The Monday after a four-day weekend is anything but happy, but we’re still wishing a happy Monday to all nonetheless. Sports betting news was a bit scarce with the holiday-shortened week – at least in America, that is.
For its neighbors to the north, last week included quite an exciting turn of events. Our team tackled the Canada sports betting news and more on the latest LSR Podcast.
As always, follow @LSPReport on Twitter for breaking news updates across the sports betting industry.
Top sports betting news: Canada making moves
At the beginning of this year, a bill to end Canada’s federal ban on single-game sports betting seemed like other attempts that failed in the past.
As it turns out, though, C-218 was far from a failure. The bill was adopted as government legislation, which likely means the legal requirement of parlay betting will soon be gone.
“We are grateful for the government stepping in to ensure passage,” said Paul Burns, CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association. “The Bill enjoys strong support from all the major parties in the House of Commons so we are extremely confident it will be able to pass later this spring.”
The biggest difference this year? Canada’s finally getting sports betting competition from America. Sports betting in Michigan launched earlier this year and mobile should go live in early 2021.
That could lead residents from Ontario to drive right past Caesars Windsor, which sits on the border of Michigan, for Detroit’s three casinos with full-fledged sportsbooks. Or they could simply cross the border and place bets with any app that’s live in the state.
New sports betting handle record for Nevada
Nevada finally joined other sports betting market leaders with a new handle record for October.
Handle hit $660 million, up 7.5% from its previous record hit last November. That’s still a long way from the $803 million reported by New Jersey, though.
Aside from New York‘s influence on the NJ sports betting market, the biggest difference between NJ and NV remains mobile betting. Nearly 93% of all handle flowed through mobile accounts in New Jersey for October. That’s compared to just 57% in Nevada last month.
Does Sky Bet model translate to US market?
Sky Bet used its relationship with a media broadcaster to become the biggest sportsbook in the United Kingdom. But can the same be done in the US betting market?
Many of the sportsbook-broadcaster deals in the US appear to be more like affiliate models, which isn’t exactly the same, 888‘s Yaniv Sherman said.
Something like Barstool Sportsbook, which uses the media brand’s name in the betting app, is similar to the Sky Bet model, though.
“I’ve been obsessed with Barstool for two years now,” said Ismail Vali, the chief product and marketing officer at CX agency A Game Above.
DraftKings Sportsbook gets Detroit exposure
DraftKings Sportsbook is the most well-known operator without a sportsbook in Detroit, but a new deal means it’ll plenty of exposure in the market.
DraftKings is now an official sports betting and iGaming partner of the NBA‘s Detroit Pistons. It’s also the exclusive daily fantasy sports operator for the team.
DraftKings partnered with Bay Mills Casino, which is located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula about 5 hours away from Detroit. The deal with the Pistons, which includes in-stadium signage, will help bring exposure to the brand.
Betting with spare change?
You could let Acorns invest your digital spare change. If you’re more of a let-it-ride type of person, though, maybe Hedge is a better idea.
Hedge takes spare change and lets account holders enter fantasy contests with that cash. Users would still set their own lineups like any other traditional DFS contest.
Hedge recently closed an angel funding round of $250,000, bringing its total funding to $350,000. Just because it includes a DFS element doesn’t mean it’s taking on DraftKings or FanDuel, though.
“We see ourselves as part of the spare change economy,” co-founder Jackson Fitzgerald said. “We’re complementary to the DFS firms rather than a competitor.”
