Monthly Archives: August 2021

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rush Street Interactive, Inc. (NYSE: RSI) ("RSI" or the Company), a leading online casino and sports betting company in the United States, today announced that the Arizona Rattlers (the Rattlers), a long-established professional indoor football franchise, designated RSI as their operating partner for online sports betting. In addition to receiving market access in Arizona, RSI will become a major sponsor of the six-time world champion Rattlers.

The Arizona Department of Gaming determined that the application by the Rattlers and RSI is eligible for one of the ten sports wagering licenses associated with an Arizona professional sports team or franchise and has granted RSI a temporary event wagering designee license. RSI plans to launch online sports betting in the state under its BetRivers brand during the upcoming NFL and NCAA fall football seasons.

We are very excited to bring our BetRivers mobile apps to Arizona together with the Rattlers, which are deeply rooted in the Phoenix community and share RSIs commitment to excellence, said Richard Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of RSI. Arizonans are accustomed to receiving a championship caliber product on the field with the Rattlers, and we look forward to offering them a similarly high-quality product off the field through our award-winning BetRivers platform and top-notch customer service.

Founded in 1992, the Rattlers are the third longest tenured professional sports team in Arizona and have played for their entire history in the state. The Rattlers are one of the most accomplished professional sports teams in Arizona as well as one of the most successful teams in the history of indoor football, winning the most games and championships of any professional indoor football team in the country.

Arizona is home to the greatest fans in the country, and we are thrilled to help them enjoy online sports betting through our long-term partnership with RSI and the BetRivers team, said Ron Shurts, Owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Arizona Rattlers. Following our league-best regular season, this partnership continues the Rattlers tremendous success and momentum ahead of our round-one home playoff game this Sunday, where the BetRivers logo will be present.

Arizona joins Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico as states where RSI has recently announced market access partnerships, with the latter two being subject to the passage of enabling mobile gaming legislation. Based on publicly available data, RSI is the market leader in the three most populous states that have legalized retail sports betting Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York and is a top five online sports betting company in the United States per gross gaming revenues over the past 12 months, according to a July 2021 report from industry market research firm, Eilers & Krejcik.

Mr. Schwartz concluded, We thank the Rattlers as well as the Arizona Department of Gaming for their trust and partnership and look forward to working together to offer the people of Arizona entertaining, innovative and responsible gaming options.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. RSI's actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates and projections and consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, RSI's expectations about the anticipated timing of launch of its operations in the state of Arizona, the expected benefits of its partnership with the Rattlers, and its anticipated results of its operations and future performance in the state of Arizona. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside RSI's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, without limitation, changes in applicable laws or regulations, unanticipated product or service delays, and other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in RSI's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, including those under "Risk Factors" therein, and in RSI's other filings with the SEC. RSI cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. RSI cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. RSI does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

About RSI

RSI is a trusted online gaming and sports entertainment company focused on regulated markets in the United States and Latin America. Through its brands, BetRivers.com and PlaySugarHouse.com, RSI was an early entrant in many regulated jurisdictions and is currently live with real-money mobile, online and/or retail operations in ten U.S. states: Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa and West Virginia. RSI is also active internationally, offering its online casino and sportsbook in the regulated gaming market of Colombia on RushBet.co. RSI offers, through its proprietary online gaming platform, some of the most popular online casino games and sports betting options in the United States. Founded in 2012 in Chicago by gaming industry veterans, RSI was named the 2020 Global Gaming Awards Digital Operator of the Year and the 2021 EGR North America Awards Casino Operator of the Year, Customer Services Operator of the Year and Social Gaming Operator of the Year. RSI is committed to industry-leading responsible gaming practices and seeks to provide its customers with the resources and services they need to play responsibly. For more information, visit http://www.rushstreetinteractive.com.

About the Arizona Rattlers

The Arizona Rattlers were founded in 1992 and are proud members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). In the three seasons the Rattlers have competed in the IFL, they've won one championship (2017) and qualified for the United Bowl twice (2017, 2019). The Rattlers spent 24 seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL) before moving to the IFL. In that time, the Rattlers made ten appearances in the ArenaBowl, and won championships in 1994, 1997, 2012, 2013, and 2017. For tickets, call 602-514-8274, or visit http://www.azrattlers.com.

