Happy Monday, everyone. Sports betting news was mostly dominated by legislative updates and state reports last week, which is typical for this time of year.
The LSR Podcast broke down some of those biggest state reports and looked at a recap of reported Super Bowl 55 handle so far.
The state legislative updates will be coming fast and furiously through early summer at this point. Make sure to follow @LSPReport on Twitter to get those updates as we cover them.
Top sports betting news: Michigan quick off online start line
Sports betting in Michigan launched last March just before the coronavirus pandemic, but that was only retail. Everyone knew the true test of the market would come once online went live.
Michigan certainly didn’t disappoint with $115.2 million bet online in the first 10 days. That led to $13.3 million in gross sports betting revenue, which drastically dropped to a loss of $5.2 million once promos were deducted. No doubt the market was spurred by the simultaneous launch of online casino gaming, which had $29.4 million in gross revenue during those 10 days.
Even more telling than the total handle was who took those bets. While there were 11 sportsbooks live in those 10 days, four showed early potential to become a market leader.
FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, Barstool Sportsbook and BetMGM combined for 96.4% of total handle and 93.2% of total gross revenue.
IL, NJ, PA release latest numbers too
We also saw sports betting revenue reports out of three of the top US sports betting jurisdictions last week:
- Illinois‘ gaming regulators finally graced all of us with their December report, which showed a new record of $492 million bet. Hold dropped to 5.7% from 8.2% in November, though, which meant IL sports betting revenue fell to $28.4 million.
- New Jersey sports betting set a new revenue record with $82.6 million in January while handle fell 4% from December to $958.7 million.
- Pennsylvania sportsbooks took a record $615.3 million in bets last month, which was up 12.2% from its previous record set in December.
Full Canada sports betting inches forward
One of last week’s top sports betting stories was news from our northern neighbor.
A bill that would remove a federal ban on single-game sports betting in Canada progressed through its second hearing vote last week by a significant 303-15 margin Wednesday.
The bill now moves to the Justice Committee where it gets a third hearing this week. A vote on that hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Virginia sports betting bills head to conference again
Virginia‘s two legislative chambers just cannot agree on VA sports betting details.
Just like last year, both chambers insisted on their version of bills that would tweak the state’s sports betting law. What’s potentially frustrating for those sponsors is the bills are simply cleaning up language from last year’s enabling legislation.
The proposal, which could see final approval this week if the conference works quickly, would exempt mobile sports betting licenses connected with casinos in the state from the maximum cap of 12 mobile-only licenses. Betting on the Olympics and more would also be approved through the legislation.
Good sportsbooks steal trademarks, great sportsbooks register them?
Barstool Sportsbook is accused of stealing content by a competitor.
Portnoy tweeted a letter sent from Westgate Superbook ordering the brand to stop using its trademarked “Good teams win, great teams cover” phrase.
Portnoy said there’s no chance Westgate invented the saying, which might be true. That has nothing to do with infringing on a trademark, of course, that Westgate successfully registered in 2012.
Vermont tries again for legal sports betting
The latest effort to legalize sports betting in Vermont is now live in the state legislature.
This year’s bill would authorize up to six mobile sportsbooks as well as retail betting through the state lottery.
The state needs to do something soon if it wants to stay ahead of local competition. Vermont has four borders – Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and the province of Quebec in Canada – that could all have legal single-game mobile betting by the end of this year.
BetMGM sports betting partnership with Topgolf
A new partnership between BetMGM and Topgolf Entertainment will see the two collaborate on marketing and promotional offers.
The agreement includes select Topgolf locations where sports betting is legal and within online golf game WGT.
Locations where the partnership will first launch include Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Nashville and Virginia Beach.
WynnBET partners with Genius Sports
The expanding WynnBET-branded interactive segment of Wynn Resorts will now get its data from Genius Sports.
The agreement includes data for NASCAR, the English Premier League and hundreds of other sports organizations.
The deal spans multiple states, beginning with WynnBET’s live operations in Colorado, Michigan and New Jersey with more states to follow.
Wynn is working toward more state launches before the NFL season kicks off later this year.