March 2025 – Page 4 – FairOdds Network

March 14, 2025

New York sports betting handle dips to six-month low in February

Monthly player spending on sports betting in New York dropped below $2 billion (£1.53 billion/€1.82 billion) for the first time in six months during February, although the state was able to report year-on-year growth across handle and revenue.

Players in New York wagered a total of $1.98 billion in February. This is 11.2% ahead of last year but 20.2% behind January’s record $2.48 billion sports betting spend.

Monthly handle has not been this low since $1.44 billion was wagered in August last year.

Data from the New York State Gaming Commission also reveals that revenue in February reached $184.8 million. The figure is 40.8% more than February 2024 but 25.2% less than January’s record $247 million haul.

As such, monthly sports betting hold in the state was 9.24%.

FanDuel still the one to beat in New York

Breaking down the market, Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel remains the leader in New York. During February, it took $738.5 million in wagers and posted revenue of $92.5 million for..

March 14, 2025

BetMGM learned from its marketing and spending mistakes, Hornbuckle confident in US product roadmap

MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle is confident its BetMGM JV with Entain will increase its EBITDA by $250 million (£193.3 million/€229.9 million) in 2025, thanks to ongoing product updates including single-game parlay, omnichannel and single wallet.

Hornbuckle told the audience at JP Morgan’s Gaming conference on 13 March that, while BetMGM is not the fastest product in the US market today, it is now twice previous iterations.

“I know we’ve stopped losing share,” the CEO said. “I think we see a lot of green shoots particularly in January, February and March. Everything we’ve seen would suggest the projection we’ve given is real and we can hit that target.

“The flow through is about 70%, I would say historically we did some things that we’ve learned from, marketing wise and expense wise.”

Reflecting on these “mistakes,” Hornbuckle said the operator had spent $13 million on a Super Bowl ad in 2023, which he acknowledged “wasn’t the greatest idea”.

“Nor was it a great commercial, t..

March 14, 2025

Netherlands concerned sports advertisement ban could be bypassed, points to Belgium

Dutch lawmakers have expressed concerns that its incoming online gambling sports advertisement prohibition could be bypassed by operators, pointing to apparent circumvention in Belgium.

Responding to questions from parliament on 12 March, state secretary for legal protection Teun Struycken reaffirmed the need for greater player protection but noted a complete ban on gambling advertisements was not in favour. Struycken also suggested it was possible Belgian cases of circumvention could be repeated in the Netherlands.

Since 1 January, sports clubs in Belgium have not been allowed to display gambling sponsors on their team shirts. However, there is a view this is being bypassed by operators.

For instance, the football Club Brugge was sponsored by Unibet. Now, the jersey is displaying “U-experts”, the name of an application made by Unibet that links to its casino offering. Cercle Brugge’s jersey sponsor also changed from “Golden Palace Casino” to “Golden Palace News”.

A total ban on sp..

March 14, 2025

Hawaii digital sports betting bill passes first senate committee

Despite opposition from multiple government agencies and several groups of native Hawaiians, a senate committee in the state advanced a digital sports betting bill.

The Hawaii senate joint committee on economic development and tourism and commerce and consumer protection unanimously moved forward HB 1308 on Thursday (13 March). Of the nine votes, four were “with reservations”.

The bill would allow four digital sports betting platforms and no retail locations. It does not have a tax rate or fees in it. Both were removed by a house committee that wanted to keep the issue alive. The bill has been passed in the house and now by one senate committee.

The senate committee members questioned witnesses about how much money legal sports betting would bring into the state and about the potential for gambling addiction.

It was somewhat surprising that the bill got out of committee, as the number of opponents far outnumbered supporters. Opponents included several government agencies as well a..

March 13, 2025

Sporttrade founder says innovation needed to maximise US betting markets

CEO suggests tax rates tied to operator hold rates as one possible idea to level playing field.

In the ninth paragraph of an open letter to US sports betting regulators and legislators published on Thursday (13 March) morning, Sporttrade founder and CEO Alex Kane boiled his mission statement down to two sentences:

“If the goal is to have as many players as possible choosing to play in your regulated market, there must be significant changes to your regulatory approach. You must consider making a sincere effort to welcome innovative companies into your regulated market.”

Nearly seven years after the Supreme Court ruling that allowed for widespread legalisation of sports betting, the public conversation around the space has turned decidedly negative. There’s a heavy focus on a rise in problem gambling. A handful of legislators are pursuing paths to undo the legalisation in their state. The threat of federal intervention is turning up its volume and growing increasingly ominous.

Kane’..

March 13, 2025

Man charged for illegal gambling operations in UK

A Stoke-on-Trent-based man in the UK has been arrested for running an unlicensed gambling operation between October 2023 and September 2024.

Haydon Simcock of Stoke-on-Trent was arrested by Staffordshire police in September following an investigation by the UK’s Gambling Commission.

The 39-year-old was charged with providing gambling facilities to consumers across the UK without a licence between 8 October 2023 and 11 September last year. Simcock was also charged with advertising betting offers between 26 May 2023 and 1 March 2024.

The UK regulator said it led the investigation into Simcock and worked with the Staffordshire police department on the case. Simcock will appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 24 March.

Racing Post interview

In February 2024, the Racing Post publication conducted an undercover interview with a Haydon Simcock who claimed to be working for an illegal horse racing bookmaker in the UK. “The Post Bookmakers” took players’ bets via WhatsApp.

