SportsHandle and friends deliver another round-up of the week’s big developments in US sports betting.
New York Tough: Books Face Delicate Balance In War To Acquire New Sports Bettors
Make a trek to Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady and there’s a decent chance you will catch a glimpse of a billboard promoting mobile sports betting in New York.
The banners, much like Caesars Sportsbook commercials featuring Curb Your Enthusiasm star J.B. Smoove as the eponymous Roman dictator, are ubiquitous throughout New York’s Capital Region. With online sports wagering now available in the nation’s fourth-most populous state, the race is on to capture the sports bettor’s wallet.
Full story here.
Live, From New York! It’s Mobile Sports Betting!
The “city that doesn’t sleep” had to wait until 9 a.m. Saturday to roll over in bed and wager from a mobile device. When the clock struck 9, New York became the first state of 2022, and the biggest by population aside from a curtailed effort in Florida, to launch digital sports betting platforms.
BetRivers, Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel made up the “First Four,” as the NCAA likes to call it, in a market that will ultimately have nine digital platforms and where the state will rake in a whopping 51% of revenue in taxes.
As daunting as that number is, commercial operators clamored for a chance to secure a spot in the state, and they say they’ll make the numbers work.
Full story here.
Will Bettors Balk After Caesars’ Outages? Probably Not
Forty years ago, The Clash released its single “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” That very question is likely rolling around the heads of at least some sports bettors throughout New York after Caesars Sportsbook experienced multiple outages during the first weekend of the biggest wagering launch since the fall of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018.
The Clash never answers its own question, but some in the sports betting world — most of whom wished not to be identified for this story — say that despite the frustration the outages caused, most bettors will opt to stay.
Full story here.
Is Midtown Manhattan Now The Sports Betting Capital Of The World?
Not a lot surprises Chad Kornett when it comes to the explosive growth of legal sports wagering, but even he was taken aback by the numbers he began tracking when New York launched online sports wagering Saturday morning.
Kornett, the vice president of government relations with GeoComply, said the early numbers were like nothing he’d ever seen. By 10 a.m. Saturday, an hour after four operators were able to offer online wagers, more than 300,000 bets already had been placed in New York, per GeoComply data.
Full story here.
Syndicates Might Keep New Jersey Sports Betting Handle Flourishing
A lot of hay has been made in recent months about how New Jersey’s tax coffers are going to be a bit lighter going forward now that New York’s online sportsbooks are up and running.
Since the dawn of legalized betting in the Garden State in June of 2018, the state has taken in over $165 million in tax dollars from the sportsbooks, and estimates — most notably from Eilers & Krejcik, a gaming research firm — have had New Yorkers contributing between 20% and 25% of that number.
Full story here.
What’s Next For Online Gambling In NY? A Q&A With Sen. Joe Addabbo
Few public figures were as integral as Senator Joe Addabbo to helping New York launch online sports gambling on Saturday. As chair of the state Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, he introduced the first legalization bill three years ago this month and ushered the process through a sudden transition in the governor’s mansion last year. We tracked down Sen. Addabbo, a Democrat from the 15th Senate District, for a Q&A on the recent launch and what the future holds for New York sports wagering.
Full story here.
Colorado Pledges To Do Problem Gaming Right, But What Does That Mean?
Richard Nathan, chairman of the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission (LGCC), has a deliberate, dispassionate way of speaking. For someone in the business of government regulation, it suits his role.
But when he began to talk about the future of gaming in Colorado, near the end of the LGCC’s Dec. 16 meeting, the gravity of what he said may have been lost on a casual observer, because it was delivered in his no-frills style. Nathan was summarizing what was discussed at a recent meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States in Austin, Texas, and touched on comments made there by Colorado Speaker of the House Alec Garnett.
Full story here.
Horse Racing Breakage Could Be On Its Way Out In Kentucky, But What About Everywhere Else?
There are a few reasons why breakage in horse racing will last into 2022, but the primary issue is ignorance. So although it might be clunky, any conversation surrounding breakage has to start with its definition.
Full story here.
