Happy Monday, everyone. Sports betting was in the news for multiple reasons over the weekend, including a long-awaited new market launch.
The launch of sports betting in Tennessee took nearly a year and a half but the state is finally live with the country’s first mobile-only market. The LSR Podcast crew discussed the launch and other top stories on the most recent episode.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter @LSPReport as well, where you can find all of our breaking news updates and latest feature stories.
Finally, to our US readers, the LSR team humbly asks you to vote if you haven’t already. If you happen to live in Louisiana, Maryland or South Dakota, check out our sports betting referendum primers before you hit the polls.
Top sports betting news: TN sports betting goes live
After a long wait, sports bettors in Tennessee can finally bet legally in the state.
Tennessee became the 20th US jurisdiction with sports betting early Sunday morning. The market started with four operators live with three more pending:
- BetAmerica (pending)
- BetMGM (live)
- DraftKings Sportsbook (live)
- FanDuel Sportsbook (live)
- Tennessee Action 24/7 (live)
- William Hill (pending)
- Wynn (pending)
All eyes will be on Tennessee’s results over the next few month to see how TN sports betting operators are dealing with the mandatory 10% hold.
There are other reasons to monitor closely what happens in the Volunteer State. Many will want to see what impact the lack of retail betting has on customer acquisition. Tennessee could also become a sports betting hub for the southeast US given the lack of legal sports betting beyond TN.
FanDuel Sportsbook expands IL, NJ, US reach
FanDuel Sportsbook seems to finally have a retail partner in Illinois that puts it in competition with its biggest competitor.
Fairmount Park received preliminary approvals to transition to a racino and offer legal IL sports betting from gaming regulators last week.
Fairmount sits just outside of St. Louis, just 15 minutes east of DraftKings at Casino Queen. The track provides a much better in-person registration position in the state compared to FanDuel’s first partner, Par-A-Dice Casino.
As for expanding its US reach, FanDuel announced a six-year agreement with Entercom to become the official sportsbook partner of the company and its portfolio of more than 200 radio stations across the country.
Finally, FanDuel announced it would open another New Jersey sports betting experience: an Atlantic City sportsbook in Bally’s.
Genius Sports going public, announces new deal
Sports betting data supplier Genius Sports is going public through – you guessed it – a SPAC.
The agreement with dMY Technology Group II values the company at $1.5 billion and should see it trading in the US by the first quarter. That name should sound familiar: dMY Technology announced back in July that it would take Rush Street Interactive public through another SPAC.
Genius Sports will exit the transaction with about $150 million in cash for growth and “substantially” no debt. Its valuation is eight times its $190 million in projected revenue for 2021.
Genius announced another new deal as well last week. The company will work with the Drone Racing League to create the first league-approved drone racing product for sportsbooks.
Penn happy with Barstool Sportsbook so far
Penn National is pleased with the early days of its Barstool Sportsbook launch so far, CEO Jay Snowden told investors last week.
The brand is only offering PA sports betting so far, doing $78 million in handle in a little over a month of operations. Aside from the handle, though, the bigger upside has been the customers Penn’s acquired through the brand.
Of the 48,000 registered customers in Pennsylvania, 95% are new to Penn National. The bettors seem to enjoy the Barstool content as well with 39% of bettors betting on exclusive content. There’s also been more than 4.5 million stream views of the Sportsbook House, where Barstool personalities gather to watch games together.
Stoolies hoping to use the brand for sports betting in Colorado got excited a little prematurely, though. Ameristar Black Hawk is launching its retail Barstool Sportsbook this week but a mobile betting launch won’t come until next year.
Nevada ushers US to new monthly record
Nevada didn’t record the most US sports betting handle in September, but its contribution was news in its own right.
Sports betting in Nevada pushed the country’s total sports betting handle for the month beyond $2.5 billion, setting a new record previously broken in August as well.
The $575.1 million in handle could have been bigger with more mobile betting. Mobile handle only accounted for 54.9% in September, down from 64.3% in August. Nevada requires in-person registration for sports betting, which puts its mobile share toward the bottom of US states.
That could all change based on a public hearing this week, though. Nevada’s gaming regulators will consider a change to its regulations that would allow bettor identities to be confirmed remotely.
Wynn lands Virginia sports betting partnership
Wynn finally picked up the pace when it comes to sports betting.
Its most recent announcement is with NASCAR to become the official online sportsbook of two tracks in Virginia, pending approval from regulators.
VA sports betting just wrapped up its application period, which leads to the stressful part for operators. The state will only authorize between four and 12 sports betting applications no matter how many companies applied.
If approved, Wynn will build two WynnBET lounges at Martinsville Speedway and Richmond Raceway. Wynn is also expanding its NASCAR content after become an authorized gaming operator of the league.
