The Week In Sports Betting News: NY Up To 5 Mobile Sportsbooks
Happy Monday, everyone. Sports betting news is dominated by headlines out of New York these days, though there’s plenty going on around the rest of the country as well.
The LSR Podcast touched on a bit of everything in the latest podcast, including news out of New York, as well as a look ahead at what other states could legalize this year. Some of those early movers include Alabama and Minnesota.
Make sure to follow @LSPReport on Twitter to stay on top of breaking news throughout the US sports betting world.
Top sports betting news: More NY launches coming?
There are now five mobile NY sportsbooks live after BetMGM launched nine days after the market went live. BetMGM launched Monday, just in time for NFL betting on the final game of Wild Card weekend.
BetMGM opened with a $1,000 risk-free bet, in line with what DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook offered but lower than the $3,300 from Caesars Sportsbook. Those kinds of offers in such a high-taxed market will lead to “mutually assured destruction,” Regulus Partners said last week.
That leaves four operators not yet live:
- Bally Bet
- PointsBet
- Resorts World
- WynnBET
Only PointsBet has given an indication on when it might be live, stating it should be up and running by the end of January in a market release. That could be when Resorts World also launches considering PointsBet will act as platform provider for Resorts World Bet.
Another big storyline to watch: the New York State Gaming Commission has weekly updates listed for mobile sports betting providers. That means details about launch weekend, which by all accounts was quite busy, could come as soon as this week.
BetMGM update coming Wednesday
It might not take too long to get early data from BetMGM’s launch in New York either.
MGM Resorts and Entain, the two joint venture partners behind BetMGM, scheduled an update for 10 am Eastern Wednesday. Results will be out before the US market opens.
The call will include a breakdown of 2021 performance, outlook for 2022 and a brief analyst Q&A.
Last week’s top sports betting news: NJ breaks $1 billion again
Another month of the 2021 football season meant another month of more than $1 billion in handle for New Jersey sportsbooks.
NJ reported more than $1.2 billion in handle for December, though sports betting revenue took a tumble compared to recent months at $59 million.
Many around sports betting are not too worried about the December report, though: all the focus is on what New Jersey reports for January. As much as 25% of New Jersey’s handle is estimated to come from New York so that January report could be quite telling of what New Jersey’s market will look like in 2022.
Other revenue reports:
- Illinois sportsbooks reported a record $78.2 million in revenue on $779.8 million handle in November.
- Iowa sports betting handle was $266.5 million in December with $13.4 million in revenue.
- There was $16.5 million bet in the first month of Maryland sports betting, which launched Dec. 9 with retail-only sportsbooks.
Is Florida push too little, too late?
DraftKings and Barstool Sportsbook are both fighting to get the signatures needed to get commercial sports betting in Florida on the 2022 ballot.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy posted a video to instruct his Florida followers how to sign the petition. DraftKings pledged $100 in free bets for the first 10,000 customers if the initiative gets the necessary signatures.
The petition needs 892,000 verified signatures to get on the ballot.
Florida briefly had sports betting last year before a court ruling forced Hard Rock Sportsbook to shutter for now.
Other top stories at LSR:
- A promised lawsuit concerning sports betting in Washington state is finally underway.
- Caesars Sportsbook partnered with Michigan State as its exclusive sports betting and iGaming partner.
- DraftKings Sportsbook is finally coming to Oregon Tuesday.
- Small businesses in Massachusetts wrote to the Senate asking for legislation that lets them take part in MA sports betting.
- Virginia sports betting should launch two more operators, Betway and SI Sportsbook, in time for March Madness betting.