US Gambling Industry: Second Quarter 2023 Revenue Exceeds $16 Billion and more
Fanatics launches sports betting app in four US states
After a six-month beta test, Fanatics’ mobile sports betting app is now available to bettors in Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Tennessee.
The bookmaker chose these states not by chance – the new season of college football starts at the end of August, and the new season of the NFL, the most popular sports competition in the United States, will start at the beginning of September.
Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Tennessee have active NFL teams, while Ohio and Tennessee also have high-profile college teams with strong fan bases.
In July, Fanatics executives expressed hope that the company would launch a mobile betting app in 15 states by the start of the NFL season.
“With the recent acquisition of PointsBet’s US division and its patented Banach technology, Fanatics is integrating the best parts of the PointsBet technology platform to improve the performance of its sports betting engine,” the company announced in a statement. In June, Fanatics acquired the American business of Australian bookmaker PointsBet for $225 million.
Chile Parliament Considers Bill to Regulate Online Gambling
The Commission on Economics of the Chamber of Dputies of the Parliament of Chile approved a number of articles of the bill regulating online gambling. This was recently announced by Deputy Finance Minister Heidi Berner.
The document introduces sanctions against illegal gambling operators. Violators of the law can be fined from 11 to 200 monthly tax units (MTU).
Please note that online gambling is currently prohibited in Chile. The bill proposes to establish a tax for online operators of 20% on gross gambling income. Online bookmakers are also being asked to pay 2% of their annual gross income to the national federations whose sports participate in betting. Operators will also be required to spend at least 1% of their annual gross revenue on activities that promote responsible gaming.
The annual license fee for operators with a general license relating to all types of gambling is proposed to be set at 1,000 UTM (Chilean units of account), and for companies with a temporary license – 100 UTM.
As for the players, they will be required to pay 15% of their income received from these activities when withdrawing money from their user account to their personal account.
Athletes banned from advertising online gambling in Ontario
In the Canadian province of Ontario, athletes will be banned from advertising online gambling. This was announced last Tuesday by the Ontario Alcohol and Gambling Commission (AGCO) which updated the registration standards for online games.
In April this year, AGCO held a public discussion on the ban on such advertising with the participation of experts, representatives of gambling operators, advertising companies, the media and the public. Based on consultations, AGCO concluded that banning the use of athletes and limiting celebrity endorsements would help protect children and youth who may be particularly susceptible to such promotional content.
The new standards prohibit registered Ontario gambling operators from using active and retired athletes in gambling marketing and advertising, except to promote responsible gambling practices.
The ban also covers the use of celebrities and social media influencers, as well as artists and cartoon characters who are “likely to appeal to minors.” The restrictions will come into effect on February 28, 2024. As a reminder, the regulated online gambling market was launched in Ontario on April 4, 2022.
Sportradar became the official betting partner of the US Football Federation
Swiss technology company Sportradar has been announced as the new official betting partner of the United States Football Federation (USSF). The agreement was concluded by the parties for 8 years.
As part of the collaboration, Sportradar will be granted exclusive rights to use, license and distribute USSF media and sports betting data.
The financial side of the agreement hasn’t been disclosed, however, it is known that the Swiss company will have 111 matches at its disposal annually including the games of the men’s and women’s national teams, as well as one of the largest football tournaments in the country – the US Open Cup and the international women’s SheBelieves Cup.
In addition, Sportradar will have the right to provide online broadcasts of American competitions to betting companies outside the United States. The provision of broadcasts to bookmakers within the state borders remains prohibited due to the fact that the Federation already has contracts with the American television channels WBD Sports and Telemundo.
In turn, the Swiss side will provide USSF with services aimed at increasing the integrity and transparency of the sports betting system in the country, and will also use its technologies to implement a number of measures to detect and counteract betting fraud.
It is worth noting that negotiations on the possibility of an agreement between USSF and Sportradar began last fall, and the previous betting partner of the US Football Federation was Stats Perform.
Bill to ban celebrities from advertising gambling drafted in Brazil
Brazil has drafted a bill to ban celebrities and influencers from advertising gambling. Deputy Ricardo Aires became the author of the document presented several weeks ago in Congress.
The draft law proposes to prosecute celebrities who, in their video publications and stories, will advertise the activities of gambling companies. If the bill is passed, violators will face sanctions in the form of fines or suspension of business activities for up to eight years. “This bill is aimed at protecting citizens, especially young people, by stopping irresponsible advertising of gambling companies,” the author of the document said.
The draft law is currently under consideration by a special commission after which it will be put to the vote of legislators.
US gambling industry revenue for the second quarter of 2023 exceeded $16 billion – this is the second result in history
The American Gaming Association (AGA) reported US gaming industry revenue for the second quarter of 2023 of $16.07 billion. This figure exceeded the second quarter of 2022 by 8.1% and marked the 10th consecutive quarter of annual growth for the American gambling industry.
In addition, the past second quarter became the second highest-grossing quarter in the history of the industry – it is only ahead of the first quarter of 2023, which makes the first half of 2023 the strongest half of the year in the US gambling industry.
Gambling revenue of $32.71 billion generated in the first six months of 2023 is 11.9% higher than in the same period last year.
Such a high performance of the industry led to the fact that direct tax revenues from gambling to the budgets of various regions of the country in the first half of the year amounted to $7.28 billion (+12.9%) – the authorities expect that 2023 will be a record year for collecting taxes from gambling industry.
“These results are clear evidence that our post-pandemic recovery was no fluke: the gaming sector continues to thrive, and when we do well, so do our communities,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller.
Land-based slots, table games and retail sports betting revenue was $12.38 billion in the second quarter, up slightly (+0.9%) from the previous year.
Meanwhile, online gaming revenue rose 43.1% year-over-year to $3.68 billion, driven in part by mobile sports betting rollouts in Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio over the past year.
Combined online and land-based sports betting revenue was $2.3 billion, an industry record for any second quarter and an increase of 56.6% year-over-year.
Meanwhile, the online casino gaming sector equaled the first quarter as the highest-grossing quarter ever, generating $1.48 billion in revenue, up 22.5% from the second quarter of 2022.
