Hear Me Out
Cordish executives explain their opposition to online gambling, and who they see as their true competition - hint, it's not FanDuel and DraftKings.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: Cordish Company executives explain their opposition to online gambling.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES: The latest legislative updates in Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois, and an Illinois lawmaker targets D&B’s deal.
NEWS: A shakeup in EKG’s sports betting app rankings.
QUICK HITTER: David Rebuck highlights one of the reasons New Jersey online gambling was a runaway success.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: Opinions vary over Dave & Buster’s news.
STRAY THOUGHTS: Roasted!
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Online Casino Naysayers Cordish Company Explains Fear
Online casinos have divided the land-based casino industry. The split is not even, but there is a significant coalition of casino operators that are staunch opponents of online gambling legalization. One of the voices of opposition is The Cordish Company, which vociferously opposed legalization efforts in Maryland this year.
At the recent East Coast Gaming Congress, Matthew Kredell asked CEO David Cordish and Cordish Gaming Group President Rob Norton why they oppose legalization.
In a somewhat surprising statement, Cordish said it’s not so much DraftKings and FanDuel that keeps him up at night; it’s the idea of possibly squaring off against the Amazons, Googles, and Facebooks of the world, who have access to tens of millions of customers and their stored credit cards.
Here is part of what Cordish said, per Kredell’s reporting:
“You say, oh, Amazon, they wouldn’t go into gaming. Why wouldn’t they? If anyone would have told you a few years ago that Amazon was going to buy a supermarket chain called Whole Foods, would you believe them?”
Norton, whose father, Steve Norton, an Atlantic City and casino legend who sadly passed away recently, was heavily opposed to online gambling, explained the cannibalization concerns the company harbors:
“Why don’t I want iGaming? It’s not because I’m not going to make money. We will. We’ll do fine… Our issue is that we just don’t believe that’s the best path forward in the gaming space.”
According to Norton, “When digital turned on [in Maryland], 65% of our revenue from sports betting vanished overnight, which affected our restaurants, our bars, but most importantly, our table games and slots.”
Not mentioned is Cordish’s late entry into the US online gambling space, which would put it at a significant disadvantage against its competitors, who were early adopters.
Legislative Updates: The Latest in Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois, and Another State Targets D&B’s
Minnesota sports betting is hanging on by a thread: Two key Minnesota lawmakers are making final arrangements for the state’s sports betting effort. Sen. Matt Klein said he’s “less optimistic than before Sen. Nicole Mitchell was charged last week with breaking into her estranged stepmother’s home.” In the House, Rep. Pat Garofalo said he “thinks the bill is effectively dead for the year, though it came closer than ever before.”
Missouri sports betting is in the hands of the voters. As expected, Winning for Missouri Education, a group led by Missouri’s six professional sports teams, turned in more than enough signatures to qualify their sports betting initiative for the ballot. The group submitted 340,000 signatures last week, almost double the required amount. Once validated, the measure will appear on the November ballot.
Online casino unlikely in Illinois: Two Illinois lawmakers say a pair of online gambling bills are down but not totally out, as the budget process still needs to play out. “There’s not a ton of momentum for iGaming this year, so I think it’s probably a long shot, but stranger things have happened,” Illinois State Rep. Dan Didech told PlayUSA. Gaming is an issue that sometimes comes together toward the end of the session.”
Illinois targets Dave & Buster’s: Illinois Rep. Dan Didech has also filed a bill to stop Dave & Buster’s from facilitating wagering on amusement games. “It is inappropriate for family-friendly arcades to facilitate unregulated gambling on their premises. These businesses simply do not have the ability to oversee gambling activity in a safe and responsible manner,” Didech said in a statement. Scroll down to the Around the Watercooler section for more takes on Dave & Buster’s potential foray into wagering.
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Movement in the Top 10 of EKG App Rankings
There were no surprises at the top of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming’s 1H24 sports betting app testing, with FanDuel and DraftKings coming in at #1 and #2, respectively.
According to EKG, both products are testing better than in 2H23.
Things really get interesting from #3 onward.
Bet365 has slipped into the Bronze Medal position, displacing PointsBet, which fell to fourth.
Hard Rock, which is becoming quite a story in the US sports betting and online casino space (here and here), rounds out the Top 5. As EKG pointed out, “Hard Rock was ranked 26th in the 1H22 edition of the report but has tracked upwards ever since. Testers specifically praised the app’s live betting, loading times, and high uptime cash-out.”
Hard Rock Digital posted about its Top 5 ranking on LinkedIn:
In their latest product analysis, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming noted that Hard Rock Bet had claimed its place among the ELITE platforms and dubbed the app its "Biggest Surprise" among other praise:
- "One of the best live betting experiences available"
- "Easy to bet on and quick to peruse"
- "Consistent high-quality changes"
The report also noted: "Hard Rock Bet keeps climbing." And we're just getting started!
As for the rest of the Top 10…
Fanatics has climbed to #6, while BetRivers and BetMGM come in at #8 and #9. EKG “testers suggested these apps felt “frozen in time” somewhat and (at least outwardly) lacking major updates that would excite players.”
ESPN Bet came in at a disappointing #11, with testers negatively highlighting the lack of features (something Penn has consistently said it will address before the upcoming NFL season). Of note, the #11 ranking is lower than its Kambi-driven scores from the Barstool Sportsbook days, where it often landed in the lower half of the Top 10.
Quick Hitter: Why New Jersey Was Different
New Jersey’s online gambling success will be studied for decades to come, and part of that success was the leadership of New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck – Rebuck retired in 2024 after 13 years at the helm.
In a recent interview with EGR Global, Rebuck touched on an extremely overlooked part of New Jersey’s success: his decision to thaw the operator-regulator relationship and make it less adversarial. Rebuck has mentioned this several times over the years but really hammered the point home to EGR, saying, “While we weren’t going to agree with everything the industry wanted, we’d be clear why, and educate them on the reasons, and help them seek another way forward.”
Rebuck went on to say that while he could be an adversary, that wasn’t his goal. That may seem obvious, but at the time, it made Rebuck and the DGE an outlier in the world of gambling regulators.
Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
Opinions are mixed regarding the Dave & Buster’s news I covered last week.
Stray Thoughts
The Tom Brady Roast was pretty good.
One of the low-key funny moments was Julian Edelman impersonating Bill Belichick telling the team that the Foxborough High School could have made the play.
This aligns with other Belichick stories, including the infamous but unconfirmed line when the team practiced a fourth and inches scenario: “You couldn’t even get a first down on a fourth and the length of my d**k play.”
Or this gem:
