February 2025 – Page 6 – FairOdds Network

February 5, 2025

Greenblatt expects player acquisition decline as BetMGM aims to be “home of the premium mass player”

Entain and MGM Resorts' JV, BetMGM, expects player acquisition rates to slow as it looks to benefit from a premium player base placing higher value bets.

While the group posted a falling EBITDA, once again in the negative, in its FY24 results on 4 February, it pointed to a “year of investment” which sought to increase player value and active users of its product.

Speaking to analysts following the group’s full-year earnings call on 4 February, BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said during the year the focus had been on investing in its igaming strengths and refining its marketing, attribution, CRM and segmentation models.

These helped to drive a stronger performance in the latter part of the year.

Monthly user growth expected to slow

Monthly users in the operator’s fourth quarter were up 55% year-on-year. Greenblatt said this was achieved without the addition of any new states. Total monthly active users for the year hit 946,000, up 14% year-over-year.

However, while BetMGM toute..

February 5, 2025

BlueBet agrees to acquire TopSport assets

BlueBet Holdings has entered an agreement to acquire certain assets of Merlehan Booking, the Australia-facing sports and racing betting company trading as TopSport.

Under the deal, BlueBet will pay an initial AU$10 million (£5 million/€6 million/US$6.3 million) to acquire the assets from TopSport. This will comprise 70% cash and 30% in new, ordinary shares in BlueBet.

The agreement, announced today (5 February) by BlueBet, will also include potential further payments. These are contingent on BlueBet’s share price reaching certain milestones and the net gaming revenue performance of the assets.

To support the cash portion of the purchase price, BlueBet has successfully undertaken an equity raising. This will raise $15 million in gross proceeds via the issue of approximately 44.1 million new shares in BlueBet.

Why is BlueBet acquiring the assets?

Operated by father and son duo Lloyd and Tristan Merlehan, TopSport offers both sports and racing betting in Australia. In the first half ..

February 5, 2025

Texas governor OK with legal sports betting, but his words may not matter

On Tuesday (4 February) Texas governor Greg Abbott said during a podcast that he doesn't “have a problem with online sports betting”. But he's not the Texas politician who has the power to call – or block – a vote in the senate.

Abbott, who has been the governor since 2015, said during his re-election run in 2021 that he wasn’t opposed to gambling in his state. According to the Texas Tribune, he and former house speaker Dade Phelan went “further” in their support.

The sticking point in the Lone Star State has long been lieutenant governor Dan Patrick. He has consistently said that he will not call a vote on an expansion of gambling in Texas unless there is a Republican majority to support it.

I've said repeatedly there is little to no support for expanding gaming from Senate GOP. I polled members this week. Nothing changed. The senate must focus on issues voters expect us to pass. We don’t waste time on bills without overwhelming GOP support. HB1942 won’t be referre..

February 4, 2025

AGA releases Super Bowl estimate for legal market only; projects record spend

This year’s projected figure for ‘legal handle’: $1.39 billion.

The American Gaming Association (AGA) released its annual Super Bowl betting handle estimate on Tuesday (4 February) morning – but took a different approach than in past years.

The headline news: American sports bettors are projected to legally wager a record $1.39 billion (£1.11 billion/€1.34 billion) on Super Bowl LIX. The game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles at Caesars Superdome is set for Sunday (9 February).

But it is difficult to put that number in context relative to AGA estimates in prior years. Previously, the AGA estimated how many American adults would be betting and how much they would be risking across all regulated and unregulated options. The organisation did this for each of the post-PASPA Super Bowls. This included off-the-books “Super Bowl Squares” pools with family and friends.

Those projections, by year:

2019: 22.7 million adults, $6.0 billion
2020: 26 million adults, $6.8 bi..

February 4, 2025

ITIA bans more tennis players linked to Belgian match-fixing syndicate

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has banned a further six current and former players linked to a high-profile, match-fixing syndicate in Belgium.

Jerome Inzerillo, David Guez, Romain Bauvy, Yannick Jankovits, François-Arthur Vibert and Agustin Moyano, have all been formally banned from the sport after the ITIA announced the sanctions, all of which relate to match-fixing, on 31 January.

Detailing the cases, the ITIA said all are linked to the match-fixing syndicate led by Grigor Sargsyan. The criminal case led to the conviction of Sargsyan, who was handed a five-year custodial sentence in 2023. However, the fall-out continues with the ITIA continuing to track down additional players involved in the case.

French tennis players admit to charges

From the latest tranche of players, five admitted to breaches, relating to matches played in 2017 and 2018. Three French tennis players accepted the sanctions, waiving their rights to a hearing before an independent anti-corrup..

February 4, 2025

Ohio governor wants to double sports betting tax… again

Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine, rolled out his final budget proposal on Monday (3 February) and it includes raising the legal sports betting tax on operators to 40%.

Should the state legislature agree, it would mark the second time since July 2023 that the tax was raised. In 2023, DeWine pushed through a budget that hiked the tax from 10% to 20%. That moved Ohio from a gambling-friendly tax state to one on the higher end of the spectrum.

If the tax goes to 40%, it would make Ohio the second-most expensive competitive market for wagering operators. New York has the highest tax rate at 51%. And last summer, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker initiated discussions to raise the tax in his state. Pritzker initially proposed more than doubling the 15% tax to 35%. But lawmakers went further, creating a sliding scale between 20% and 40%. The highest-revenue companies pay at the top end of the scale.

