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SportsTranscript
00:00We get the announcement and the app makes the announcement on Monday that they are launching a new trading market for sports and all sports, by the way.
00:11So I am somebody that has the crypto dot com app. I opened it up. I took a look. And after sort of navigating what it looks like, this to me, you know, Sam, honestly, looks like futures betting.
00:25But they have gone a different path where you essentially could buy shares of a team, pay a certain amount of money, and then the outcome, if I'm not mistaken, would be $100.
00:37So, Sam, how did this all come together? And how is this legalized in states essentially that don't have legalized sports betting?
00:46Yeah, it's a really good question, Craig. I think the timing here is imperative right at the end of the year.
00:53And with a huge futures events on the horizon, like the Super Bowl, it's actually the only sport or event you can bet on on the crypto dot com website or app right now.
01:05Either yes or no on one of 19 teams that's offered. And noticeably, the prices on those teams are a lot worse than you would find on a sports book.
01:14And to your point, how has this become offered? How is this legal? That's because the mechanism with which this works is much different from an actual sports book.
01:23It's event trading or futures trading. And the reason that they're able to offer this is because of what we saw happen recently in November, just before the presidential election.
01:34You had a number of popular websites such as Predict It, Calshi. They actually won an appeal in a D.C. federal court that said that these events can be sort of deemed as trading a stock, so to speak.
01:51So the same way that Crypto.com offers trading Bitcoin or other types of coins, they're just kind of looking at these events the same way.
01:59So it's not actually gambling, which means that they're able to offer it in states like Florida where you are, where a hard rock bet is the only sports betting app.
02:08Yet you can also somehow wager on the Super Bowl using a website like Crypto.com.
02:14Now, that means it's not regulated by any of the states. State gambling commissions would, you know, for, you know, to make it simplified, would have actually no purview over this kind of events.
02:29It's something that would be regulated by the CFTC, which was trying to get this struck down.
02:36These events trading on contracts, trading on elections, sports events now trying to get that struck down.
02:42So we'll see if they try to resume that fight. But really interesting to see Crypto.com get into this space.
02:49We've seen Robinhood. I think we talked about it last week, announced that they're going to do something similar.
02:54So it's these stock based trading markets basically treating sports like a stock so they can get around the normal gambling rules.
03:03And it'll be really interesting to see what they offer beyond just the Super Bowl, because obviously that's a futures event.
03:08If eventually you're going to be able to take the Chiefs minus six or you get to a place down the road where you're doing player props, something like that.
03:16But I'd have to imagine that the legal industry that has spent billions and billions of dollars just to get sports betting legalized, first of all, and then so much more money to get licensed to do all the regulatory process and pay the fees.
03:30In just 37 states, you have some apps that are barely available in 15 and have been struggling to survive.
03:36I'd have to imagine they'd be pretty annoyed seeing a website just all of a sudden say, hey, if you like to bet cryptocurrency, why don't you bet the Super Bowl with us, too?
03:44And you can do it in all 50 states, states like California, Georgia, Texas, where these companies are still fighting really hard to get sports betting legalized.
03:52So, you know, this past year, we've talked about other forms of sports betting or de facto forms of gambling really rise.
03:58We've seen it with the fantasy apps offering what kind of looks like parlays.
04:02We've seen it with the sweepstakes models, you know, writing their rules and mechanisms in a way that sort of lets them skirt state laws and find loopholes.
04:12So, I mean, it's a really, really big money industry.
04:17So now you're seeing all these other players finding kind of adjacent alternate ways to get in.
04:21We'll see if the regulation can catch up.
04:23Lord knows it's still trying to catch up to the regular actual federal legal sports betting.
04:28So it's going to be another interesting year as all this stuff comes to a head in 2025.
04:33Yeah, I mean, and I can only imagine, like, the players that are in the non-betting game, like Underdog and PrizePix are like, wait a second here.
04:41Like, what's going on here?
04:42Like, if they can do it, why can't we?
04:44I don't know.
04:45We'll see.
04:46And this is, you're right, one to follow, California, Texas especially, these states that don't have legalized sports gambling.