Another day, another series of breathless updates on America’s nascent legal sports betting market.
We start in New Jersey, where Thursday saw Rush Street Interactive’s PlaySugarHouse.com online casino add its new Kambi-powered SugarHouse Sportsbook.
It’s been a busy week for PlaySugarHouse.com, which also just unveiled its new live dealer casino. SugarHouse was also the first New Jersey site to launch virtual sports betting last November.
The sportsbook launch followed one day after MGM Resorts launched its new mobile betting app via its playMGM brand, spoiling the brief monopoly that daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings had enjoyed via the launch of its Kambi-powered app earlier this month.
WEST VIRGINIA, BETTING MAMA
DraftKings announced earlier this week that it had applied to offer sports betting in West Virginia, although the company has yet to publicly identify its land-based partner. On Thursday, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins told Yahoo that the company’s sports betting revenue would likely eclipse its DFS revenue “probably sometime in the next two to three years, would be my guess.”
Also setting down WV roots is International Game Technology (IGT), which announced Wednesday that it had been issued an interim license by the West Virginia Lottery Commission to provide its PlayShot sports betting platform to any WV casino operator that’s interested.
IGT’s platform is already powering the New Jersey betting platform for the FanDuel Group – the recently combined operations of DFS operator FanDuel and UK-listed gaming giant Paddy Power Betfair – and appears set to provide the betting backbone for the Rhode Island Lottery’s new wagering product at the state’s Twin River casino.
CDI GOES LIVE IN MISSISSIPPI
We close in Mississippi, where Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has launched wagering at its Harlow’s Casino Resort & Spa in Greenville and the Riverwalk Casino Hotel in Vicksburg. CDI’s betting operations are being conducted under its new BetAmerica Sportsbook brand.
CDI’s CEO Bill Carstanjen said the Mississippi launch was “a great opportunity” to pop the company’s betting cherry, and CDI planned to “take everything we learn from their experience to improve our offering in Mississippi and other markets over time.’
CDI has plans to launch online casino and sports betting operations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In May, CDI announced an online platform deal with European sports betting tech provider SBTech.
