To try and sum up five years of break-neck progress from the repeal of PASPA to now having more states with sports betting or without in a single word is a tough task. That did not stop us from asking several people around the industry to try and encapsulate what the industry has been like since May 2018.
In our final reflection on the five-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s overturning of PASPA, check out the industry insights from all facets of sports betting and which words or phrases they picked to sum up the industry:
Sue Schneider, VP of Growth and Strategy for SBC:
“Surprising take up by the states.”
David Woodley, CRO of Playmaker:
“Unpredictable. Take the rise of same Game Parlays. Five years ago, I don’t think anyone knew what a Same Game Parlay was. I don’t think it existed.”
Andy Clerkson, Co-Founder, Red Knot Communications:
“One word: Whirlwind. Three words: Non. Stop. Action. (Apart from when we stopped due to that virus)”
Dustin Gouker, Consultant for Catena Media:
“Breakneck. Sports betting was legalized in states at a pace I think few anticipated. It became a huge part of the sports landscape in just a few years. The DFS brands became the leading sportsbooks overnights: casino companies started focusing on their online business almost as quickly.”
Eric Weiss, President, North America, Odds On Compliance:
“‘Huge Potential’ and ‘Survival of the Fittest'”
Stefano Vaccarino, COO FTN Sports:
“This might be a surprising answer, and this is more on the legality of the ecosystem, but I would say ‘confusing at times’. We have like fantasy prop games, which are player prop parlays, considered games of skill and sports betting games are chance. It doesn’t bother me at all, it’s just confusing and I some things just don’t seem buttoned up and I don’t know if they ever will be.”
Rick Wolf, SVP, Spotlight Sports Group:
“It has been an interesting five years as many thought the ripple of legislation would go much swifter. We still have a significant percentage of Americans living in states that have not clarified the laws surrounding sports betting and way more for mobile adoption.” The industry landscape has been ‘competitive’ across the past five years for both sportsbook operators and affiliates.”
