I Can Do Better
FanDuel will take over the branding rights of Diamond Sports RSNs from Bally Bet, but can it find gold where Bally's couldn't?
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: FanDuel set to take over RSN branding rights from Bally’s.
WEEKEND CATCHUP: Underdog founder honored; Bally Bet launches in TN; New Hampshire’s imbroglio; Sportradar acquires XLMedia; Quote of the Week.
NEWS: Online revenue continues to outpace land-based revenue, which could spell doom for online legalization efforts.
VIEWS: A new report refutes a previous report, but ultimately, nothing will change.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: Sportsbooks won’t offer certain NBA bets.
STRAY THOUGHTS: Knowledge vs. ignorance.
SPONSOR’S MESSAGE - Sporttrade was borne out of the belief that the golden age of sports betting has yet to come. Combining proprietary technology, thoughtful design, and capital markets expertise, our platform endeavors to modernize sports betting for a more equitable, responsible, and accessible future.
“Sporttrade is now live in Arizona on Android and iOS!”
FanDuel Agrees to RSN Naming Rights Deal
Diamond Sports’ regional sports networks will soon change their names from Bally’s to FanDuel as the company tries to recover from a bankruptcy filing. The deal is contingent on Diamond emerging from its bankruptcy filing. If the court approves, FanDuel will become the “long-term naming rights partner,” per CNBC. FanDuel taking over the naming rights to Diamond Sports’ RSNs was first mentioned in June.
“The new naming rights agreement would also give FanDuel the right to buy up to 5% of equity in the reorganized company and get performance warrants for up to 5% of equity,” CNBC reports.
“In court papers filed Tuesday that it reached a naming rights deal with Flutter-owned FanDuel, which will rebrand the Bally Sports channels just as the National Hockey League season has started and the National Basketball Association’s 2024-2025 season is less than a week away.”
Legal Sports Report has a great summary of the particulars of the deal beyond the rebrand.
Diamond’s RSNs were part of Bally’s (nee Twin River) first foray into the US sports betting market when it went on a spending spree, acquiring the Bally’s brand from Caesars, DFS site Monkey Knife Fight, the AVP volleyball tour, Major League Fishing, and most notably Bet.Works’ sports betting platform and online gaming supplier Gamesys.
The pieces were on the chess board, but everything unraveled this year.
Monkey Knife Fight was shuttered in February.
Bally’s wrote down MKF and Bet.Works (a nearly $400 million impairment).
Bally’s was the last New York sportsbook to launch.
the value of its deal with Sinclair took a major hit when Sinclair’s Diamond Sports ran into financial difficulties.
Bally’s ended its agreement with Diamond earlier this year.
The question is, can FanDuel find success where Bally’s didn’t? I would argue yes, as Bally’s was trying to introduce itself to the betting public, whereas FanDuel will use the RSN branding to further leverage its top spot in the market.
Weekend Catchup: Levine Honored; Bally Bet in TN; NH Imbroglio; Sportradar Acquires XL; Quote of the Week
Underdog CEO and Founder lands another award: For the second consecutive year, Goldman Sachs has recognized Jeremy Levine, CEO and Founder of Underdog Fantasy, as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2024 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California. "This is a testament to the relentless work of the talented team we’ve built and their endless ability to create new games for sports fans that aren’t just repackaged from the old gaming playbook,” said Levine. Last month, Underdog was named the #15 Top Startup in the US by LinkedIn.
Bally Bet launches in its 10th state: On Thursday, Bally Bet launched in its tenth US market, Tennessee. According to the press release, Bally Bet is an official sports betting partner of the Nashville Predators, where it’s been “running social promotions like the "Goals for Gear" official Predators jersey giveaway” on social media. With the addition of Bally’s, Tennessee now has 12 sportsbooks, including FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, Fanatics, Betly, Zen Sports, ESPN Bet, Hard Rock, Superbook, and Action 24/7. In its most recent earnings call, Bally’s said it would be launching in four more states in 2024: Tennessee, Illinois, and two unnamed states.
New Hampshire casino owner arrested: Embattled New Hampshire casino owner Andy Sanborn now has a lot more to lose than his gaming license, as the former state representative was arrested on Wednesday and charged with misappropriating COVID funds. “Andy Sanborn distorted the casino’s gross receipts, and this falsification resulted in Win Win Win and Andy Sanborn receiving $188,474.33 more in grant monies than the amount to which they were due under the grant formula,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.
