Exploring the Impact of Sports Betting on Paris Olympics
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid.
00:05You know, it's interesting, my producer Frank and I were discussing before the show, I got
00:10to say it's probably easier to bet on some of these events in Paris than it is to actually
00:17find like the final scores and when they're playing, like you probably could get more
00:21information from the sports betting apps than just online.
00:23It is not that easy, Mike, like you, you're Googling, like what's going on with this team,
00:28like I'll Google Canada, I'll get like swimming or something, I'll be like, no, no, no, give
00:32me basketball, like it's not the easiest thing to figure out online unless I guess you're
00:37like a psycho with this and you're watching 24-7, but I can only imagine with this being
00:42a slow time of the year, being one of the main reasons why people are so engaged on
00:47betting on the Paris Olympics, like right now, Mike, we are about to exit the dead zone
00:53of sports.
00:55Yeah, Craig, I totally agree with you first off on finding stuff, right, like Paris is
01:00a few hours ahead.
01:01I think it makes an optimal time for betting, but it was hard to figure out what time stuff
01:05was starting and then you go to a website, it would be in Paris time, not Eastern Standard
01:09time.
01:10So I totally agree with you there.
01:12The Associated Press talked to BetMGM and they project it's going to be the largest
01:17bet Olympics in the legal sports betting era.
01:19I think it's pretty obvious, given that now I think we have 38 states plus DC at the time
01:24of the Tokyo Covid Olympics, I think we had 22 states.
01:27So that obviously is a huge factor.
01:29And then again, if you're a local sports fan, to your point, you're going on Fandle.
01:33You don't have to go on there at 3 a.m., 4 a.m., you know, local time out in the Olympics.
01:39You're getting your games on prime time, whether it's 6 a.m., 2 p.m., whatever it is, because
01:43they're so far ahead.
01:45It's really optimal for betting.
01:47So I think with the interest of the U.S. men's basketball team, obviously heavy favorites
01:50with a pretty solid win over Serbia.
01:53Women's basketball team, also a favorite, U.S. women's soccer, really nice win over
01:57Germany yesterday.
01:58You know, a lot of these very popular teams are going to be bet on, whether that's, you
02:03know, your standard money line spread or your, you know, your player props.
02:09And those are heavily there.
02:11And then, like you said, you've got some sports people probably haven't watched, you know,
02:14gymnastics, some other things that we're really good at, but people aren't turning
02:17into every day.
02:19They're turning in every four years.
02:21And, you know, I think there's a lot of interest in track and field that MGM said, the 100-meter
02:25men's.
02:26So there are a lot of great events in the Olympics, once every four-year deal, optimal
02:31time, expanded sports betting market.
02:33And then, I mean, who knows, maybe you hope four years from now we'll have Texas and California.
02:38We'll see whether that's the case.
02:39It's not a certainty.
02:40But again, in four years, you should have even greater interest because hopefully you
02:43have more states, especially the ones that have been difficult to move due to either
02:48legislative, tribal, whatever reasons that they have it.
02:52This should only expand.
02:53So incredible time, really nice to watch some sports you don't usually see.
02:56And like you said, slower period with just basically baseball and golf.
02:59Now you add in tons of sports, tons of interest, tons of star power.
03:03Yeah.
03:04No, look, it's been fun, no question.
03:06And I mean, the results aside, it's a fun watch when it's live.
03:09It doesn't matter what it is.
03:11OK.
03:12So now let's get to the business of sports betting.
03:14This is what we always lean on you for here, Mike.
03:15I saw this, again, on social media, prize picks, who had an opportunity a few months
03:19ago, I thought, to potentially get out of the game with all of this peer-to-peer stuff
03:24going on and some of these states saying, hey, look, you've got to get out of this state
03:27and that state.
03:29Interesting time to sell if you are prize picks.
03:31I don't know what this really means and if this will happen, but wouldn't this be a case
03:37of sort of selling low if that's the case, or do they fear that there just may not be
03:41a business for them in the future?
03:43Yeah, Craig, I think that's a great point.
03:47We'll see.
03:48Right now, it is all speculation, Bloomberg reporting that prize picks is exploring mergers
03:53and acquisitions.
03:54It doesn't seem like they want to sell, according to Bloomberg.
03:57And that makes a lot of sense, Craig, if you talk to industry sources in the financial
04:01industry in terms of sports books, they'll tell you, you know, prize picks is profitable.
04:05Prize picks has a massive customer database.
04:07Those are probably their two biggest assets.
04:09They've obviously just opened a huge 33,000 square foot headquarters in Atlanta.
04:14So none of that really leads you to believe that they're going to sell.
04:17Perhaps they do, and this comes out of left field, so we'll see.
04:19But certainly in, you know, busy time in M&A, we've seen IGT, we've seen Bally's, we've
04:24seen, you know, Flutter, Boyd, ESPN, that rumor out there.
04:29Whether any of this stuff comes to fruition, we'll see.
