Happy Monday, everyone. It feels surreal that we’re closing in on our second full month without major sports. But despite the shutdown, sports betting news has remained fairly steady.
Remember, these recaps aren’t the only quick-hitting source of information from LSR. Head over and subscribe to the LSR Podcast, which dives deeper into the biggest sports betting issues of the week. Last week’s episode included a breakdown of one of the biggest stories of the year: DraftKings finally going public.
We’re also across active across Twitter and post breaking news updates to @LSPReport as soon as there’s a story to share.
Top sports betting news: Colorado sports betting starts
Four sports betting operators decided to push forward and launch mobile Colorado sports betting apps Friday despite no major sports available for betting.
BetMGM, BetRivers, DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook became the first sportsbooks fighting for customers in what’s expected to be a wide-open state for market share.
Another 13 sportsbooks have licenses and are waiting to launch. At maturity, PlayColorado.com expects the state’s operators to take $6 billion in handle and $400 million in revenue.
Value of Disney’s stake in DraftKings
One of the more surprising pieces of information that came to light from DraftKings going public is the fact that Disney still owns a piece of the company.
Disney owns 6% of DraftKings via a stake acquired through its purchase of 21st Century Fox last year. Disney is technically a “passive investor,” which means it won’t have any say on the DraftKings board. It also can’t invest in any direct DraftKings competitors.
DraftKings opened with a market cap of more than $6 billion after the combination with SBTech and its reverse merger with Diamond Eagle was completed last month.
Sports betting handle, revenue drop in Nevada
The lack of March Madness is certainly evident when looking at Nevada‘s March figures.
Handle fell 76% while revenue was down 96% in March compared to last year, which set a record at the time for handle. Mobile handle share hit 63% for the month after casinos were shut down by Gov. Steve Sisolak on March 18.
Basketball accounted for $495 million in handle for March 2019. Betting on basketball was just $104.7 million this March.
Sports betting deals for NCAA athletes unlikely
Nothing is set in stone for NCAA athletes to finally capitalize on their likenesses, but the first suggestions leave sports betting endorsements off the table.
Sports betting is listed as an activity that’s inconsistent with NCAA membership values by its Board of Governors. Also listed were alcohol and tobacco companies.
But even worse than leaving the gambling companies out? The recommendations also likely block a return of the NCAA Football video game, with a ban on school and conference logos suggested. That’s just wrong.
Can ops challenge official league data in Michigan?
The first iteration of draft rules for Michigan sports betting outlines how operators could argue against using official league data.
The official league data, which is required by law to settle in-play bets, must be offered on “commercially reasonable” terms.
Michigan’s gaming regulator will consider multiple factors in determining whether that data is actually offered on reasonable terms or not. That includes:
- How much the data costs in other jurisdictions
- Availability and cost of similar data from other sources
- Quality of the data compared to other sources
NJ set for ‘reset’, theScore Bet CEO says
After coming into the market about a year after competitors, theScore Bet has been slow to grab New Jersey sports betting market share.
That could become easier once major sports finally return and all sportsbooks essentially relaunch at the same time, CEO John Levy said.
“We’re not going to jump to the top of the list right off the bat, but I think once we get in there and start to establish, you’re going to see it’s a different story once we relaunch,” Levy said.
Levy remains confident in the sportsbook, which is fighting to get users of its media app back from other sportsbooks. Currently, 75% of its sportsbook traffic comes from within the media app.
