Say What You Mean
Regulatory clarity is a missing ingredient in too many legal online gambling jurisdictions. A recent example being the new advertising rules in Ontario which resulted in more questions than answers.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: The recently released AGCO advertising rules have operators guessing at what is and isn’t allowed.
NEWS: More from the Optimove NFL Bettor Survey, including preferred sites, brand loyalty, and what customers look for in an app.
NEWS: Genting Malaysia gets a boost from long sought-after casino projects in Massachusetts and New York.
VIEWS: The return of Bally Bet: The App is now live in four states.
BEYOND the HEADLINE: Bally’s pins its online gambling hopes on online casinos.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: Can I talk to someone about a refund?
STRAY THOUGHTS: A look ahead to Friday’s feature.
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AGCO Advertising Rules Create More Questions
The newly updated advertising standards recently released by the Alcohol and Gaming of Ontario (AGCO) that prohibited the use of celebrity endorsers seemed pretty straightforward.
But like most gambling laws and rules, looks can be deceiving.
As Aly Lalani, head of marketing at BetRegal, told CDC Gaming Reports, “I’m not totally sure I understand exactly what they mean. They seem to paint with an awfully wide brush. How is it possible to say ‘social influencers’ are part of the restriction? How exactly is a ‘social influencer’ defined? Is it follower count? Is it content? Is it follower demographics?”
Two of the not-so-clear parts of the new rules are the phrases:
“… who would likely be expected to appeal to minors.”
“Use individuals who are, or appear to be, minors to promote gaming.”
As I’ve argued in the past, one of the most important duties of regulators is clarity. The industry needs and wants clearly defined rules. Marketing campaigns take time to develop, and a lack of regulatory clarity isn’t helpful.
As Amanda Brewer, country manager for Canada of Kindred Group, told CDC, “The AGCO still needs to provide clarification on what ‘athlete’ or ‘celebrity’ or ‘role model’ or ‘influencer’ means.”
NFL Bettor Survey Highlights Preferences and Whims
Last week, I discussed some of the findings from an Optimove survey of NFL bettors. The survey had too many tidbits for one entry, so here are a few more data points I found interesting.
Slightly surprising was DraftKings was far and away the most preferred brand, with market leader FanDuel coming in a distant second, despite the latter being the US market share leader. One of the biggest headscratchers was BetMGM and Fanatics, each receiving 5% - BetMGM has the third largest market share, while the recently launched Fanatics falls into the “other” category.
There appears to be a lot of brand loyalty. According to Optimove, 46% of respondents are loyal to a single brand, and a whopping 82% use one or two apps. 37% have only ever used one app, per the survey.
Survey respondents listed UX and promotions as the top reasons to choose an app.
When it comes to dumping an app, respondents pointed to two specific things: A dislike of the app (32%) and a feeling the app was unlucky (25%).
The second point illustrates just how fickle bettors can be, considering at least 1/4 of bettors will decide where to bet based on hot and cold betting streaks. So good luck convincing them to line-shop or avoid single-game parlays.
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Genting Malaysia Trending Up in the Northeast
I recently covered the Mashpee Wampanoag’s quest to open a tribal casino in Massachusetts. Left out of that story was the company that was financing the project and planned to operate the property for the tribe, Genting Malaysia.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming:
“Genting Malaysia had in April 2016 subscribed to interest-bearing promissory notes issued by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in order to help finance construction of the casino project. For its US$426.3 million investment, the company was to be paid interest of between 12% and 18% per annum as well as managing casino operations for at least seven years for 30% of EBIT.”
Genting wrote off its investment in the First Light Casino in 2018 but could jump back into the conversation.
Genting Malaysia is also in the running for a New York casino license. Genting operates the Resorts World racino at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City, which is seen as one of the top candidates for one of the three New York casino licenses.
Bally Bet Is Live in Four States
Bally Bet’s relaunch with its new Kambi tech stack has spread to two more states, bringing the total to four (with three others, Indiana, Iowa, and New York, pending):
Ohio
Arizona
Virginia
Colorado
As Jessica Welman points out, the bigger change is users can now take advantage of a bonus bet offer, a $100 “second-chance” bet. The bonus offer signals Bally’s is happy with the new product.
Beyond the Headline: Bally’s Mulligan
Bally’s falls into the camp of early disappointments in the US sports betting space, sharing space with the now-defunct Barstool Sports and FOX Bet.
The difference is Bally’s didn’t throw in the towel; it hit the reset button. It outsourced its sports betting platform to Kambi (a proven white label) and still has Gamesys sitting in its back pocket should online casinos proliferate across the country.
Early mistakes aside, Bally’s has emerged from its 1.0 mistakes with an improved sports betting product. The question is, will bettors give it a chance? And alternatively, is Bally’s just biding its time for online casino legalization?
The company previously called sports betting a funnel, as it intends to focus on online casinos.
But Bally’s isn’t issue-free on the online casino front. Bonus.com noted that Bally’s is the only operator offering online casino and sports betting without any overlap - Bally’s online casino product is live in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Still, this is the early game for Bally’s and for online casinos in the US.
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Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
One of the stranger debates on Gambling Twitter is refunded bets. Ever since PointsBet kicked it off with Good Karma refunds in the early days of the US market, I cannot understand the animous towards the policy. As I wrote in 2021 following John Rahm refunds, “Sportsbooks looking to retain customers are welcome to give away all the free money they want.”
A good read on this topic is this article from ESPN’s David Purdum.
Stray Thoughts
A look ahead to Friday’s feature, which will delve into the ongoing debate over the legality of DFS products, which had another round of action on Tuesday, as Underdog Fantasy (a sponsor of this newsletter) published a white paper by its general counsel Nicholas Green.