04:32As you alluded to, prize picks has faced a lot of uproar from various jurisdictions in
04:37terms of offering what's deemed illegal against the house, fantasy contests, most notably
04:43in Florida and New York.
04:44New York had to pay a $15 million settlement.
04:47We'll see what California, the attorney general has to decide whether this is legal or not.
04:53And if it isn't, then, you know, again, that's another avenue they don't have right now.
04:56They have a big advantage, you know, I mean, to play the long game, if they acquire a small
05:00sports book, Greg, they could potentially get California and Texas, you hope, in like
05:04four to six years, if not earlier.
05:07And, you know, they would have a massive database of players already there to be able
05:10to send, you know, promotions, download the, you know, already have the fantasy app downloaded
05:16and can transition to sports betting, because probably a lot of those customers are sports
05:19betting customers, not necessarily iGaming.
05:22They have this huge advantage.
05:23They have a, you know, a really strong Discord channel, according to people in the industry,
05:26that a lot of bettors like to go to, even a lot of bettors that are successful.
05:30So, you know, this is a company that has made waves, has made money, FanDuel and DraftKings
05:34don't want them around, you know, and obviously have argued properly that what they're doing
05:38in terms of against the house is illegal, as regulators have agreed with them.
05:42And so we'll see where this goes, whether or not they are able to acquire a sports book
05:46or, you know, somebody comes out of nowhere and acquires them, which, again, you would
05:50get the database, you would have a profitable company that, again, just built the headquarters,
05:54which leads you to believe that's not the case.
05:56But that's all speculation on my part to suggest that they're not going to be sold.
06:00And that's what Bloomberg says as well.
06:03You know, in this scenario, it feels like more likely that they would acquire a smaller
06:05sports book and try to go that direction, really put it to that regulated marketplace
06:10and potentially, ultimately be able to use those advantages they've gained through the
06:13databases in California and Texas to expand operations there when those states legalize.
06:18Yeah, OK, well, a company we'll keep our eye on here as the summer and fall progresses.
06:22You know, iGaming is a hot topic across the country as far as betting on it.
06:26New York is no stranger to that.
06:28I know a recent poll has come out that I saw that you posted on social media.
06:33Not all that encouraging as far as pushing this through, I don't think, based on the
06:38numbers here.
06:39You know, people could interpret polls any way that they want, Mike.
06:42But with these percentages that I'm seeing for iGaming, it would seem to me that it would
06:47need to be a lot stronger than this to get pushed through.
06:50Am I wrong?
06:51Yeah, Craig, I think, you know, this was not maybe the best numbers.
06:55You know, Adabo had pulled 532 constituents in his district, which is in Queens, in New
07:01York City, and only 44 percent supported iGaming to legalize it.
07:07Thirty three percent were against it and 23 percent were unsure.
07:10So obviously, like you said, you want those numbers in the 50s, 60s.
07:13You hope to get to 70s, you know, huge numbers.
07:16So not the case.
07:18And we'll see where it goes.
07:19Adabo's been trying to get iGaming for the last two years.
07:22He's been unsuccessful.
07:23But I think his push will continue until late 2024, 2025, this next session.
07:28And yeah, I mean, he's got a lot of work to do.
07:30The Hotel Council, the Trades Council has been against this.
07:34It hasn't had any governor's support, hasn't been on the executive budget.
07:38That's really where things start.
07:39If you want to move things, they are working on the downstate casino licenses, which is
07:43kind of slow to a crawl.
07:45Hopefully get that going.
07:46New York legislation doesn't like to do two gaming things at once, usually.
07:49So yeah, I think there's a lot of things working against this.
07:51They hope that, you know, the state needs money.
07:53They always feel like the budget, you know, is at a deficit.
07:55They need a billion dollars.
07:56Well, here's where they can get it by flipping on a switch, basically.
07:59All the operators in New York complained about the 51 percent tax rate under the bill that
08:03didn't pass.
08:04You know, iGaming was 30 and a half percent.
08:06And I believe, according to people I just spoke to, I've forgotten this, that would
08:09mean that the sports betting operators would drop to 30.5 percent.
08:12That was their big thing at Nickel Jeez was we're paying too many taxes, especially in
08:15New York.
08:16Legislators are like, we're not going to drop them.
08:18We're not going to take money away from school kids to give it to corporations.
08:20So, you know, you're kind of deadlocked there.
08:23And the push will continue.
08:24Like you said, not the most encouraging numbers, but, you know, we'll see.
08:27This obviously is the last push for Joe Adabo.
08:30He's going to be pushing this thing pretty hard coming up next legislative session.
08:33All right.
08:34Well, Mike, awesome stuff, as always.
08:36Enjoy the Olympics and, you know, certainly trade deadline baseball coming up tomorrow.
08:41I'm sure it'll be very active.
08:42We'll keep an eye on it.
08:43Thanks again for coming here on Newswire.
08:46Thanks, Craig.
08:47Appreciate it.
08:48I'll be checking your Twitter for updates.
08:50I'll be checking your Twitter for updates.