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FanDuel to become first sports betting company to launch own TV network

FanDuel announced on August 25 that it is set to become the first U.S. sports betting company to launch its own broadcast network, described as the first network designed “to be watched by viewers with their phone in hand”.

FanDuel TV, a rebrand of the company’s TVG Network which was acquired by FanDuel’s parent company Flutter in 2008, will be available on streaming devices and via cable networks in North America in September and will feature broadcast personalities including former NFL Network host Kay Adams, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, and podcast host Pat McAfee.

The company calls it the first linear/digital network dedicated to sports wagering content. As well as hosting sports betting and horse racing programming, it will stream over 3,000 hours of live sports annually through its partnership with Sportradar, mostly featuring international basketball from Australia, China, France, and Germany.

“FanDuel TV is the first network designed from the ground up to be watched by viewers with their phone in hand,” said Chief Commercial Office Mike Raffensperger. “We intend for FanDuel TV to sit at the intersection of live sports and interactive content and believe Kay is the best example of an on-air talent who can bring fans closer to the narratives of the games they care about most. Our goal is to provide fans compelling programming to watch and wager on in tandem with our mobile app.”

As part of the launch, FanDuel+ will be free to download for existing FanDuel customers with accounts at its sportsbook, casino, horse racing, or daily fantasy platforms.

“Having proven on-air talent, live content from the most influential name in sports media in Pat McAfee, and the industry’s best team covering horse racing today demonstrates that FanDuel TV will be a dynamic network from day one,” said FanDuel Group CEO Amy Howe.

FanDuel TV will be distributed on television through its relationships with U.S. cable and satellite distributors including Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum, Verizon FIOS, DirectTV, DISH, Cox Communications, FuboTV, YouTubeTV, and Hulu. FanDuel+ will also be widely available on direct-to-consumer platforms including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire.

Ontario community gaming conference returning in November

For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, and with so much change to review in Ontario’s gaming market, the Commercial Gaming Association of Ontario (CGAO) and the Ontario Charitable Gaming Association (OCGA) are joining forces to host a conference for the province’s community gaming industry.

This November 15-16 in Mississauga, Ont., the two organizations will host a conference under the theme of Navigating Change, which they say is reflective of the changing environment and landscape that gaming has gone through in the past 24 months.

The conference will include a varied and full agenda that highlights how community gaming can continue to navigate forward in the ever-evolving business environment of Canadian gaming.

The event, held at the Delta Hotel (Meadowvale), will feature support and input from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s Tom Mungham and Lalit Aggarwal, iGaming Ontario’s Martha Otten, and Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s Duncan Hanney and Jim Warren.

RELATED: Celebrating 20 years of the Commercial Gaming Association of Ontario

More details will be announced in the coming weeks. Hotel bookings can be made here using the code OCGA2022.

Ontario’s partnerships potential looks set to grow for regulated sportsbooks

Since Ontario’s regulated online betting and gaming market opened on April 4 — and even before, in the lead-up to that launch — the province’s betting and gaming sector has been characterized by partnerships between brands, leagues, teams, broadcasters, and players alike.

That is unlikely to slow down any time soon. In fact, as we hurtle towards another sports season, it may well only gather pace and momentum. The NFL regular season starts on September 8, while the NBA regular season gets going on October 18.

At a Sponsorship Marketing Council Canada Breakfast Forum on August 24, this topic was the subject of a panel discussion moderated by Kindred Group’s Amanda Brewer and featuring NBA executive Kuljeet Sindhar, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s Caspar Yue, PointsBet Canada’s Keesje Kort, and Parleh Media Group’s Noor Zainab.

“You’re going to see more partnerships and sponsorships,” said Yue. “It’s forced us to be more creative.”

Indeed, the OLG, which held a provincial monopoly on online sports betting until the market opened up, has looked to retain its market leadership amid the influx of private operators by striking deals to become an official sportsbook of all four major leagues in North America: the NFL, the NHL, the MLB, and the NBA.

Several private operators have also looked to partner with those leagues as a way of establishing greater brand recognition and visibility in Ontario.

BetMGM, for instance, has secured itself a position as an official sports betting partner of both the NFL and the NHL in Canada, while Flutter’s FanDuel has also linked up with both of those leagues.

Another partnership struck by FanDuel is with the giant of Toronto sports, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. MLSE, the owner of the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, and Toronto Argonauts franchises, has also united with fellow Flutter brand PokerStars, as well as Kort’s PointsBet Canada.

It’s not just leagues that have appealed to sportsbooks as a way of boosting their appeal and allure in the market.

One of the most notable and visible deals struck in the market so far has been theScore Bet’s 10-year contract to become the exclusive official gaming and betting partner of the Toronto Blue Jays, Canada’s only MLB franchise. That has seen theScore Bet signage and betting offerings integrated into the Rogers Centre and the Jays’ digital media.

