023, the state’s professional sports teams, led by the St. Louis Cardinals, began to explore a ballot initiative. The proposal was approved for the ballot by the secretary of state in August and survived a legal challenge in early September.
Should the initiative pass, the casino companies would be entitled to one skin, or platform, per company. In legislative proposals, they would have been able to have one skin per location, up to three. Caesars, Penn Entertainment and Boyd Gaming all have multiple brick-and-mortar casinos in Missouri.
Illinois Regulators Tighten Ad Guidelines
Illinois regulators late last week became the latest to revamp advertising and marketing rules for sports betting and casinos. The move follows a trend in the U.S. that regulators say aims to protect minors and those at-risk from potential harms.
The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) Sept. 12 voted in more strict measures around wagering, casino and video gaming advertising, reports iGB. The new guidelines mirror those in Massachusetts and Ohio. Those two states are recognised to be the most stringent when it comes to advertising and marketing.
The IGB previously did not have such guidelines for casino and video gaming.
The board voted the same day that two U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation that would, in part, create national gambling advertising guidelines.
Parimutuel, Retail Betting Coming to North Carolina
At its Sept. 18 meeting, the North Carolina State Lottery Commission announced a notice of proposed rulemaking for parimutuel wagering. It also opened a 30-day public-comment window for brick-and-mortar sports betting rules.
The lottery’s sports betting committee previously approved both expansions and recommended them to the commission. During the meeting, the commission did not provide a timetable for the start of parimutuel betting. On the retail wagering front, when the public-comment period closes Oct. 18, the commission will then discuss and potentially adopt any changes and approve the rules. North Carolina tribal casinos currently offer in-person betting, but the commercial market went live in March without any retail locations.
In other news, the commission is moving forward with adding e-sports betting to its bet menu. It approved a petition to add esports, and will vote on that at a meeting Sept. 25.
Fanatics Opens Ocean AC Sportsbook
Fanatics Sportsbook officially opened at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, in a star-studded ribbon-cutting hosted by rapper Jay-Z.
The sportsbook has been taking bets from The Gallery at Ocean Casino Resort since Sept. 5, having launched just in time for the start of the football season.
Jay-Z cut the ribbon at an event that also included Fanatics founder Michael Rubin and world-renowned golfer Justin Thomas. Thomas was invited to place the first bet in the book: $100 on Alabama to win the college football national championship. Other famous faces in attendance included Quavo, Jalen Rose, Dez Bryant, and Ryan Clark.
Boyd Bets on Retail Books
While digital sports betting and iGaming seem to be all the rage, Boyd Gaming continues to double down on brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, writes Howard Stutz in The Nevada Independent. Boyd opened its biggest retail sportsbook to date earlier this year at the off-Strip Suncoast Hotel & Casino.
“A sportsbook is more than just a place to make wagers,” Boyd VP of Race & Sports Bob Scucci told the Independent. “At our properties, the sportsbook is the place where people come four or five times a week. It’s where they go to meet their friends and congregate.”
The new sportsbook has a 15-foot tall wraparound video screen, a 130-foot long ticker and plenty of plush and comfortable seating. But it has only five teller windows. Why? Because Thompson said, it is easier for bettors to in-game wager on their phones.
OK Senator Says He’ll File Betting Bill
Oklahoma state Sen. Bill Coleman told News Channel 8 that he plans to file a legal sports betting bill for the 2025 session. Coleman said there is “demand” in the state and that he understands that there could be $150 million in state tax revenue.
Coleman’s tax estimate seems skewed as Connecticut, which is slightly smaller by population, took in $19.6 million in tax revenue in 2023. Connecticut charges operators at 13.75 percent tax rate. Kentucky, which is slightly larger by population, has reaped $35.4 million in tax revenue through its first 10 months of live, legal wagering. Kentucky taxes operators at 9.75 percent.
Coleman has previously sponsored legislation, but it seems unlikely that until Gov. Kevin Stitt is out of office that any expansion of gambling in the state would be on hold. Stitt and the state’s tribes, which have exclusivity for gaming, have long had a rift over what legal betting should look like.
Revenue Roundup: New Landscape in DC, Illinois
Multiple states reported revenue for July and August in the last week, according to iGB. In Washington, DC, FanDuel is leading all operators after the first full calendar month of an open, competitive market while Illinois saw increased tax revenue in July under its new tax structure.
In other high-revenue and high-handle states, iGB reports that Massachusetts operators had their worst month this year in terms of revenue in August, Michigan sportsbooks reported an increase in revenue against August 2023 and New Jersey sportsbooks had a decline in revenue against August 2023,
Bovada Now Out of 13 U.S. States
Per a social media post from XL Media on Sept. 17, offshore sportsbook Bovada has added Kansas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania to its list of restricted states. The company is now out of 13 U.S. states as regulators across the country have started to take action against black-market sportsbooks. Several state regulators, including those in Michigan, sent the company cease-and-desist letters.
Macquarie: DraftKings a Buy
Macquarie Equity Research analysts earlier this week tagged DraftKings as the sports betting stock to buy this football season. The analysts, who said they calculated a 16 percent hold for operators on the NFL during the second week of the season, wrote that DraftKings has the most potential upside for consumers of all the wagering stocks.
DraftKings “is most exposed to near-term upside from favorable NFL game outcomes, higher structural hold and general OSB/iGaming growth momentum. We estimate DKNG has increased its YoY handle handle share -200 -300 bps YoY likely at the expense of higher hold but positioning it to further monetize these customers through more SGP betting and/or improvements in live betting tech, with the latter still in its infancy vs. mature European markets.”
In Other News …
The Major League Baseball Players Inc., the corporate arm of the MLB Players Association, filed multiple lawsuits against bet365, DraftKings, FanDuel and Underdog Sports. The MLBPI claims the operators are unlawfully using players’ names, images and likenesses.
