I Want It Done Yesterday
Quick, easy payouts are a top priority for sports bettors, according to a new report from Paysafe. A secondary question: is that a plus or minus for operators?
The Bulletin Board
THE LEDE: Withdrawal speed is the #1 concern for online bettors.
ROUNDUP: New website alert; ESPN Bet launches Mint Club; Smoke-free casinos are popular.
VIEWS: ECGC panel discusses what will drive online casino legalization.
DISPATCHES from ECGC: Social media posts from the conference.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: What went wrong in Indiana?
STRAY THOUGHTS: Massachusetts tax data shows sports betting’s rise.
SPONSOR’S MESSAGE - Episode 70: Who Is Winning The A.I. Arms Race
Host Brad Allen is joined by industry founder Stephen Taylor-Matthews to discuss:
Selling his company to Underdog
Why Flutter, DraftKings and bet365 are leading on A.I.
The Lede: Bettors Value Withdrawal Speed Above All Else
Regular readers know how I feel about speed (SLOW the F DOWN), but there is one area where speed is good, at least for the customer: Withdrawals.
When customers want their money, they want it immediately, and that is a dream the industry has been working hard to make a reality.
In a new report of 4,300 active or prospective sports bettors from around the globe (1,300 from the US), Paysafe, an online payment company, notes that 42% of bettors expect instant payments.
Notice in the following chart from the report that quick and easy payments outrank everything, including quick and easy deposits and brand trust — it’s also interesting to see how focused respondents were on payments and how far behind sponsorships, rewards, and even better UX rank.
When asked about their satisfaction level with their current payment experience, respondents are quite satisfied:
Strongly agree: 38%
Somewhat agree: 39%
Neither agree nor disagree: 17%
Somewhat disagree: 4%
Strongly disagree: 2%
Of course, there are some issues with increased speed, as Alun Bowden pointed out on LinkedIn. Most notably, operators, who pay the transaction fees on deposits and withdrawals, are getting dinged a lot more often, turning the dream into a nightmare.
Bottom line: Payments matter… a lot.
Roundup: New Website Alert; ESPN Bet Launches Mint Club; Smoke-Free Casinos are Popular
Third Planet soft-launches new site, Ingame.com: From the makers of Casino Reports and Lottery Geeks (two sites I reference quite a bit in the newsletter, and full disclosure, I write a monthly column for Casino Reports) comes an even more ambitious endeavor, Ingame.com. A Third Planet representative told STTP to expect in-depth journalism (which is sorely lacking in 2025) focusing on sports betting. Knowing the principles involved and after hearing the roster of journalists they have assembled, this will be a website you’ll want to bookmark.
ESPN Bet launches Mint Club [SBC Americas]: Let the integrations continue! Per SBC Americas, ESPN Bet has launched “a new feature that provides ESPN Bet players with exclusive promotions and rewards. The Mint Club is available to players who have linked their ESPN Bet and ESPN accounts and is offered for free with weekly giveaways, including boosts and deposit bonuses.” ESPN Bet also made a recent key hire, bringing in former FanDuel Senior Vice President of Product, Billy Turchin.
New polling shows New Jersey voters want smoke-free casinos: From a press release from the group Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR), “A new poll of likely 2025 South Jersey voters finds overwhelming support — 83% — for bipartisan legislation to finally close the casino smoking loophole in state law.” The survey also found that 79% of respondents would be “more likely to visit a casino if it were 100% smoke-free indoors; that number jumps to 81% among current casino-goers.” Cynthia Hallett, the President & CEO of the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, was a guest on the Straight to the Point Talking Shop podcast, Episode #31.
Views: Will Turmoil Lead to Online Gambling?
Online casino legalization efforts are trapped in a seemingly unescapable maze, and everyone is searching for the way out — that special something that will force legislators’ hand.
There is a growing belief that the current hullabaloo around sweepstakes and prediction markets will spur legislators into action.
Others believe economic uncertainty could accelerate online gambling efforts.
As Wayne Parry of the Press of Atlantic City reported from this week’s East Coast Gaming Congress, panelists said, “economic turmoil resulting from the president’s imposition — and subsequent pausing — of tariffs on most countries is creating vast uncertainty for businesses, including casinos.”
As MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle said during his keynote address at ECGC (papraphrased by Matt Rybaltowski), “before the increase in tariffs, the Golden Knights typically drew 6-7K fans from the visiting team when the opponent came from Canada - the figure has fallen sharply.”
The panel, including National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) President and West Virginia Delegate Shawn Fluharty (a multi-time STTP Podcast guest, Episodes #23 and #38), believes uncertainty around tariffs and travel could unwittingly spur an expansion of the gambling industry.
Fluharty noted that state lawmakers will soon face (what should be) an easy choice as federal funds decrease: raise taxes or legalize online casinos and “flip a switch, partner with your brick-and-mortar counterparts,” and watch tax revenue rise.
Andrew Winchell, head of government affairs for online gambling company Betr, pointed to a separate problem occurring on a parallel track: gray and black market betting, which is happening in every state right now. “You can only keep your head in the sand for so long,” Winchall said.
As I said during my appearance this week on the Bostonian vs. the Book show, the only way to counter offshore operators, gray market sweepstakes sites, and prediction markets is to offer a competing product that is trusted and 100% legal.
No matter what you stop, whether sweepstakes or prediction markets’ sports contracts, something else is already in place to step in and fill the vacuum. And then there are the new products you never envisioned that are being developed.
The only long-term answer to this never-ending problem is legalization and regulation.
Dispatches from ECGC
Interesting tidbits from Matt Rybaltowski and John Brennan:
You can find Rybaltowski’s complete coverage of Hornbuckle’s keynote here.
Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
Great interview from the World Series of Politics crew (Brandt Iden and Brendan Bussmann) with Ali Bartlett, one of the most plugged-in people in Indiana regarding gambling happenings.
Stray Thoughts
Some interesting data from Massachusetts, per WCVB Channel 5:
“Excluding Mass. Lottery winnings, which are reported separately, gambling wins jumped 163 percent from 2020, when $243 million was declared, to 2023, when $638 million was declared.
“Declared losses grew even faster, rising nearly 258 percent from 2020, when $64 million was declared, to 2023, when taxpayers in Massachusetts declared $231 million in losses.”
The chart is illustrating the growth of legal sports betting (bettors on licensed sites receive tax documents, and therefore also declare their losses to offset the winnings). However, considering the COVID lockdowns' impact on casino visits, I wouldn’t look at 2020 numbers. The real growth is about $150 million to $231 million (2021-2023).