Sportradar enters the affiliate space: Sportradar is acquiring XLMedia’s US assets, including Sports Betting Dime, Saturday Down South, Crossing Broad, Elite Sports NY, and Honey Monkey Pineapple. XL sold off its European assets to Gambling.com earlier this year. The reported $30 million deal marks the first foray into the affiliate space for the data supplier.
Quote of the Week: “The embarrassing thing is the public messages that are directed at the players because a lot of times they don’t feel like they can defend themselves. There was always a fanatic component, but now you have the financial component (with sports betting), and that is where the threats get more serious.” ~ Gerry McNamara, Siena men’s basketball coach
SPONSOR’S MESSAGE - Underdog: the most innovative company in sports gaming.
At Underdog we use our own tech stack to create the industry’s most popular games, designing products specifically for the American sports fan.
Join us as we build the future of sports gaming.
Visit: https://underdogfantasy.com/careers
The C-Word Strikes Again
Are land-based customers shifting online? No one seems to be able to answer that question with any certainty.
Both sides have their own statistics and market research (see the previous entry above). Still, there is mounting evidence supporting a reality we online gambling supporters don’t want to believe: Land-based casinos simply aren’t seeing the same growth trends as online casinos.
Per the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement:
“Year-to-date Casino Win for the nine casino hotel properties was $2.15 billion, which is a decrease of 0.9% compared to the year-to-date Casino Win for September 2023… For the year-to-date period, Internet Gaming Win reported by casinos and their partners was $1.73 billion, reflecting growth of 23.2% when compared to $1.41 billion for the prior year-to-date period.”
Of course, it’s not just online casino states that are experiencing land-based revenue declines (here and here). Still, nuance hasn’t been a big part of the discussion on online casino legalization.
New Report from iDEA Growth Refutes Previous Study
A newly released report commissioned by iDEA Growth refutes a report by National Economic Research Associates (NERA), commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, that found “iGaming has been detrimental to New Jersey's economy.”
The new report, produced by Meister Economic Consulting, Regulus Partners, and Victor-Strategies—two of the same entities that produced a 2019 study that NERA relied on for its report—points out the flaws in NERA’s study, including cherry-picked data, unsubstantiated claims, and a flawed economic model.
Per the new report:
NERA's analysis of iGaming's economic impact is based on limited wage data from only 2 operators over 3 years (there were 5 licensed iGaming operators; operating 10 platforms; with 15 different brands in New Jersey in 2016 alone), which fails to represent the entire industry accurately.
NERA’s study incorrectly assumes that iGaming cannibalizes revenue from brick-and-mortar casinos and other entertainment sectors and does not point to any research that supports this claim… Findings from the 2019 Meister / Victor-Strategies study align with this growing body of evidence, suggesting a complementary relationship between online and land-based gaming.
NERA's methodology relies on a simplistic, wage-focused model that fails to capture the full scope of economic benefits generated by iGaming, leading to a significant underestimation of its positive impact on New Jersey's economy.
NERA's $350 million annual social cost estimate for iGaming in NJ is derived from a discredited 2023 British study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (“NIESR”) that incorrectly classified wealth transfers as social costs and disregarded the high comorbidity rates among problem gamblers… In addition, the NIESR study is riddled with data, methodological, and computational problems so serious that the NERA social cost estimate is effectively arbitrary.
Unfortunately, the iDEA Growth report is unlikely to have an impact. As I’ve said in the past, the current landscape is not an exchange of ideas; it’s multiple groups with their heels dug in who are refusing to give an inch. Each side trying to refute talking points with 25-page reports
SPONSOR’S MESSAGE - BroThrow.com is growing the most player-friendly, subscription-based sports betting experience in the industry. Our TRUE no-juice/vig/commission platform is the fairest, simplest way to bet on sports. Sign up and explore: BroThrow.com
Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
The impact of the Jontay Porter betting scandal is still reverberating, as the NBA has convinced the major US sportsbooks to stop offering under bets on players on two-way or 10-day contracts.
Per ESPN’s David Purdum, “FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, ESPN BET, and Caesars Sportsbook confirmed to ESPN on Friday that they planned to comply with the prop betting restrictions.”
The restriction is the latest in a slow whittling away of certain markets in the licensed US sports betting space.
As Jamie Salsburg noted, and as I’ve suggested in the past, leagues are unlikely to unravel the Mission Accomplished banner.
Stray Thoughts
"Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.” ~ Bob Seger
I love this lyric as it's the reverse of the usual trope, “If I knew then what I know now.”
We certainly get wiser with age, but that wisdom comes at a significant cost. The excitement of new experiences is replaced by thoughts of responsibility, worry, and potential regret.