Hard Rock's National Aspirations
Fortified by its Florida monopoly and its recent launch in Illinois, Hard Rock Bet is ready to enter the national sports betting conversation.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: Hard Rock Bet launches in Illinois ahead of Rockford casino opening.
QUICK HITTER: DraftKings acquires micro-betting company Simplebet.
LOOSE ENDS: Missouri sports betting hits a snag; BetMGM parlay upgrades; Michigan vs. Sweepstakes; DraftKings gains entry to WI. GuardDog grant.
NEWS: The NFLPA lawsuit claims DraftKings owes the organization $65 million.
QUICK HITTER: Since taking over from 888, Rush Street Interactive has righted Delaware’s online casino ship.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: Penn’s billion-dollar Barstool experiment.
STRAY THOUGHTS: Looking back at my 2024 predictions.
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’s newest feature, The Tape, prints all trades made on the app in real-time.
Hard Rock Bet Expands Into Illinois
Illinois now has nine mobile sportsbooks following the launch of Hard Rock Bet this week. The launch precedes the opening of the Hard Rock Casino in Rockford, Illinois, today.
With its Florida monopoly, Hard Rock is quickly becoming a national player in the mobile sports betting space. As I wrote in July, Hard Rock has moved ahead of Caesars and is on the verge of overtaking BetMGM as the #3 operator in the US market.
First and foremost, the monopoly boosts the company’s national market share. It also allows Hard Rock to use Florida to financially support its efforts elsewhere, like in Illinois, but more importantly, in the sports +iCasino states of New Jersey and Michigan — Hard Rock recently acquired 888’s US assets, which included market access to Michigan.
What does that support look like?
First, there is a much-improved sports betting app, which now ranks fifth in Eilers & Krejcik Gaming’s (a newsletter sponsor) H1 2024 proprietary app testing — Hard Rock ranked 26th in H1 2022 testing.
The second is marketing. “Hard Rock Digital appears set to open the marketing valve this fall after recently announcing a new nationwide ad campaign with musician Post Malone,” EKG noted in its recent Sports Betting Market Monitor.
Random Thought: The Illinois launch will also give analysts a glimpse at the usage of Hard Rock’s parlay offerings, as the Land of Lincoln is the only state that breaks out parlay wagers from traditional wagers.
Quick Hitter: DraftKings acquires Simplebet
There is some pretty substantial news on the M&A front, as DraftKings has acquired Simplebet, which supplies operators with microbetting content and pricing.
The price wasn’t officially disclosed, but JMP Securities said it was $195 million, with a $70 million upfront payment in a note released this morning.
DraftKings already possessed a 15% stake in Simplebet and has been Simplebet’s best customer, accounting for 60% of Simplebet’s turnover. Rumors of the acquisition have been swirling since May — first broken by Earnings+More.
One of the big questions is, what happens to Simplebet’s other customers?
Loose Ends: Missouri OSB Initiative Hits Snag; BetMGM Upgrades; Michigan vs. Sweeps; DK Gains Entry to WI
Missouri sports betting ballot initiative will have its day in court: The legal challenge to the Missouri sports betting initiative that I first reported on earlier this week will begin its journey through the Missouri court system on September 5. The case must be settled quickly, as early voting starts in Missouri on September 24.
BetMGM improves SGP offering ahead of NFL season: ESPN Bet isn’t the only mobile betting operator that can slap a new-and-improved label on its app. BetMGM has also announced some app upgrades, including an improved SGP offering and “an increased amount of markets powered by Angstrom, which is Entain's in-house sports modeling and analytics company, to provide exclusive betting odds for certain wagers,” The Action Network’s Chris Altruda reports.
The MGCB really dislikes sweepstakes: The Michigan Gaming Control Board has issued another cease-and-desist letter, this time to OC Media Holdings LLC, an Arkansas-based sweepstakes company that awards entries through monthly memberships. One Country is not a sweepstakes gambling site per se (the cash giveaways function as an online lottery), as the entries received through the monthly membership can be used to enter giveaways for cash and prizes.
Coming soon to Wisconsin: DraftKings has reached an agreement with the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians that provides DraftKings market access in Wisconsin, including retail sportsbook operations at the Lake of the Torches Resort Casino, pending licensure and regulatory approvals. Wisconsin hasn’t authorized mobile betting yet. As Ryan Butler tweeted, “Once open, it will be the state's 7th in-person sportsbook and the 1st branded under a national sports betting operator.”
