SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
Is a Three-Way Deal In The Cards For BetMGM, DraftKings, And Entain?
As sports betting stakeholders converge upon Las Vegas next week for one of the nation’s largest gambling conferences (G2E), the industry is still buzzing about a proposal that could transform digital sports wagering for the next decade.
The first nine months of 2021 have been rife with M&A activity, headlined by Caesars Entertainment’s $3.7 billion acquisition and subsequent rebrand of William Hill US in May. Over the summer, DraftKings entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Golden Nugget Online Gaming, while Penn National Gaming inked an agreement to acquire theScore in a move that will enable Barstool Sportsbook to gain market access in Canada. Then, on the B2B side, Hollywood superagent and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel turned heads this week when the company entered into an agreement to purchase Scientific Games’ sports betting division, OpenBet, for $1.2 billion.
Full story here.
Sportsbooks Expect Bucs-Patriots To Be Most Heavily Bet Game Of The Regular Season
For Sunday night’s highly anticipated battle between the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, sportsbooks will find themselves in the unfamiliar position of rooting for the Patriots. For most of two decades, the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick marriage that produced six Super Bowl titles saw the Patriots as a favorite — and over 60% of the time, they still managed to cover the point spread.
But times have changed, Tom Brady’s home jersey is mostly red, and the city where he most recently delivered another Lombardi trophy is about 1,350 miles south of Foxboro. Now, as a visitor to Gillette Stadium for the first time, the 44-year-old quarterback’s Buccaneers opened at most shops between 5.5- and 6.5-point favorites and are now up to 7.
Full story here.
DraftKings, FanDuel Open Brick-And-Mortar Sportsbooks In Connecticut
Two years and one Super Bowl after leaving the team and coach who made him a legend, Tom Brady will return to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro Sunday night when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the New England Patriots.
For sports fans in Connecticut and for two tribes and sportsbook operators DraftKings and FanDuel, the timing couldn’t be better. After years of negotiations and a summer of prepping and waiting, DraftKings and FanDuel began welcoming bettors Thursday to temporary sportsbooks at the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in the state. While Thursday night’s Jacksonville-Cincinnati game was their first opportunity to wager legally and locally on the NFL, it’s a good bet that the Patriots-Bucs contest will be the most bet-on game in Connecticut this weekend.
Full story here.
Sportsbook Advertising On Jerseys Coming To America, Leaving Europe
While the American sports betting market is still in its infancy and the British sports betting market is well into its senior years, there are plenty of obvious similarities.
But there are a growing number of differences, and perhaps the most glaring and obvious one is happening right now. While the UK is moving toward banning gambling advertisements on the jerseys of players, the American market is just now expanding into that realm with the Washington Capitals of the NHL being the first to sign a deal. Starting in the 2022-23 season, the Capitals will feature a 3-by-3.5-inch patch advertising Caesars Sportsbook on the upper right chest area of the jerseys.
Full story here.
Ari Emanuel Pivots To Sports Betting With Endeavor’s $1.2B Purchase Of OpenBet
Endeavor Group Holdings has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the OpenBet sports betting division from Scientific Games, sending indications to competitors that it plans to raise the stakes in the already intense turf wars for global sports wagering data.
Endeavor announced Monday that it will purchase OpenBet for $1.2 billion in a cash-and-stock deal — $1 billion in cash and $200 million of Endeavor’s Class A common stock. Endeavor, which already owns sports betting and content hub IMG ARENA, said Monday that it will create a new division aimed at delivering “end-to-end solutions” for sportsbooks, leagues, and federations worldwide.
Full story here.
Ryder What?! FanDuel Bettor Hits Absurd $8 12-Leg Parlay For Nearly $1M Payout
Sunday was a very good day for the United States side at the Ryder Cup but perhaps a better one for an Illinois-based sports bettor who hit a parlay of a lifetime (yours, mine, and everyone else’s), nailing 12 legs on the final Sunday matchups for a total payout of $966,290.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the bettor risked $8 on the roughly 150,000-to-1 longshot parlay that correctly called ties in the Collin Morikawa-Viktor Hovland (+550 for a tie) and Jordan Spieth-Tommy Fleetwood (+650) matches. That Morikawa tie came courtesy of the 24-year-old missing a short putt on 18.
Full story here.
Coloradans To Sportsbooks: Lay Off the Ads
It’s been 18 months since Colorado regulators launched four sports betting operators in a world virtually devoid of sports or any other type of public gathering. And in that time, 25 sportsbooks have been vying for Coloradans’ attention — and some people have had enough.
“I thought that there was going to be at least some type of slowdown,” Alec Garnett, the speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, who sponsored the sports betting bill, told Westword. “We haven’t really seen that, and I have seen a big uptick in the number of complaints from the public that we’ve been having about the amount of sportsbook advertising.”
That advertising isn’t just annoying — it can encourage just the kind of negative effects that problem gambling advocates and those opposed to legal wagering worry about, drawing in people who can’t control their wagering.
Full story here.
