Happy Monday, everyone. Sports betting is back in full swing despite continued news of COVID positives in MLB while the NBA and NHL remain coronavirus-free in their playoffs bubbles.
As always, the LSR team broke down some of the biggest stories in sports betting on the most recent LSR Podcast, which broke down a few unfortunate scenarios for FanDuel Sportsbook last week.
And if you followed @LSPReport on Twitter, you’d already be privy to the biggest news of last week which broke late Friday afternoon: the return of remote registration in Illinois.
Top sports betting news: Pritzker allows remote registration again
Mobile registration is back for Illinois sports betting less than a month after it disappeared.
Gov. JB Pritzker renewed an executive order that suspends the in-person registration requirement for IL sports betting. State law passed in 2019 requires in-person registration for at least a year and a half after launch. The state went live in March before the sports world shut down from the coronavirus pandemic.
Pritzker originally suspended in-person registration in early June while casinos were closed. But he ended the suspension in late July despite multiple sportsbooks hurrying their Illinois efforts because of the suspension.
It’s unknown how long the suspension will last. But Illinois sportsbooks will definitely be working to sign up as many customers as possible before this executive order expires Sept. 19. That’s the Saturday before NFL Week 2, which means there isn’t much time to secure customers for the all-important NFL betting season.
DraftKings Sportsbook went live nearly three weeks ago in East St. Louis, Illinois. Its largest competitor, FanDuel Sportsbook, is expected to launch soon.
FanDuel Sportsbook mistakenly locks out customers
Thousands of FanDuel Sportsbook customers were locked out of their accounts for more than two days last week as upgrades took longer than expected.
FanDuel migrated to a single wallet across its daily fantasy sports, casino, and sports betting platforms. The upgrade should have taken 12 to 15 hours.
Instead, some New Jersey and Pennsylvania sports bettors remained locked out for days. That included the first day of the NBA Playoffs and a full slate of NHL Playoff games.
The work had been going on for months but hit a snag in the final stages, a FanDuel spokesman said.
Tennessee launching sports betting Nov. 1 at the latest
The Tennessee Education Lottery will launch sports betting by Nov. 1, though that could happen earlier.
The lottery could launch sports betting in October if all four current applicants are ready before Nov. 1. But all must be ready to launch if the state is to go live before then, CEO Rebecca Hargrove said.
It’s taken Tennessee sports betting longer to get off the ground than many expected. Six other states have legalized and launched sports betting since Tennessee legalized sports betting in May 2019.
Does sports betting make Penn National worth the price?
Penn National‘s stock has soared beyond $50 with much of that growth to do with its 36% stake in Barstool Sports.
But is the stock actually worth that much? Or does Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy have much to do with that in his new role as a day trader?
Goldman Sachs Analyst Stephen Grambling seems to think the stock’s gains are legit. He initiated the stock at $60 with a buy rating last week.
Grambling estimates Penn National’s sports betting business is worth $4.5 billion. But that also assumes 1.8 million downloads of the Barstool Sportsbook app, which no one has even seen yet.
On a related note, LSR called for Penn National to stop white-washing the actions and words of Barstool.
Caesars offers harsh take on problem gamblers
It’s up to problem gamblers to save themselves, according to Caesars Entertainment.
At least, that’s what the company said in its public comments on the proposed Virginia sports betting draft regulations.
Virginia’s proposed regulations call for sportsbooks to listen to third-party requests about limiting or banning someone from betting in the state.
But that could be abused and doesn’t help the problem gambler, according to Caesars:
“Ultimately, the decision to gamble or not gamble, or how much or how little to gamble, is the responsibility of the gambler. Indeed, taking personal responsibility for one’s own gambling decisions is a hallmark of both healthy play as well as recovery from a gambling problem.”