Happy worst Monday of the year, everyone. Sports betting news will obviously be dominated by Super Bowl stats for the next month or so but do not forget about earnings season, either.
Before those Super Bowl betting reports start coming out, listen to the latest episode of the LSR Podcast to hear the crew’s estimates. PlayUSA estimated $1 billion in legal Super Bowl betting this year. The American Gaming Association expected more than $7 billion in legal and illegal bets by more than 31 million Americans.
Make sure to follow @LSPReport on Twitter for Super Bowl and earnings updates all week.
Top sports betting news: What did NJ do in January?
The first report out of New Jersey since online NY sportsbooks launched in January could be telling. January’s report for NJ sportsbooks will go live at 2 pm ET Wednesday.
New Yorkers wagered more than $1.6 billion in the first 23 days after mobile betting launched. GeoComply said nearly 88% of all unique bettors over the first 10 days were new to the regulated US sports betting industry. Only 9.3% of those betting in New York over that span had also bet before in New Jersey.
If that trend continued through the rest of the month, then maybe New Jersey will not see a significant drop in handle for January. As much as an estimated 25% of New Jersey’s handle had come from New York.
One important note: it’s not entirely fair to judge how NJ will perform with NY now mobile from the first month when promo dollars were flowing freely from most operators. Caesars Sportsbook opened with more than $3,000 in promos while DraftKings and FanDuel each offered around $1,000.
Monthly revenue reports should also come out this week for Connecticut, Mississippi and Pennsylvania.
Two more key earnings calls this week
There are two calls that should not be missed by anyone interested in the US betting industry this week (all times Eastern):
Wynn Resorts, 4:30 pm Tuesday: This will be the first time Wynn’s management will be on the record in front of analysts after a report broke about a discounted WynnBET sale last month.
DraftKings, 8:30 am Friday: Ready to see how much DraftKings spent on ads during NFL betting season? That figure plus select key performance indicators usually tend to take up most of sports betting Twitter’s day following a DraftKings call. Information might be limited Friday, though, since DraftKings is also holding an investor day March 3.
Last week’s top sports betting news: California tribes push back
Three tribes are working to stop the sportsbook-backed ballot initiative that would legalize mobile sports betting in California.
Californians for Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming has an initial budget of $100 million from its backers:
- San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
- Rincon Band of Luisueño Indians
- Wilton Rancheria
The $100 million matches the initial pledge from seven operators:
- Bally Bet
- BetMGM
- DraftKings
- Fanatics Betting & Gaming
- FanDuel
- Penn National/Barstool Sportsbook
- WynnBET
Canada gets busy before Super Bowl
There was positive momentum for the expansion of single-game sports betting in Canada last week:
- The Atlantic Lottery Corp. expanded single-game betting through Pro-Line into Nova Scotia. All provinces in Canada now have online single-game betting.
- Three sportsbook operators – PointsBet, theScore and Rivalry Corp. – are now registered online gaming operators with Ontario’s regulator.
- Ontario Lottery and Gaming announced ProLine+ is the first official sportsbook partner of the NFL in Canada.
- Entain announced the purchase of Avid Gaming for C$300 million. The purchase includes Sports Interaction, which offers online gaming under the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.
Kambi now an acquisition target?
Kambi and Kindred reworked an agreement that means the white-label sportsbook tech provider could be acquired.
The supplier spun off from Kindred in 2014, but it was never completely free from Kindred. The deal included a convertible bond that allowed Kindred to convert the bond into shares and take a controlling interest in Kambi.
That “poison pill” is now gone, Kambi said in a release Tuesday. Mathias Svensson, portfolio manager at Kambi shareholder Keel Capital, took to Twitter to suggest there is already a bidder for Kambi.
