Happy Monday, everyone. It might be mid-October but there is still a ton of sports betting news that will develop throughout the rest of the year.
The LSR Podcast dove into a couple of those stories in the latest episode, including two state launches going in totally different directions.
It seems like there’s been big news every week and this week is no different, so stay tuned to @LSPReport on Twitter for all breaking news updates.
Top sports betting news this week: CT opening to all bettors
The soft launch of three online Connecticut sportsbooks should end Tuesday, opening access for all legal bettors in the state.
The three apps are limited to just 750 bettors each during the limited trial period, which started last Tuesday following a brief delay.
The launch started well for the Connecticut Lottery and PlaySugarHouse, according to officials during a board meeting last week. Rush Street Interactive‘s sportsbook took $60,000 in cash bets and a “fair amount” of free bets as well, Lottery President Greg Smith said.
DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook will also be available to bettors statewide this week. Those two also soft-launched online casinos last week.
Penn National closing on Score Media acquisition this week?
Penn National‘s $2 billion acquisition of Score Media & Gaming could close Tuesday, according to recent filings from Score.
Score Media shareholders approved the acquisition last week. The deal later got the approval of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Score Media is working on a proprietary sportsbook platform, which means Penn will eventually move Barstool Sportsbook from Kambi‘s technology.
NJ, PA September reports incoming
Two key states will report their September figures this week.
We’ll find out how New Jersey sportsbooks did at 2 pm Monday. NJ operators reported $665 million in handle for August, up 15% from July.
Pennsylvania does not have a designated reporting time, but the PA sportsbook report should be out in the first half of the week. Handle also jumped 15% in August from July.
New Jersey ranked first and Pennsylvania ranked second in online gambling transactions tracked by GeoComply during the first four weeks of NFL betting.
Last week’s top sports betting news: No FL launch
Oct. 15 was the first date the Seminole Indians could launch sports betting in Florida – but it is not exactly a surprise that didn’t happen.
When that launch might come is about as clear as mud. The Orlando Sentinel reported sports betting would launch next month. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, meanwhile, quoted a Seminole spokesperson that sports betting is coming in December.
The Seminole told LSR there have been no dates released by the tribe: “Anything reported to the contrary is not coming from the Tribe.”
There are also multiple lawsuits that could jeopardize the launch. Just this week the Department of Interior filed their response to one lawsuit while the Seminole Indians tried to get one of the suing parties excluded.
Football dominates Ontario betting
More than 3.5 million bets have been placed in Ontario since single-game sports betting went live in the province.
Nearly half of all bets are on football, with the NFL accounting for 34% of total bets on ProLine+.
There is no update for when the Ontario sports betting market might be opened up to private operators. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario previously said changes to internet gaming could come in late 2021.
Other top stories from last week
- BetMGM generated $200 million in third quarter revenue, according to Entain’s quarterly report.
- Handle at Indiana sportsbooks in September hit $355.4 million with $33.9 million in sports betting revenue. Handle jumped 71.3% compared to last September.
- Illinois sportsbooks reported $400.4 million in handle for August. That brought total reported US sports betting handle to $3.1 billion for the month, up 9.5% from July.
- Golden Nugget Online‘s sportsbook is live in Virginia after a 10-month wait post-licensing. There are now nine online VA sportsbooks available.
- PointsBet is now the official Canadian sports betting partner of Curling Canada.