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Rush Street Interactive to Bring BetRivers Online Sportsbook to Arizona With the Arizona Rattlers - Business Wire

Most of the 70 million or so members of Gen Z are too young to bet on sports legally in the U.S., but a group of industry panelists said Wednesday that sportsbook operators would be wise to begin focusing on them if they havent already.

The cohort of young people carries wide influence because of their leadership in adopting new technology and other aspects of social culture that are then followed by older groups, noted the webinar speakers in a session co-sponsored by The Innovation Group and SBC.

Gen Z members, generally those born between 1997 and 2012, are a first mover group thats influential on the internet, throughout the media, and in other ways that make them important to reach, said Sarah Crennan, vice president and head of content for Yahoo Sports. She said older demographic groups are more likely to follow Gen Zs habits than Gen Z is to emulate them.

I think Gen Z is incredibly influential and kind of sets the tone around media trends, she said. If we can get it right for Gen Z, it is very likely to influence those other demographics we care about.

Crennan and others observed that the young group is diverse and savvy and looks for trustworthy athletes, celebrities, and media figures from whom to obtain content and advice such as on sports betting, which is something that, as young adults, they are growing up around as a normal part of sports discussion, unlike prior generations.

I never thought Id see gambling odds on ESPN, noted Allen Ambrogio, U.S. director of operations for Tipico, a sportsbook that began in Europe and is now operating in New Jersey and Colorado. Its all around us now.

The members of the panel, titled Beyond Traditional Thinking: Finding the Right Partnerships to Deliver Gen Z, said a good model for others in the industry to learn from is the partnership involving Barstool Sports personalities and their promotion of Penn National Gamings Barstool Sportsbook. Penn National became part-owner of the Barstool Sports digital sports media company in order to acquire the popular, if irreverent, brand.

Panelists noted that Barstool followers have a great deal of confidence and interest in the opinions of high-profile company representatives like Dave Portnoy and Dan Big Cat Katz, and that helps drive them to the Barstool Sportsbook to place wagers.

They are seamlessly integrated, Crennan observed, while pointing to a new Yahoo Sports relationship with Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler, who will be making Ekelers Edge weekly videos for it this season pertaining to fantasy sports.

Joseph Solosky, managing director of sports betting for NASCAR, said his organization is making use of Todd Fuhrman, a veteran sports betting expert known to FOX Sports viewers, to lead videos designed to attract interest in racing among bettors.

Todd speaks to the layman bettors, Solosky said. Hes got a huge following and a trusted voice.

And layman would be the right way to describe Gen Z bettors, because while they are willing to bet frequently, the wagers aret typically as large as older gamblers, the panelists said. There is more of a social aspect to their gambling, as opposed to being huge risk-takers expecting to make a big profit.

Its something to talk about and have fun with and to do it together, Ambrogio said.

While there was discussion of the roles that eSports and virtual sports can play in helping attract betting interest from Gen Z, there was agreement that those are still too young in regulated adoption to predict their future.

Were going to see it grow over time, no doubt in my mind, but the question is when it really starts taking off, Ambrogio said of eSports.

Whether it be those non-traditional sports or the ones with balls and sticks that Gen Zs parents and grandparents long bet on under the table, it seems unquestioned that the new cohort will embrace online sports betting. Panelists noted that the group is already accustomed to doing many things by phone, as well as funding their activities digitally through Venmo or other means.

In many cases, the younger adults will be unwilling to focus attention on a game for three hours like their parents, but they may want to place a live bet during the shorter span of attention they devote to a given event. Or if they have a ticket to a game or match, it may become second nature to enhance their interest with a wager.

With Gen Z now coming of age and hitting adulthood, this will eventually be the norm: that you can bet on the game youre attending, Crennan said. It will be an expectation that there will be a product offering around every event they have an interest in. It will be a part of the sports experience for this generation.

Photo: Shutterstock

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Gen Z Bettors Ready To Capture Sportsbook Industrys Attention - US Bets

DraftKings Launches Micro-Betting to Give Fans More Ways to Engage with Their Favorite Sports

NEW YORK and BOSTON, Aug. 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Simplebet, the technology company reimagining the way fans engage with live sports, today announced a multi-year agreement with DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG), a leading sports betting and gaming operator in the U.S., to launch real-money micro-betting across the DraftKings Sportsbook. Integration with Simplebets micro-betting technology will allow DraftKings customers to engage even further with the sports they love by wagering, among other things, play-by-play, throw-by-throw and pitch-by-pitch throughout a sporting event.