Even before the market opened, PointsBet had come to a similar arrangement with the CFL franchise Ottawa Redblacks which saw the PointsBet Canada logo featured on all Redblacks jerseys this season, along with prominent branding throughout their TD Place stadium.

Then, there are the media hook-ups. Brands including NorthStar Gaming and BetRivers have signed notable Canadian sports broadcasters to be ambassadors for their sportsbook and other offerings, while FanDuel went one further by partnering with the entire TSN sports network.

Brands may also see great potential in partnering with players themselves. The precedent has been set by BetMGM, who have not only signed up Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky as a brand ambassador but also made Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid the first active NHLer to partner with an approved regulated sportsbook back in March.

And, in March, the new rectified MLB collective bargaining agreement left room for active players to endorse approved private sportsbooks in the Ontario market.

Given this development, plus the fact the 2022-23 NFL and NBA seasons are the first to take place after the opening of Ontario’s regulated betting market, the opportunities offered by such partnerships — not least the chance to convert sports fans into sports bettors — seem only likely to increase.

“When we take a step back and look at the assets that sports betting operators have and are accruing, they are uniquely and centrally positioned to play a leading role in supporting media companies, sports leagues, teams, federations, and national sport organizations operating at the confluence of technology, data, media, content and the next generation of customer, providing opportunities for both greater breadth and depth of engagement,” added Jeff Harris of Deloitte at the panel session.

Image: PointsBet’s Nic Sulsky, via Gaming News Canada

AGCO, iGO issue more licenses, operating agreements

Ontario’s regulated online betting and gaming market continues to add operators and suppliers to its pool, with many more companies and brands waiting in the wings.

Gaming News Canada reported last week that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has issued 10 operator and supplier registrations since the beginning of July, and even more have been handed out since.

One of the most notable has been Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, which became the first land-based operator to be licensed to operate an online brand in Ontario’s regulated market as its PlayFallsview site got the green light to begin operating from iGaming Ontario (iGO).

Another big name to go live in recent weeks was Betway. The company already had a significant level of brand recognition in the province, having operated in the grey market for a long while, and has now completed the transition to the regulated market.

As of August 23, there are more than 35 online gaming sites live in the province, and that number could double before the end of 2022, according to regulators.

In addition, numerous brands that have been licensed by the AGCO in recent weeks will be able to enter the market once they execute an operating agreement with iGO.

One of those is Sports Interaction, whose parent company Avid Gaming was acquired by industry giant Entain from Middlebrook Investments Limited in a $300m deal earlier this year. Avid Gaming leases Sports Interaction exclusively to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and Sports Interaction operates in Canada through Mohawk Online. Entain was already active in Canada with its Bwin and Party brands operational in the Ontario market.

Meanwhile, other recent AGCO licensees include Kaizen Gaming’s international Betano brand, Gaming Innovation Group (GiG), EveryMatrix, and Novomatic digital brand Greentube.

Others remain in the works.

Caesars-owned giant William Hill US recently announced it is suspending its operations in Ontario until it is approved to enter the province’s regulated market. The company hopes it will re-enter the market “in the coming months”.

Others including Novibet have recently begun license applications. Novibet says it is on track to launch its iGaming and OSB platform in Ontario in the fourth quarter of 2022, with additional provinces expected to follow.

Greentube names first chief sportsbook officer

Greentube, the interactive arm of Novomatic, has appointed Felipe Ludeña as its first chief sportsbook officer as it looks to continue its North American expansion.

Ludeña has officially joined Greentube and taken a seat on the developer’s board as part of a strategic move to strengthen the collaboration between the two businesses. Chief operating officer Georg Gubo will replace him as managing director of the Admiral Sportwetten business, combining that role with his current position as COO.

Greentube was recently granted a supplier license by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). Once it enters the market, it will add Ontario operations to its presence in North American jurisdictions including British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, New Jersey, and Michigan.

The brand called Ontario “a region of great importance” to its operations and said it will form new operator partnerships “in the coming months”.

RELATED: Greentube is preparing for success in Ontario

“With our continued strong performance in regulated markets across the world, it is a natural evolution for Greentube to fully immerse itself in the wider entertainment industry,” Ludeña said. “I am honoured to be appointed as the company’s first chief sportsbook officer. While Greentube has a vast heritage in online gaming, we want to engage players across a variety of different online verticals in future months and years.”

MGM given regulatory clearance to buy LeoVegas

MGM Resorts International has announced that it has secured all of the required regulatory and governmental approvals to proceed with its $600 million acquisition of online gambling operator LeoVegas.

MGM struck a deal in May to purchase Swedish online gaming firm LeoVegas for US$607 million in a move unanimously approved by the LeoVegas board and with the aim of expanding its online gambling offering into Europe and other markets outside the U.S.

The acceptance period for the offer expires on August 30. MGM said it expects to secure these final approvals and that the acquisition will go through on or around September 7.

MGM chief executive and president Bill Hornbuckle said at the time of the original announcement that the purchase would provide “a unique opportunity for the company to create a scaled global online gaming business”.

