Hi, I'm In Delaware
After taking over from 888, Rush Street Interactive has energized the Delaware online gambling market, proving a monopoly market can be successful.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: Rush Street Interactive has completely turned around the Delaware online gambling market.
LOOSE ENDS: WiPHOF inductees; G2E unveils on-demand sessions; GamCare ends service; Friend of the Newsletter.
VIEWS: A lack of online casino legalization led to Catena Media’s struggles and subsequent strategy shift.
BEYOND the HEADLINE: Sportradar comments on its XL Media acquisition.
QUICK HITTER: Penn hits the optimism button for ESPN Bet.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: Seals of approval and Polymarket CEO home raided.
STRAY THOUGHTS: Take the bull by the horns.
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RSI Has Completely Turned Around the Delaware Market
Sports betting monopoly markets are often criticized (and often for good reason), but not every monopoly is an abject failure. The model works… if carried out correctly.
Consider Delaware, which provides us with both sides of the monopoly coin.
In a January 2023 column, I noted that Delaware’s online casino revenue per resident was a paltry $3.62 over the course of September-November 2022. that was by far the worst in the country. By comparison, the top state, New Jersey, was over $48.10, and West Virginia, which ranked second to last, was at $16.58.
What a difference a year an operator makes. Online casino revenue has grown 6x in the state, with three-month per resident revenue coming in at over $18.
A similar story is being written on the sports betting front (due to the seasonality of sports betting handle, I’ve posted the year-over-year numbers).
Loose Ends: WiPHOF; G2E On-Demand Sessions; GamCare Ends Service; Friend of the Newsletter
Kristen Foxen, Jeanne David, and Starla Brodie inducted into WiPHOF: The Women in Poker Hall of Fame has three new inductees, as Kristen Foxen, Jeanne David, and Starla Brodie were announced as this year’s inductees. Brodie is the first inductee in the newly created “Pioneer” category. STTP Thoughts: The Poker Hall of Fame should follow the WiPHOF’s lead and induct multiple people per year and add a “Pioneer” category.
G2E releases “on-demand” keynote and education sessions: The Global Gaming Expo website has added recordings of some of the keynote addresses and education sessions from this year’s show: “New for this year, access exclusive never-before-seen education sessions from G2E 2024.”
GamCare ends training and accreditation services: After a strategic review, GamCare emailed customers to inform them that it was ending the training and accreditation services as it was “unable to secure a suitable home for its suite of Safer Gambling services, which includes training and certification, in the timelines set by its board of trustees.” I offered my thoughts on these trainings/certifications in a tweet: “Most certifications are meaningless. Some carry some weight and credibility, but overall, they are a race to the bottom that squashes new ideas and innovation. In the RG/PG space, they act as a "get-out-of-jail-free" card that operators can point to whenever mistakes are made.”
Fintan Costello named partner at M&A firm Corfai Capital: Friend of the newsletter Fintan Costello (a guest on Episode 9 of the Straight to the Point Talking Shop Podcast) has accepted a new position as a partner at Corfai Capital, a specialist M&A advisory firm that has facilitated a number of M&A deals in the affiliate sector. Costello will support Corfai’s role in advising the gaming sector on key M&A deals.
Catena CEO: Dearth of iCasino Legalization Leads to Strategy Change
Catena Media CEO Manuel Stan didn’t beat around the bush during the company’s Q3 earnings call last week:
“The speed of regulation and launches in North America has decreased significantly since 2022… Catena's strategy has historically been reliant on new state launches and the regulation slowdown has had a negative impact on its performance over the last few quarters.”
Stan went on to say that the company has shifted its strategy “to be less reliant on state launches and diversify the product portfolio and revenue streams.”
Part of that diversification is doubling down on the sweepstakes opportunity. Stan noted, “We have amplified our effort to build our brands, databases, and CRM capabilities to better serve and monetize our customers to position ourselves for future casino market launches by building our brands and databases in the social sweepstakes Casino vertical.”
In Q2, Stan said the sweepstakes industry represented 1/3 of Catena’s casino revenues. “Our current priority is to diversify the product portfolio and revenue streams to reduce their reliance on market launches,” Stan said in Q2. “We see this [sweepstakes] as the fastest-growing vertical for us, and we expect it to continue growing… Our products are focused on growing the sweeps vertical.”
After the company’s recent layoffs, which Stan said were a rightsizing and part of the strategy to focus on core verticals, past and present employees were joking on social media that the laid-off employees could take solace in the fact they no longer had to work on “the sweeps project.”
Beyond the Headline: Sportradar Discusses XL Media Acquisition
During its earnings call, Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl explained the company’s acquisition of XL Media and how it fits into its “360 degrees value proposition.”
“That starts with the programmatic advertising, goes into the paid search, goes into affiliate, and then, of course, also into customer retention. Two years ago, we did an acquisition with Weix for customer retention, and now we fill that gap from affiliate perspective with XL Media.”
Koerl said that XL Media is profitable as a standalone property and will only become more valuable as it is integrated, but the impact for 2024 will be “minimal.”
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Quick Hitter: Penn Lays Out ESPN Bet’s Path to Prosperity
One of the challenger brands the newsletter closely follows is ESPN Bet.
In its recent presentation, Penn brushed past its dwindling market share, focusing instead on what it believes to be a strong foundation for future growth. In the slide below, the company highlighted its growing database and average monthly users:
“ESPN BET has driven meaningful growth in both our digital database and active user base, providing a strong foundation for future growth as we introduce further product improvements.”
The presentation also highlights an improved parlay mix (22.5% to 28.3%) and hold rates (5.3% to 9.4%), and lower promotional expenses, which have improved the company’s bottom line numbers:
Penn also said its Hollywood iCasino experienced solid growth and pointed to it becoming a standalone iCasino product in Pennsylvania in early Q1 2025, with other jurisdictions to follow.
Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
An interesting little tidbit from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. I remember when I was an early advocate (maybe the first?) for New Jersey to require this (they did) and while I’m happy to see my idea continue to be used today, its announcement being news is also quite disheartening, as this should simply be a common practice in every jurisdiction.
And in some real gossip, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home was raided by FBI agents on Wednesday morning. Coplan and others believe it is political, but there is also the possibility it has something to do with 1) the French bettor who won $85 million betting on Trump or 2) accusations that Polymarket allowed US residents to bet on the election.
Per the New York Post, the FBI took Coplan’s phone and other electronic devices.
Stray Thoughts
"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson