Fanduel Horse Betting
FanDuel horse betting app FanDuel doesn’t have a horse racing app yet, although you’re more than welcome to use TVG’s app, which is quite fluid. We, at The Lines, give it high marks. That allows you to use FanDuel technically; however, if you want to open an account with FanDuel to bet on horse racing, you won’t have app access. The sports betting license for FanDuel will be transferred from Par-A-Dice Casino to FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, pending approval from the gaming board, according to a news release. Under the terms of the agreement, the 95-year-old Fairmount Park Racetrack will be rebranded as FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, the news release said.
It’s FanDuel’s world and we’re all just living in it.
The parent company of the US sports betting market leader, Flutter, posted Q3 results today, reaffirming its current dominance.
FanDuel had a 46% online sportsbook market share during the quarter and total online gambling share of 29%.
That includes 1.8 million active customers, with 450,000 added during Q3 alone. Those numbers include online casino and betting on horse racing.
Aggressive low margins for FanDuel
Total amount wagered on sports (aka handle) grew 155% in Q3 to $1.66 billion. Handle also grew 100% in existing states alone. However, sportsbook revenues only grew by 3% to $35 million thanks to a net revenue margin of 2.1%. That was down from 5.2% in Q3 2019.
FanDuel suggested the low margin was a deliberate strategy as it invested in bonusing and new customer offers.
“More than half of the margin reduction reflected strategic investment ahead of the return of sports,” the group said. “We doubled down on popular promotions such as FanDuel’s pioneering ‘Spread the Love’ campaigns and ‘Odds Boost’ offers.”
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson added that FanDuel had always kept margins “pretty tight” for competitive reasons. “We don’t want to allow a lot of oxygen into the market,” Jackson said.
FanDuel still in growth mode
In fact, the results highlighted an interesting contrast between the growth market of the US and a mature market in the UK.
Flutter-owned brand Sky Bet posted a net revenue margin of 11.6% for the quarter thanks in part to a “structural improvement in our expected margin.” In other words, customers are betting lots of parlays and personalized request-a-bets, which have inherently higher margins. There is also less bonusing for new customer acquisition.
Sky Bet is much more of a mass-market brand than FanDuel, but that kind of margin could be the goal for Fox Bet.
On that note, Jackson seemed a little downbeat on Fox Bet, at least compared to FanDuel.
“When we look at life through the lens of Fox Bet, as a subscale competitor, it’s very tough,” Jackson said.
“It makes us realize how big an advantage the FanDuel brand has. Particularly around acquiring customers at sensible costs. And that reminss us to keep pushing hard and investing.”
On track for $1.1 billion in GGR
“We are very pleased to have retained our position as the No. 1 online operator in the US, where FanDuel has made significant progress against each of its key priorities,” said Flutter CEO Peter Jackson.
“We have enhanced the customer experience, secured further strategic media partnerships and acquired more new customers than anticipated. And we are on track to generate more than $1.1 billion of GGR (gross gaming revenue) in the US this year. This will mark a major ‘first’ for an online operator.”
Jackson also highlighted legislative momentum for sports betting after it was approved by voters in Maryland, Louisiana and South Dakota last Tuesday.
Finally, Flutter raised its expected 2020 EBITDA loss in the US to $212-239 million. The group said it was increasing investment to reflect better-than-expected new customer volumes.
As for ownership, Jackson was asked whether there were any immediate plans to simplify the current complex structure. There’s no real pressure to do so in the short term, Jackson said.
Happy Monday, everyone. There was plenty of sports betting news last week as legal states continue to hit new heights while others work toward legalization.
The LSR Podcast took a look at the recent US sports bettingmonthly handle record hit in October (we’ll know the final tally whenever results are available from sports betting in Illinois.)
Fanduel Horse Betting Picks
While the podcast is a great source of information each week, sometimes it’s finished before the biggest sports betting news of the week breaks as was the case last week. Be sure to follow @LSPReport on Twitter to keep up with the latest breaking news stories.
Top sports betting news: Flutter buys nearly all of FanDuel
Majority FanDuel shareholder Flutter will raise its stake to 95% with a $4.2 billion agreement.
Fanduel Horse Betting Games
The move could point to an eventual US listing of FanDuel. The deal gives FanDuel an enterprise value of $11.2 billion though it could be valued much higher if listed in New York. DraftKings is valued at $20 billion as its trading at 37 times its expected 2020 revenues.
Using the same multiple, a publicly listed FanDuel in the US could be valued at $31.5 billion.
The remaining 5% is owned by Boyd Gaming as part of a market-access deal.
Single-skin markets proposed in New York, Ohio
Both New York and Ohio are still working to legalize sports betting this year. Both are also looking at single-skin structures.
The latest Senate proposal for Ohio sports betting will include just one skin per casino to avoid the proliferation of gambling throughout the state, Sen. John Eklund said.
In New York, Sen. Joe Addabbo said it’s better to start negotiations at one skin per property given Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s opposition to mobile betting in the past.
Fanduel Horse Racing
Assemblyman Gary Pretlow is with Addabbo in the fight to legalize mobile NY sports betting but doesn’t agree with a one-skin model:
“I know some of the casinos are advocating just one skin because they’re greedy, they think that they can be their own quote-unquote bookie, I don’t think that’s the case,” Pretlow said on a sports betting panel. “You don’t have to use all [available skins], nothing that says you have to do it but at least you have the opportunity to do it.”
Does anyone know when Michigan will launch online sports betting?
It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for anyone waiting for online sports betting in Michigan to launch.
At its November meeting, Michigan Gaming Control Board Executive Director Richard Kalm warned online sports betting and iGaming might not launch until 2021. That warning was because the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules hadn’t yet approved and returned the rules for both markets to the regulators.
JCAR did just that last week, though, which prompted a board spokesperson to suggest a 2020 launch was possible.
Now, MLive reports Kalm said 2021 is again the expected window:
“With the waive of the rules, I thought we were four weeks out, but we just sent out earlier this week – the same day as the JCAR (meeting) – an inquiry to the platform providers’ operators to give us how ready they are to go and what they’re going to have done. So we might be having to push that back, because we’re now looking at probably six weeks.”
Showing us MO of the same
Three proposals for sports betting in Missouriare already filed. If that seems fast, it’s because they are all bills introduced this year.
Sens. Denny Hoskins and Tony Luetkemeyer pre-filed the same bills for 2021 they did for this session. Sen. Caleb Rowden filed a bill that’s identical to HB 2318 last year.
Rowden’s bill is favorable to the sports betting industry. Penned by Rep. Phil Christofanelli last year, the bill calls for a 6.75% tax rate and an annual license fee of $20,000.
That’s higher than the 6.25% tax and $5,000 annual fee from Luetkemeyer, but his bill calls for a 0.75% integrity fee to leagues. Hoskins’ bill also would pay 0.25% in integrity fees to the leagues.
Projecting winners for single-game Canada sports betting
Sports betting in Canada is ready for a renaissance should its federal ban of single-game betting come to an end.
theScore Bet, operated by Toronto-listed Score Media and Gaming, could be one of the biggest winners. Its media app, which ties directly into its betting app, has 1.4 million users in Ontario alone.
A 10% market share there could add C$100 million in annual betting revenue to the company, Canaccord Genuity said.
Technology providers like DraftKings’ SBTech, GAN, Kambi and Scientific Games could also win big. Media companies like TSN and Rogers Sports might want a partner to convert viewers into sports bettors, Bragg Gaming Chief Strategy Officer Yanic Spielberg said.