Speaking in an earnings call about the results, Hornbuckle hinted MGM may take further steps to expand to new territories after the LeoVegas deal. “We recognize it’s not as large scale and therefore, needle moving as we might want over time, but we thought that it was a great place to start, and most importantly, we like the platform and the team.”

With the acquisition, MGM is adding a highly visible brand in Europe and Scandinavia to its existing mobile sportsbook in the United States, BetMGM, in which MGM holds a 50 per cent.

It will also expand its presence in the nascent and potentially lucrative Ontario market, where BetMGM is already operational. LeoVegas is also registered and approved as a gaming operator in Ontario, where it offers casino, live casino, and betting under the brands LeoVegas and Royal Panda.

“[LeoVegas] is in Canada as well,” added Hornbuckle. “So it’s an open marketplace, obviously, for BetMGM, LeoVegas and our partners at Entain as well. And so we just like the exposure it gives us. It’s a learning curve for us to understand the rest of the world, and we think we’ll learn a lot from [LeoVegas].”

Penn Entertainment to take 100% ownership of Barstool Sports

The newly rebranded Penn Entertainment has announced that it plans to purchase the remaining shares of Barstool Sports Inc.

On August 17, Penn said it has exercised its “call rights” to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Barstool Sports to bring its ownership of the brand to 100 per cent.

The acquisition of the remaining shares is expected to be completed in February, after which Barstool will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penn Entertainment.

Penn Entertainment, then Penn National Gaming, purchased 36 per cent of Barstool Sports common stock in February 2020 for US$161.2 million. It then paid another US$62 million to push its ownership up to 50 per cent. Bloomberg reports that Penn will pay US$387 million to purchase the rest of the company.

This development comes after Toronto-based theScore Bet, another cornerstone Penn brand, withdrew from the U.S. in recent months to focus on the Canadian market. theScore Bet also recently completed the migration of its services to its own in-house proprietary tech stack, which Barstool is expected to join in the second half of 2023.

Penn acquired Score Media and Gaming in October 2021 for US$2 billion.

In its Q2 financial update, Penn said that its Barstool-branded retail sportsbooks “resonate with the younger demographics and create meaningful cross-sell opportunities”. Barstool branding is utilized in Penn’s sports betting efforts at its casinos and with a betting app available in 11 states, and its sportsbook has a physical footprint in Louisiana and has retail launches in Kansas and Ohio on the horizon.

Penn generated a company-record US$1.6 billion last quarter, with its interactive segment — which includes Barstool Sportsbook, theScore Bet, and slot machines — seeing a 40 per cent bump in revenue. 

NorthStar launches NorthStar Bets app in Ontario

Toronto-based NorthStar Gaming has officially launched its NorthStar Bets app for both Apple and Android users in Ontario, featuring its sportsbook and online casino games.

The company says the app offers a “convenient”, “immersive”, and “content-rich” user experience for consumers, including real-time sports news, insights, and analysis to users with their betting decisions.

“The NorthStar Bets app provides users with a convenient way to play from anywhere across Ontario, anytime,” said Michael Moskowitz, Chief Executive Officer and a Founding Partner of NorthStar Gaming. “The launch of our app is another significant milestone for NorthStar Gaming as we continue to develop and build a unique made-in-Ontario gaming platform for Ontarians.”

The company first unveiled its NorthStar Bets platform in February, saying that it hoped to offer players a “uniquely local, premier” user experience that paid tribute to its local roots in the province. It also announced a content and services partnership with Torstar Corp. at the same time.

Powered by the likes of Playtech and Kambi, NorthStar Bets went live in Ontario in May, just over a month after the regulated market opened, as the province’s 17th operator.

The brand has also signed up renowned Canadian sports broadcaster Rod Black as a brand ambassador in Ontario.

Summer 2022

William Hill halts Ontario operations amid regulated launch plans

William Hill is suspending its new operations in Ontario until it is approved to enter the province’s regulated market.

The brand, which is owned in the US by Caesars Entertainment and outside the US by 888, contacted its active casino and gambling affiliates to inform them not to send marketing material or traffic from the Canadian province of Ontario until the company has acquired an operations license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).

The email sent by the company said that it has made “the strategic decision” to stop operations in Ontario until it has obtained a license, and is no longer accepting new registrations from Ontario.

The communication added that there is no set date for completion of the switch to regulated operations in Ontario, but the company says it expects to re-enter in the market “in the coming months”. In the meantime, William Hill will continue promoting its products in the rest of Canada.

888 has its own brands, 888casino, 888sports, and 888poker, already live in the regulated Ontario market.

Meanwhile, William Hill US owner Caesars already has a stake in the market with its https://sportsbook.caesars.com site licensed and operational. However, William Hill, a giant of UK and US betting, is yet to join other industry leaders such as DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and theScore Bet in the province.

Caesars acquired the US business of William Hill in April 2021.