The development of the New York sports betting market continues to be a labyrinth for prospective operators, and some have now resorted to so-called ‘superbids’.
Discussing the ongoing situation in New York on the latest episode of the Legal Sports Report, Co-Hosts Dustin Gauker and Adam Candee gave a breakdown of sports betting news in the state and elsewhere.
Two platform provider licences and four operator licences are up for grabs in the Empire State, and one of the major stateside developments of last week was the announcement that DraftkIngs, BetMGM, FanDuel and BallyBet would collaborate on one of the bids.
“It’s hard to imagine a bid that includes the three market leaders for sports betting across the United States not getting picked, if you pick somebody else you’re probably limiting the size of your market, both now and in the foreseeable future,” Gauker explained.
The second most notable of the superbids is led by international gambling group Kambi has also recruited Caesars Sportsbook, Genting Malaysia’s Resorts World Catskills, PointsBet, Rush Street Interactive and WynnBet.
Gauker continued “Most of the names that we are familiar with from this podcast and from the recent US sports betting market have been involved in some way, so what it comes down to is handicapping this. The big guys are probably going to get into New York, you’d have to imagine.”
However, although only two successful bids are currently being considered, the state of New York maintains the right to accept more – and therefore embrace a larger sports betting market – if it can be proven that the move would be profitable.
That’s the other part of this, is anyone going to make money off this?,” Gauker remarked. “We don’t know exactly what these look like, we’ve heard up to 60% revenue, they may be trying to leverage the size of the consortium with the lower revenue share.
“It comes down to what are the companies doing here? They’re trying to create a bid so big that you can’t refuse it – you look at these operators and think ‘why would I not take the largest operators,’ even if it’s at a lower revenue share, because these are the ones who are attracting a higher revenue share right now.”
Moving on from New York’s superbids, the duo also discussed DraftKings’ acquisition of Golden Nugget, strengthening the sports betting and fantasy sports providers position in the online casino space.
Gauker commented: “This is a company that is very interesting to DraftKings, which is involved in casino in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Magician – this is a deal on that. This is a company that has done very well for casino, and DraftKings wants to do better in casino.
“This is also a brand that is doing very well in the markets it’s in, and has the tech and the people who know what they are doing.”
Source – Legal Sports Report YouTube Channel