Underdog Fantasy awards second GuardDog grant: Underdog Fantasy announced the next investment from its GuardDog fund: The Game Safety Institute (GSI). The first investment went to idPair. GSI aims to “build wider product intelligence platforms to more accurately assess risk for each game type and develop opportunities to better educate players and showcase tools to help players control their play.” GuardDog was created in 2023 by Underdog with $1 million in seed money to foster innovation in the responsible gambling space.
SPONSOR’S MESSAGE - Highest approvals. Zero chargebacks. No trade-offs.
Aeropay's bank transfers deliver industry-leading net profits without compromising security or conversion rates. 95% of Aeropay transactions are approved, allowing more players and higher customer satisfaction rates.
Aeropay reduced fraudulent transactions during the NFL season by nearly 400%.
With its bank-driven approach to secure and efficient money movement, Aeropay is the smart choice for businesses.
Ready to elevate your payment experience? Book a Demo
NFLPA Claims DraftKings Owes the Organization $60M
As previously noted, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) has filed a lawsuit against DraftKings claiming breach of contract, and we now have confirmation why.
As suspected, the lawsuit stems from a partnership between the NFLPA and DraftKings to promote its Reignmakers NFT Marketplace.
Per SBC Americas, DraftKings notified “the players’ organization on July 30 that it would be closing down the project and had no plans to pay what was remaining on the contract.”
The NFLPA argues that “Buyers’ remorse, however, is not a basis to terminate a contract. Here, DraftKings–a sophisticated and amply-resourced gaming behemoth–assumed the risks inherent in its product save for carefully negotiated and narrow termination grounds.”
"DraftKings' inability to profitably commercialize the intellectual property it licensed does not excuse performance, and DraftKings must pay what is due." ~ The NFLPA Lawsuit
The amount owed was redacted, but in a great bit of detective work, SBC Americas’ Jessica Welman determined that the amount owed is around $65 million:
“The document pointed out the total compensation across the five since 2021 (when the NFT Marketplace deal was first inked) amounts to “approximately quadruple” of what DraftKings owes to the NFLPA. Some simple math indicates that is a sum of around $65 million.”
Quick Hitter: Rush Street Continues to Deliver in Delaware
Since taking over from 888, Rush Street Interactive has righted the Delaware online gambling ship.
After posting a record-setting $5 million month in June, RSI followed it up with a $5.2 million month in July — for comparison, 888 struggled to post $1 million months during its decade-long tenure.
SPONSOR’S MESSAGE - SUBSCRIBE NOW to Zero Latency, the new podcast from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming that provides unparalleled insight into the U.S. online gambling industry through interviews with industry insiders and analysis from EKG experts.
Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
How much money did Barstool cost Penn?
The number is a bit shocking:
Stray Thoughts
In addition to DFS 2.0, which petered out a few months ago, I highlighted three stories to watch in 2024 in my January 1, 2024 newsletter. And yeah, I’m pretty happy with these predictions.
Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes are one of the more complex areas of gambling. The strange legal area it resides in has created a loophole of sorts, and some states, like Michigan, are looking at closing that loophole. Expect more of this in the coming years.
Election Betting
With the spread of sports betting, it was only a matter of time before election betting became a topic of interest. Election betting is largely off-limits in the US, but efforts are afoot to change that, if only incrementally.
Skill Games
Another polarizing area of gambling is so-called “skill games.” These slot-like machines with a skill component have faced increasing regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges with varying outcomes.
I also highlighted two people/entities to keep an eye on:
Texas Lt Gov. Dan Patrick
Texas will be a state to watch in 2025 (not 2024), as the Lone Star State will likely have robust discussions about destination casinos and sports betting. That makes Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick a person to watch, thanks to a quirky Texas legislative rule that gives the Lt. Gov. final say on what matters get brought to the Texas Senate for a vote.
Patrick’s comments on these matters in 2024 (will he thaw?) will be a solid gauge of where the state stands in 2025.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission
The MGC is rewriting the oversight rules on online betting. The regulatory body is bound by open meeting laws and has become the most fastidious in the country. Its SOP of enhanced regulations and restrictions will likely continue spreading to other jurisdictions. In effect, what the MGC decides for Massachusetts will eventually become the rule, not the exception, nationwide.