The Weekender: DK Subscription; OSB Contenders; iCasino in IL
DraftKings adds subscription service. Can Georgia, Minnesota, or California legalize sports betting? Supporters make the case online casino in Illinois.
The Bulletin Board
ABOVE the FOLD: A look at the biggest stories of the week.
— DraftKings announces new parlay subscription service.
— The case
for Californiaagainst Georgia and Minnesota sports betting.— Are online casinos the answer to Illinois’ budget deficit?
HOUSEKEEPING: Podcasts, featured articles, and more from yours truly.
BEHIND the PAYWALL: For paid subscribers, an excerpt from STTP Consulting’s The Forecast, a premium subscription service that provides quarterly reports and weekly updates on the US online gambling sector.
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DraftKings Springs a Surprise with Subscription Service
DraftKings subscription service, Sportsbook+, is an early contender for Story of the Year.
From Monday’s newsletter:
“DraftKings has introduced Sportsbook+ in New York. Sportsbook+ is a premium subscription service ($20/month) that gradually boosts users' winnings on parlays with two or more legs, provided each leg is at least -500. The maximum wager is $25.”
“The reason I lean toward it being, at its core, an attempt at reducing the company’s burdens comes from DraftKings CEO Jason Robins’ comments at the Bank of America Gaming & Lodging Conference in September, where he was asked about non-surcharge offsets to high taxes. “There's multiple levers that we can pull,” Robins said. “But our objective is to get to that gross margin or better.”
“Sportsbook+ appears to be one of those levers.”
I’ll tackle the recently announced partnership between DraftKings and Delta in this Monday's newsletter.
Making the (Long Shot) Case for California OSB in 2026
Can California become the next state to legalize mobile sports betting? That’s a topic I tackled in Tuesday’s newsletter:
“The safe choices were Minnesota or Georgia, and while these are very real and reasonable candidates, there is a scenario where California beats both states to the punch or at least legalizes mobile betting in the same year as Minnesota, Georgia, or both.”
In the newsletter and Friday’s feature column dedicated to Minnesota, I make the case for California by making the case against Georgia and Minnesota.
Is a Budget Deficit the Key to Unlocking iCasinos in Illinois?
Illinois’ impending budget deficit was the lede in Wednesday’s newsletter.
“Is online gambling the (partial) cure for Illinois’ $3 billion budget deficit?
“Online gambling supporters say yes, but entrenched VGT interests in the state still strongly oppose online expansion.
“The state and the industry also have issues to resolve. The bad blood from last year’s sports betting tax increase and DraftKings' short-lived idea to institute surcharges in states that exceed a certain tax threshold will not be quickly forgotten.
“Still, there is some there, there, as Illinois fiscal issues will not magically vanish. Legalizing online casino games would generate an estimated $450 million in Year 1 for Illinois and as much as $800 million annually when the market matures.”
Why hire Steve Ruddock? Over the years, Steve has advised startups, national gambling companies, government agencies, and investment banks on a wide variety of topics.
Whether you’re looking for market research, want to raise your brand awareness, or are trying to develop responsible gaming strategies, Steve can help with honest, balanced, no-nonsense analysis of the situation.
Steve’s unique experience and insights are often the missing piece to the puzzle.
Reach out for more information: Straight to the Point Consulting.
Housekeeping
PODCASTS:
This week’s guest on the Talking Shop Podcast was Chris Shreeve of Staked AI.
The Outsider Perspective and the Dawn of the AI Era with Chris Shreeve
“When we glorify the five major players in the space and make it seem as if they're the only ones that really matter, we tend to follow what those companies are doing… They're so big and have so much money that they're able to do all of these things. But... That can't be replicated at the middle of the market, the long tail of the market
COLUMNS:
This week’s featured column attempts to make some sense of the upcoming sports betting debate in the Minnesota legislature.
Minnesota’s Sports Betting Quagmire
Despite numerous bites at the apple, Minnesota has been unable to legalize sports betting. The Land of 10,000 Lakes has become the new “this is the year” state, but STTP continues to lean negative on its chances in 2025.
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Go Behind the Paywall
Below, you will find a small excerpt from the latest weekly update of Straight to the Point’s premium subscription service, The Forecast. The full report contains weekly legislative updates on 20 iCasino candidate states and the 19 states that have yet to legalize mobile sports betting.
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