Under the agreement, DraftKings will be able to offer Simplebets micro-betting products for the NFL, MLB and NBA and a new suite of college football products, which are the first micro-betting products available for collegiate sports. With micro-betting, DraftKings customers will now be able to wager on even more individual moments over the course of a game through the DraftKings Sportsbook.

Were thrilled to be launching our real-money micro-betting products with DraftKings, said Chris Bevilacqua, Co-Founder and CEO of Simplebet. These types of offerings represent the next evolution of sports betting and deliver enhanced opportunities for operators and fans alike. We look forward to the successful roll-out and to showcasing the excitement that comes with micro-betting.

Simplebet announced the completion of a $15 million financing round earlier this year, bringing total funding to $50 million. The recent funding is being used to enhance the companys existing NFL, MLB and NBA products by adding dozens of derivative micro-markets, launching new sports, introducing new subcategories of micro-markets such as Scripts, expanding engineering resources to enable more efficient customer integrations and exploring other strategic opportunities.

Were excited to be working with Simplebet to change the in-game betting experience for our customers and, together, changing the way sports fans engage with their favorite sports, said Paul Liberman, President, Global Product and Technology at DraftKings. Through our shared commitment to delivering innovative technology, our customers are now able to take part in this unique betting and engagement experience on the DraftKings Sportsbook.

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Simplebet has developed a suite of innovative micro-betting products for the NFL, NBA, MLB and, most recently, college football. The company enables sports betting operators, media companies and technology companies to enhance live sports by offering engaging experiences in real-time with its proprietary automated operations platform.

About Simplebet:

Co-founded in 2018 by Chris Bevilacqua, Joey Levy, and Scott Marshall, Simplebet is the technology company pioneering micro-betting and fan engagement for U.S. sports. Micro-betting introduces instant gratification to the sports betting user experience by enabling moments within sporting events to become discrete betting and engagement opportunities. For more information please visit their website at https://www.simplebet.io/, and follow on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About DraftKings:DraftKings Inc. is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company created to fuel the competitive spirit of sports fans with products that range across daily fantasy, regulated gaming and digital media. Headquartered in Boston, and launched in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman, DraftKings is the only U.S.-based vertically integrated sports betting operator. DraftKings is a multi-channel provider of sports betting and gaming technologies, powering sports and gaming entertainment for operators in 17 countries. DraftKings Sportsbook is live with mobile and/or retail betting operations in the United States pursuant to regulations in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. DraftKings daily fantasy sports product is available in 7 countries internationally with 15 distinct sports categories. DraftKings is the official daily fantasy partner of the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, PGA TOUR and UFC as well as an authorized gaming operator of the NBA and MLB, an official sports betting partner of the NFL, an official betting operator of PGA TOUR and the official betting operator of UFC. DraftKings also owns Vegas Sports Information Network, Inc. (VSiN), a multi-platform broadcast and content company.

DraftKings Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this release are forward looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words estimates, projected, expects, anticipates, forecasts, plans, intends, believes, seeks, may, will, should, future, propose and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside DraftKings control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see DraftKings Securities and Exchange Commission filings. DraftKings does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Media contacts:

Simplebetsimplebet@dkcnews.com

DraftKingsmedia@draftkings.com@DraftKingsNews

Investor contact:Investors@draftkings.com

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DraftKings Agrees to Multi-Year Deal with Simplebet to Expand Sportsbook In-Game Offerings - Yahoo Finance

Nevada in July became the second state to clear $1 billion in sports betting operator revenue in the post-PASPA era, as the states Gaming Control Board on Thursday reported revenue totaling nearly $33.3 million for the month.

New Jersey, which passed Nevada for all-time post-PASPA handle in April, also reached the $1 billion revenue benchmark that month. The good news for the Silver State was Julys revenue figure was a 14% month-over-month increase from Junes total of close to $29.2 million despite a 24.9% drop in handle to nearly $409.9 million.

The steep drop in handle is expected during the summer months with baseball as the primary and sometimes only wagering attraction for bettors. With 15 of the 20 states and jurisdictions with legalized sports betting having published their monthly reports, the combined July handle of $2.06 billion is 23.7% lower than Junes total of $2.7 billion.

