There has been extensive coverage about what WynnBET’s decision to focus on Nevada and Massachusetts means for Wynn Resorts, but there is another group tremendously impacted by the business decision.
Sports betting platform provider GAN counts Wynn as its biggest US customer, with the WynnBET brand making up the vast majority of its US footprint. With WynnBET ceasing sports betting, the group goes from being present in 11 US states to just five, with New York and Wynn’s position there up in the air.
SBC Americas reached out to GAN for comment on the WynnBET news but did not receive a response.
GAN announced a strategic review of the company after a lackluster Q4 in 2022.
“Let me be extremely clear on a very important point. I and my entire executive group firmly believe that there is tremendous unrealized value in our proprietary technology offerings, our [panted] IP, and a growing profitable B2C business that generated annual revenue of nearly $90 million this past year, which is well north of our current trading market cap,” CEO Dermot Smurfitt said at the time.
GAN is also in the midst of moving all of its partners onto the new Gamestack 2.0 product, launching on WynnBET just one week prior to the downsizing announcement.
GAN sportsbooks now in just five states
SBC Americas is aware of three other US partners operational in the market: Oaklawn Sports in Arkansas, Stations Casino in Nevada, and PlayEagle.com in Michigan.
Arkansas and Nevada do not offer operator data on sports betting revenue, but in Michigan, PlayEagle is one of the smaller brands in the market. Since launching in April 2022, the PlayEagle brand has generated roughly $23 million in handle and less than $2 million in revenue.
By comparison, WynnBET Michigan, which launched in January 2021, has accepted almost $75 million in wagers and generated $4 million in revenue.
In New York, WynnBET brought a big brand name but lags behind most of the field, only generating more handle than Resorts World and Bally Bet. Not only is it seventh of the nine brands, but the gap in handle between sixth and seventh is cavernous. PointsBet, which is sixth, has accepted almost $620 million in wagers, while WynnBET has only generated $155 million in handle.
WynnBET Massachusetts is arguably the healthiest of the GAN sportsbook entities. With Encore Boston Harbor in the state, the Wynn name has translated into significantly more market share. The company runs neck-and-neck with both Caesars and Barstool (soon to be ESPN BET) but still trails behind DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM.
Client list for platform providers is shrinking
The reduced number of sportsbooks on the platform is certainly noteworthy, but perhaps the bigger question for GAN, and for platform providers in general, is where any new customers might come from.
Kambi scored a big win when Bally’s announced it would be moving Bally Bet off its native platform and onto Kambi this year. However, the new market entrant Fanatics opted to go with Amelco for its platform needs.
In the meantime, many of the smaller brands in the US are shutting down or, at best, limiting the states they come into going forward. In Kentucky, there is potential for up to 27 operators, but only seven applied for licenses and none of them are new operators.
GAN and others beholden on states to legalize online gambling
Where GAN has thrived is in helping tribes develop and deploy brands related to their tribal casinos. Should Oklahoma legalize sports betting, it could open up a huge new market for the company. An effort to legalize made it through the Oklahoma House this year before stalling in the Senate. Oklahoma’s legislature runs a fairly short session each year, lasting from just February through May, which makes it trickier to advance a bill to the finish line.
Minnesota and, of course, California could also move the needle for GAN and other platform providers. However, as we are seeing across the industry, the struggle of keeping afloat while waiting for states to take action on both online casino legislation and sportsbook legalization is something the entire industry is coping with right now.
