The Week In Sports Betting News: Nevada Finally Publishes Mobile Share


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Happy Monday, everyone. It’s finally March, which means there’s no chance sports betting news will slow down anytime soon with legislatures in full gear.

Oh, and March Madness is right around the corner.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter to see the latest news when it’s posted to the LSR site. There’s also the weekly LSR podcast which takes a deeper dive into some of the biggest stories of the week.

First Nevada mobile sports betting figures

Nevada‘s Gaming Control Board finally released the first official mobile/retail sports betting splits, with mobile accounting for 49% of handle.

The number is not a surprise. Nevada’s mobile sports betting laws require in-person registration and account funding at a sportsbook. That’s left other states, like Rhode Island and Iowa, lagging behind in their mobile betting shares as well.

Some operators push their apps more than others, like William Hill. The company has 32% of Nevada’s market share and gets 60% of handle online.

Wyoming won’t legalize sports betting this year

The chances of legal mobile and online sports betting in Wyoming died Friday after the bill failed to advance from the House.

The sponsor of H 225, Rep. Tom Walters, said a lot of the votes against the bill came from people who are against gaming in general.

Terms of the bill were relatively industry-friendly with low license fees and an unlimited number of licenses available. Revenue would have been taxed at 16%.

Walters expects to try again next year if he’s re-elected in November.

PointsBet prepares for Indiana launch

PointsBet will be the sixth mobile sportsbook operator when the operator launches before March Madness starts this month.

CEO Sam Swanell also announced PointsBet is planning Illinois, Colorado and Michigan launches this year on the company’s earnings call.

PointsBet did around $122 million in sports betting handle from July through December in New Jersey and Iowa. The company also grew active US customers 83% to 21,141.

Also on deck for PointsBet this year is an active push for media partners and an online casino launch, potentially by the end of 2020.

FanDuel founders, former employees want fair cut

Former FanDuel employees, including co-founder Nigel Eccles, are suing private equity investors looking for their piece of the company’s success.

The lawsuit alleges Shamrock Capital Advisors and KKR & Co. artificially lowered the price of FanDuel in the sale to Paddy Power Betfair. The suit was filed in New York’s Supreme Court.

Those firms were entitled to the first $559 million in proceeds from any sale. Common shareholders would be entitled to everything above that, including part of the 40% share of the new FanDuel Group.

The suit claims the firms kept the valuation under that figure to maintain full ownership of the stake.

Florida ‘working on nothing’ with sports betting

Florida isn’t getting sports betting figured out without a conversation between the governor and the Seminole Tribe, one of the tribe’s gaming attorneys said.

Reports that the legislature is working on Florida sports betting is misinformation from lobbyists trying to justify their fees, Marc Dunbar said. In reality, the legislature is “working on nothing.”

What has been reported out of the legislature, with the Seminoles getting exclusivity for sports betting in Florida by giving up a fight over banked card games, would never happen, Dunbar added.

“The tribe has all the cards here,” he said.

Montana readies for sports betting

Installation of Montana‘s first sports betting terminals begins next week, about three months after licensing began in December.

So far there are more than 100 businesses licensed to house the terminals.

Montana technically has mobile sports betting, but it’s only on-site. That means it could be a while before sports betting is readily available to everyone in the Big Sky State.