Nevada sportsbooks posted a collective 8.12% win rate for July, their highest of 2021 in edging out Januarys hold of 8.1%. Much of the improvement from June can be attributed to a reversal of fortune in baseball, plus Dustin Poiriers first-round TKO via doctor stoppage of Colin McGregor, who could not continue after breaking his left leg.

The state collected nearly $2.25 million in tax receipts from sports betting in July, pushing the total to more than $16.2 million for the year.

After bettors got the better of the house on baseball bets on the Las Vegas Strip in June, sportsbooks there rebounded in July. Though the win rate on the Strip was a modest 6.35%, it still resulted in more than $5.6 million in revenue from over $88.5 million wagered. It meant a swing of nearly $7.5 million in revenue on baseball wagers, after the public left more than $1.8 million richer on such bets the previous month.

Sportsbooks across the state fared even better than the Strip on baseball wagers, as the house collected just over $19 million the highest monthly total of revenue from baseball bets in the post-PASPA era, which crushed the previous mark of $14.1 million set in April. Overall, the house posted an 8.35% win rate on $227.6 million worth of baseball wagers.

The third Poirier-McGregor fight fueled the catch-all other category to the second-highest handle and revenue totals for Nevada in July, at $95 million and nearly $9.1 million, respectively. Both numbers were also post-PASPA era monthly highs. Basketball was the other key driver for sports wagering last month, with the house keeping more than $5.8 million from nearly $77.3 million wagered.

Since the NGCB began breaking out mobile wagering numbers in January 2020, the win rate for online operators has failed to reach the industry standard of 7% in any single month. That continued in July, though the 5.64% win rate was higher than the overall 2021 hold of 5.16%.

The mobile handle of nearly $242 million accounted for 59% of the months overall handle, and online bets have totaled more than $2.2 billion through the first seven months of the year.

Sportsbooks posted a far better performance on their turf, posting an 11.69% win rate on in-person bets while collecting more than $19.6 million from $167.9 million wagered. Retail revenue accounted for 59% of the total monthly haul, trailing only the Super Bowl-aided 67.9% in February for the year in terms of percentage.

Photo: Randy Andy/Shutterstock

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Nevada Clears $1 Billion In Post-PASPA Sportsbook Revenue With Strong July - US Bets

It sounds like a pair of Tennesseesportsbooks will have a chance to launch in time for the start of the football season.

The Tennessee Education Lotterys sports wagering committee will meet next Tuesday to consider applications for two operators and one supplier. The regulator gave notice to three operators earlier this month that their application reviews were complete.

The TEL is still in charge of approving operators as the Sports Wagering Advisory Council continues its transition to regulator of online sports betting in Tennessee.

Aside from the companies on next weeks agenda, the TEL is working on applications for four sports betting operators and five suppliers.

One of those operators should be Penn Nationals Barstool Sportsbook. Penn expected five states to go live before the start of the NFL season:

Tennessees seven online sportsbooks were not immune to the slow July sports schedule.

Handle fell 17.2% from June to $144.5 million in July, according to the state report. Thats the lowest point since the $131.4 million bet last November when the market went live.

Taxable sports betting revenue was $13.4 million, which led to $2.8 million in taxes.

Handle is down 23.3% compared to June across the 13 US sports betting jurisdictions that have reported July figures so far. Revenue is down even more at 25.6%.

The work to take over as TNs sports betting regulator continues for the SWAC, which updated a few of its initiatives at Tuesdays meeting.

The search for an executive director is ongoing. There were close to 50 applications, councilmember Mike Keeney said.

The three-person search team cut that list down to nine applications. Final interviews for the executive director will happen during a public meeting.

Councilmember Tom Lee also updated the full council on the rulemaking committees work as the SWAC needs to promulgate rules before it can take over as regulator. There will be an informal public comment opportunity at the next meeting Oct. 5, which could be the first time the proposed rules are released.

The biggest proposed change involves the perplexing mandatory 10% hold, but it does not make it any more daunting for operators. Lee proposed checking operators once a quarter instead of annually for compliance to the mandatory hold.

That might not be enough to make operators care. The maximum fine is $25,000, meaning operators could be fined up to $100,000 annually for not adhering to the hold. The additional $75,000 will likely be seen as the cost of doing business for most operators in the market.

The markets hold since January is 8.8%.

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Two More Tennessee Sportsbooks Could Be Approved Next Week - Legal Sports Report