He tol..

March 13, 2025

Majority of popular illegal sites use licensed platforms in Sweden, reports ATG

New Q4 research from Aktiebolaget Trav och Galopp (ATG) has suggested 17 out of 20 popular illegal gambling sites use the same platform providers as licensed operators.

Published yesterday (12 March), an ATG-led report covering illegal gambling activity during Q4 in Sweden reported online channelisation was between 69% and 82% during the period.

This is some way below the government’s long-term target of 90%, set in 2019, when the country opened its regulated online gambling market.

Q4 figures are only marginally better than the 70% and 82% range reported by ATG for Q3.

Unlicensed website traffic up tenfold since 2019

Setting out its findings for Q4, ATG said its data suggests traffic to unlicensed sites in Sweden has increased tenfold since regulation in 2019.

As was the case in Q3, channelisation for online casino was much lower than the rate for sports betting. ATG placed casino channelisation at between 59% and 74%, while sports betting was in a range of 79% to 88%.

The ope..

March 13, 2025

Tennessee sports betting spend falls again in February

Consumer spending on sports betting in Tennessee fell for the third consecutive month in February, although the amount wagered was higher than the previous year.

Gross wagers in Tennessee during February hit $417.4 million (£322.8 million/€384.7 million). This fell 24% short of January’s total but beat the $380.4 million spent on sports betting last year by 8.7%.

Tennessee has now seen gross wagers fall each month, according to the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council, since the $598.6 million bet in November 2024 set a new state record.

After $3.9 million in undisclosed “adjustments”, gross handle for the month stood at $413.5 million. This was 23.9% less than January but 9.3% ahead of February last year.

As for government revenue, overall privilege tax from sports betting amounted to $7.6 million.

The council does not publish figures for revenue, nor does it offer a breakdown of activity by operator or sport.

A total of 11 platforms are currently live in Tennessee. These include m..

March 13, 2025

Tipico hits back at ‘secret agreement’ media claims

German operator Tipico has rejected reports that a “secret agreement” on raising player deposit limits is in place between federal states and operators in the market. It has agreed to investigate an instance where a player was allegedly able to increase their deposit limit to €10,000 within seconds.

Joint research conducted by ARD and Die Zeit and Investigate Europe, published on 6 March, reported that gambling operators have benefitted from a “secret agreement” with the federal states.

The report, covered by ARD’s Monitor programme, claimed the state of Hesse concluded a settlement with sports betting providers in 2022 before the Darmstadt Administrative Court.

As per that reported settlement, sports betting operators can use a credit bureau to check a player’s financial standing, if they seek to increase their monthly betting deposit limit past €1,000. German private credit bureau Shufa is the credit agency referenced in the Monitor report.

However, the issue raised by Tipico, ..

March 12, 2025

Mississippi house makes digital sports betting a political football, punts issue back to senate

The Mississippi house amended two senate bills in order to include legal sports betting along with a sweepstakes ban. Those bills are now back in the senate.

When the bills left the senate, neither was about legalising digital sports betting. But both passed the full house on Tuesday (11 March) and bill sponsor Casey Eure says it’s time to negotiate.

One of the bills originally addressed tidelands. The other addressed fines for platforms operating illegally in the state. Language from a dead house digital wagering bill was put into the tidelands bill.

Retail betting has been legal in Mississippi’s casinos since 2018, but attempts since then to add the type of mobile betting available in other states have been rebuffed.

“It’s a possibility” that tidelands will not get addressed this year if the senate fails to take up mobile sports betting, Eure said, according to the Clarion-Ledger. “But the house’s position is on mobile sports betting. We’re concerned about tidelands, but at this..

March 12, 2025

MLB seeks CFTC “integrity framework” for prediction markets

Major League Baseball, perhaps hedging its position regarding the eventuality of trading on its product becoming being a widespread part of prediction markets, asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to create an “integrity framework” similar to those in place with states that authorise legalised sports betting.

The Closing Line substack was first to report MLB sent a letter via email to the CFTC noting that the “limited MLB event contracts available today do not carry the same integrity risks as prop bets even single-game bets, but we expect that equivalent offerings will arrive soon.”

To that end, MLB wants that integrity framework for prediction markets in a manner consistent with how it supports “legal sports betting at the state level based on robust regulation and relationships in which sports leagues are viewed as partners and integrity of competition is considered paramount.”

Watching and waiting on Kalshi

MLB’s request of the CFTC comes at a time when Kalshi ..

March 12, 2025

Arizona sports betting revenue dips in December despite handle increase

Sports betting revenue in Arizona fell 28.9% year-on-year in December despite the Grand Canyon State reporting an increase in customer spending to a near-record total.

Monthly handle across both online and retail wagering in Arizona hit $849.3 million (£655.5 million/€778.3 million). This is 20.2% more than December 2023 and the second-highest monthly amount on record, 5.4% less than November 2024.

Figures from the Arizona Department of Gaming show players ventured $844.3 million betting on sports online in the last month of the year. The remaining $5.1 million was wagered at retail sportsbooks.

Turning to revenue, adjusted gross event wagering receipts before free bet deductions were $49.3 million. This fell short of $69.3 million in 2023 and was also 41.4% behind November’s record $84.1 million haul.

Breaking this down, $49.3 million of revenue came from online wagers, with just $45,000 from retail.

Some $23.5 million was deducted in free bets and other promotions. As such, adju..

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