SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
Penn National Finds Brash New Partner in Barstool Sports
Penn National Gaming is investing heavily in Barstool Sports, a media company known for its brash content engaging a young audience, to help drive that customer base to the gaming company’s sportsbook app when it launches in August.
Penn National and Barstool executives held a joint conference call for media and investors Wednesday morning to announce Penn National would be spending $163 mm in cash and stock for a 36% share in the media company, with greater investment and possible full acquisition down the road.
Full story here.
Sportsbooks On Board With Current Kansas Plan
If anything was made clear at Wednesday’s truncated Kansas Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee sports wagering hearing it was this: potential sportsbook operators are clearly on board. Representatives from four operators in the state testified and to a man, they all came out in support of the latest Kansas bill, SB 283, which would legalize state-wide mobile through casino properties as well as retail sportsbooks.
The hearing was cut short after 90 minutes, when committee Chairman Bud Estes suggested that he didn’t want to put anyone out, but that the hearing would recess until Thursday morning. Those who had planned to testify either as neutral or opposing parties, were asked to return for a second day.
Full story here.
Kelly And Murray Excel In New Role As Entertaining Sports Betting Podcast Nears End Of First Year
Tune into the popular sports betting podcast while you formulate your NFL picks on a given week and you’d swear that the two hosts are a bickering married couple that has engaged in frequent heated arguments for the better part of two decades.
On this particular evening in late-December, the hosts, John Murray and Kelly Stewart, are arguing about Jameis Winston’s gunslinger mentality inside a back office at the Las Vegas Westgate SuperBook. Days earlier, the enigmatic Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback recorded his 11th 300-yard game of the season, but he also tossed four interceptions in a 23-20 loss to the Texans, a common Winston statistical cocktail. Winston later became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw at least 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in the same regular season, in the process taking Bucs’ bettors on a wild rollercoaster ride.
Full story here.
Michigan Looks To Launch Retail Locations In Spring
Last week, the Michigan Gaming Control Board announced that mobile sports betting won’t go live in the state until 2021, and that its plan is to help operators launch retail sports betting sometime this spring. But on the retail side, the MGCB only regulates commercial casinos and sportsbooks, so Michiganders in some parts of the state could be on a different timeline for live tribal sports betting.
The MGCB will have some regulatory control over online/mobile tribal sports betting, which isn’t set to launch until 2021.
Full story here.
DraftKings, FanDuel Announce Market Access Deals In Colorado
On Monday, two of the leading online/mobile sports betting brands announced deals to enter the upcoming Colorado sports betting market. Voters approved sports wagering in a referendum in November.
FanDuel and DraftKings both snagged one of Twin River World Holdings Inc.’s three online “skins” (or brand partners) in the state. The deals are contingent on the adoption of regulations and the parties securing the necessary gaming licenses.
Additionally, theScore separately announced a deal with Jacobs Entertainment Inc.
Full story here.
