More legislation filed in Congress over prediction markets; horse racing takes yet another hit
Spring has sprung, people, and with that, we have the arrival of the Major League Baseball season and the Sweet 16 of both NCAA tournaments.
It’s not the busiest time for sports betting, but the events still generate a lot of interest. Sportsbooks are also using the start of baseball season to introduce new products.
Some are bingos, and some, well, aren’t.
With that, let’s start the third edition of Gambling Insider’s Bingos and Busts.
Bingo: Fanatics Reinvents the Parlay
Back in the day, my favorite high school teacher, Mr. P., imparted some advice that’s stayed with me ever since.
“Don’t bet parlays,” he said, while holding an old school parlay card, the kind that bookies used during football and basketball season.
The advice wasn’t necessarily iron-clad, because he added that if you did, you need to keep the legs small and bet bigger.
To give you an idea of when I received this advice, Congress had not yet passed PASPA.
I mention that because parlays tend to have one leg that kills them. Every other leg may cover easily, but at the end of the day, all you have for your handicapping is a losing ticket.
On Tuesday, Fanatics unveiled its newest product, Squad Bets. The player-prop-focused wager allows bettors to pick three to six players, a specific statistic and a threshold.
For example, you could pick three hockey players to score a total of three goals. If one of them gets a hat trick, cha-ching.
If anything, it at least gives bettors a chance to win , even if a leg tanks. Imagine if you had strikeouts parlay involving Paul Skenes on Opening Day. With a Squad Bet, it would not have been game over before the first inning ended.
Bust: DraftKings Introduces Historical Baseball Microbetting
Historical horse racing has been around for a couple of decades, but sportsbooks are now finding new ways to use content from other sports to create new games.
Late last year, Hard Rock Bet developed a slot-like game in Florida that uses the outcome of previously run auto races to determine whether a wager wins. This week, DraftKings introduced “DK Replay” in Oregon.
Similar to HHR, DK Replay takes an at-bat in a baseball game. The bettor does not know whose pitching or hitting until after the bet concludes. Instead, the players will be anonymous and rated either gold, silver, or bronze based on their stats. Bettors will have a certain amount of time to wager on whether the pitch will be a ball, a strike, or in play. The odds will vary from pitch to pitch.
DK Replay is currently only available in Oregon, where DraftKings is the exclusive sports betting operator through a partnership with the Oregon Lottery.
As you might expect, social media quickly panned the product.
I don’t see this attracting many sports bettors, but that might be the point. While it may not look like a slot, the rapid-action style of play would lend itself to someone who likes to play them.
This is a microbetting product, and microbetting has been slammed by many as a product that leads to problem gambling behavior.
DraftKings may be the one getting slack, but the criticism should be directed at Oregon’s gaming regulators.
You can’t blame a company for trying to find new ways to use data and attract customers. However, regulators need to be the adults in the room to determine if it’s a good idea.
Bingo: More in Washington Come Out Against Prediction Markets
This week saw three additional bills filed in Congress by lawmakers seeking to put limits on prediction markets.
Several of the bills have bipartisan support, and in addition to barring operators from offering contracts on sports or acts of violence, other bills want to put an end to insider trading practices that have drawn criticism.
All of these bill announcements lead to a question: Are lawmakers striving for a quick public relations win by unveiling a bill that has no chance of passing? The volume of legislation may show there’s significant opposition to prediction markets, but is there consensus around a set of guidelines to regulate PMs?
Until that happens, we may see more bills announced but very little traction.
Bust: FanDuel Pulls Up on Racing
FanDuel announced Friday that it would begin phasing out its FanDuel TV network through 2027.
Originally known as TVG, parent Flutter Entertainment changed its name to FanDuel four years ago, bringing it under Flutter’s flagship U.S. brand. FanDuel TV continued to show racing through most of the day, but it also added other programming, such as Up & Adams, a daily sports talk show with Kay Adams.
More than half of the TV network’s staff will be let go in June, with the remainder in November. The TV network will continue to air racing throughout 2027.
Losing a national TV presence is yet another blow for the sport of horse racing, which could see its nationwide handle fall as a result. Wagering on racing has pretty much plateaued over the last couple of decades, so a drop would be significant.
The post Spring Brings New Sports Betting Products: Bingos & Busts appeared first on Gambling Insider.