“We have known since day one that DeWine has hated sports betting,” gambling consultant Bren..

February 3, 2025

Virginia sports betting handle up in December but AGR well off record

Virginia reported a 23.4% year-on-year decline in sports betting adjusted gross revenue (AGR) for December, despite an increase in player spending.

The Virginia Lottery reported on 31 January that AGR in December amounted to $43.9 million (£35.6 million/€42.8 million). This falls short of $57.2 million in the previous year and 45.5% of November’s $80.6 million record.

All AGR in December came from online betting, with retail sports wagering at casinos leaving a $12,883 loss.

Virginia players spend $729.5 million on betting

As for spending, total handle for December was $734.4 million. This beats the previous year by 16% but is 3.5% behind the record $761 million bet in November. It is, however, the second-highest monthly amount on record.

Players wagered $729.5 million online during December and a further $4.9 million at retail facilities inside casinos.

This resulted in a state-wide hold of 5.98% for the month. Player winnings in December hit $684.8 million.

Tax tops $6.6 mill..

February 3, 2025

Robinhood to offer Super Bowl betting via Kalshi

Partnership with brokerage makes event contracts available to large swath of population.

Robinhood announced on Monday (3 February) morning that it will be offering event contracts via Kalshi for Super Bowl LIX, creating the potential for a significant expansion of prediction market event trading. The Super Bowl is set for Sunday (9 February) between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Front Office Sports was the first to report the announcement.

According to a press release from Robinhood, the brokerage views event contracts as “an opportunity to better serve our customers as their interests converge across the markets, news, sports and entertainment.” It plans to have event contracts available in all 50 states through Kalshi, saying they “leverage the power and rigour of the financial market structure to facilitate greater liquidity, transparency and price discovery”.

Access to Robinhood marketplace

The partnership furthers Kalshi’s rapid movement in getting Super Bo..

February 3, 2025

Weekend Report: BetMGM fined in PN, NC eyes new sports betting tax, EveryMatrix pens record Norsk Tipping deal

Welcome to the Weekend Report, where iGB looks at the news that you may have missed over the last few days. This week: BetMGM fined in Pennsylvania for self-exclusion breach, North Carolina eyes new sports betting tax policy and EveryMatrix pens record deal with Norsk Tipping.

BetMGM to pay $260,905 in Pennsylvania

First, BetMGM has been fined $260,905 (£212,364/€254,701) in Pennsylvania for breaching rules on self-exclusion.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) found BetMGM allowed self-excluded online casino individuals to place bets. Some 148 accounts on BetMGM were identified as players who had self-excluded, PlayPennsylvania.com reports.

From these accounts, a total of $252,035 was deposited and $82,460 withdrawn. BetMGM also flagged a further three separate incidents across 2021, 2022 and 2022 involving four more self-excluded individuals.

Overall, $436,381 was deposited by self-excluded users with $175,477 withdrawn. The difference between these amounts is $260,904,..

February 3, 2025

In rare occurrence, Nevada gaming positive in December, YoY despite Strip decline

The latest round of data from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, released on 30 January, showed that the state's gaming industry was positive year-over-year for December and 2024 as a whole, despite Strip declines for each.

The Nevada December revenue report showed that gross gaming revenue (GGR) totalled $1.46 billion (£1.17 billion/€1.4 billion) for the month, up 2% from last year. For 2024, the total was $15.6 billion, a slight (+0.55%) uptick from calendar year 2023. That represents the fourth consecutive record-setting calendar year for the Silver State, following the drudges of the 2020 Covid pandemic.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about those increases was that they came despite declines from the Las Vegas Strip, the economic driver of the state. In December, the Strip posted $881.2 million in GGR, down 2.6% YoY, its sixth consecutive monthly decline.

For the fiscal year-to-date (1 July-31 December), the Strip is down more than 5%, the most of the state’s major..

February 3, 2025

Many UK players turn to gambling for escapism says Gambling Commission report

In a special report using data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain, the UKGC has broken down the key motivators for UK gamblers, with escapism one of the driving factors.

On 30 January the UK Gambling Commission published an add-on piece of research to the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) report released in July. The survey is the first comprehensive report looking at the behaviour of gamblers in Britain, including what the key motivators are for players across multiple verticals.

This latest report, which cites findings from the Reasons for Gambling Questionnaire (RGQ), considers the relationship between different gambling activities and the players’ reason for engaging in them.

The RGQ contained a series of 15 questions on the reasons GSGB participants gave for taking part in gambling. People who had gambled in the past 12 months were asked to state how often their main reason for gambling was indeed their key motivator across all activities they had listed. They..

February 3, 2025

Swedish report flags link between loot boxes and problem gambling

A report by Spelinspektionen has found a link between young adults that participated in gambling via video games while under age and risky gambling behaviours.

Published on 29 January, the study looks at the relationship between young people and gambling in Sweden. It focuses on individuals within the 18-24 age group and the results were presented to the government.

The results showed a link between those who started purchasing loot boxes as a minor and those who went on to show problematic gambling behaviours. Of those that purchased loot boxes before the age of 15, 87% displayed risky gambling behaviours as an adult.

Loot boxes and skin gambling on the rise

Among the stand-out findings was the increasing crossover between video games and online gambling. Loot boxes offer players the chance to purchase in-game items via a mystery box, while skin gambling using virtual goods, like player skins, to gamble.

Of all male young adults who took part in the survey, each had experienced ..

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