Football is back, and it\u2019s expected to bring with it record-breaking betting.<\/p>\n
U.S. adults will wager $35 billion this NFL season, according to projections from the American Gaming Association.<\/p>\n
That would mark more than 30% growth over the $26.7 billion Americans wagered over the course of last year\u2019s season of the National Football League, according to the AGA, and would set a fresh record. Since last NFL season, Maine, North Carolina and Vermont have allowed sports betting operators to launch in their states. And court decisions have permitted Hard Rock International to relaunch sports betting in Florida.<\/p>\n
Today, sports betting is\u00a0live and legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
And yet stocks in the gambling companies aren\u2019t following the same growth trajectory. Shares of\u00a0DraftKings,\u00a0Penn,\u00a0Caesars,\u00a0MGM Resorts\u00a0and\u00a0Entain, which jointly own BetMGM, are all negative year to date.\u00a0Flutter,\u00a0owner of FanDuel, is up 19%, after listing on the New York Stock Exchange this year. It posted second-quarter earnings that trounced expectations for revenue and profit, giving shares a lift.<\/p>\n
Churchill Downs\u00a0is positive on the year and\u00a0Rush Street Interactive\u00a0has posted notable gains of 109% year to date.<\/p>\n
Each of the licensed sportsbooks is working on strategies to claim a bigger share of the action, trying to attract new customers and convince established players to show more brand loyalty.<\/p>\n
NFL kickoff is an opportunity to launch new and improved technology or innovative wagers that entice players. Sportsbooks tailor their promotions to reach new customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NFL season is our biggest acquisition period of the year,\u201d said Christian Genetski, president of FanDuel, the nation\u2019s leading sportsbook.<\/p>\n
FanDuel is the only one to partner with YouTube to roll out a \u201cSunday Ticket\u201d offer. Players who wager $5 get a three-week trial to watch out-of-market NFL games with \u201cSunday Ticket.\u201d FanDuel hopes allowing fans to watch their favorite teams will lead to more wagering.<\/p>\n
FanDuel also said it has tweaked its app design and added more bets to its Same Game Parlay. It\u2019s upgraded features so fans can wager at \u201cthe speed of sports,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
With more than 95% of sports wagers now happening online, speed matters. That\u2019s especially true when it comes to micro-betting: wagers made on specific plays as the game unfolds.<\/p>\n
Fanatics, Michael Rubin\u2019s e-commerce empire that includes sports merchandise and memorabilia, launched its sportsbook last year in four markets. Since then, Fanatics Sportsbook acquired\u00a0PointsBet\u2019s U.S. operations\u00a0and technology, which is now fully integrated. And its sportsbook is now live in 22 states.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a pretty impressive ramp for a newcomer to the industry.<\/p>\n
Fanatics Sportsbook relies on the existing database of 100 million sports fans for customer acquisition throughout the year and rewards them with products from the merchandise and collectibles businesses.<\/p>\n
And just before the start of the 2024 football season, Fanatics hosted a blockbuster fan activation called Fanatics Fest NYC where customers could meet athletes and celebrities and celebrate their passion for sports.<\/p>\n
Fanatics Sportsbook CEO Matt King told CNBC the customer response was effusive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen incredible positive sentiment and resonance with our proposition of being the most rewarding sportsbook, both in terms of the economic value of what we give back as well as, frankly, the unique things we can do,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
King said unique player rewards build into the crescendo of the sports calendar, what he described as the \u201csports equinox\u201d \u2014 that time during the fall when nearly every sport is being played on overlapping schedules.<\/p>\n
DraftKings said the NFL is its most popular league by both handle and number of bets it accepts.<\/p>\n
The sportsbook, which recently\u00a0pulled back on a plan to tax customers in high-tax states, is offering a\u00a0\u201cNo Touchdown\u201d prop bet\u00a0this season, meaning bettors will now be able to wager on whether a top player does not score a touchdown.<\/p>\n
With its shares off 28% this year and its digital business in the red, there is a spotlight and scrutiny on\u00a0Penn Entertainment. This is its first full NFL season to show off ESPN Bet, its $2 billion investment on\u00a0a rebranded sportsbook\u00a0in partnership with the\u00a0Disney-owned sports juggernaut. It first launched in November last year, smack in the middle of NFL season.<\/p>\n
Since then, the platform has grown its customer database to 31 million members, an 80% gain. Penn\u2019s leaders are optimistic about its media integration with ESPN.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are active in our app, and our goal over the next several quarters is to drive higher loyalty and retention and better monetize the significant engagement activity through improved product and expanded offerings,\u201d Penn CEO Jay Snowden said on an Aug. 8 earnings call.<\/p>\n
BetMGM just launched the first single wallet for mobile play in Nevada, where customers can transport their accounts from Las Vegas back to their home states. Mobile wallets eliminate the friction of multiple transactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur players can now immerse themselves in the excitement of MGM Resorts\u2019 Las Vegas destinations or statewide while seamlessly continuing to place wagers in other BetMGM markets,\u201d BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Football is back, and it\u2019s expected to bring with it record-breaking betting. U.S. adults will wager $35 billion this NFL season, according to projections from the American Gaming Association. That would mark more than 30% growth over the $26.7 billion Americans wagered over the course of last year\u2019s season of the National Football League, according […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}