US predictions for 2020 – including Fox Bet’s continued evolution and more regional media deals
Chalkline Sports founder Daniel Kustelski and Richard Downey of The Specialist Works provide their top-three industry themes for this year
Daniel Kustelski, founder of Chalkline Sports
States will continue to move quickly: Thirty states will have sports betting regulations in place by the end of the year and will continue to embrace online/mobile. Michigan closed out 2019 with a bang by passing legislation on sports betting, mobile, online casino, poker, and fantasy sports. More states will follow Michigan’s lead in 2020, based on the better-than-expected successes of early adopter states like New Jersey, which have placed emphasis on the mobile/online opportunities. While mobile is just getting momentum in states like Iowa, Indiana and Pennsylvania, many states will look at New Jersey and fear that a lack of mobile will lead to far less tax dollars.
Regional sports networks will reign: Customer acquisition is the name of the game for 2020 and many of the operators have publicly stated that they plan to partner with media companies (see William Hill, 888, Penn National, etc.) or have already done so (FanDuel and Stars/Fox Bet). As operators take a hard look at marketing ROI, their focus will grow increasingly local. Regional sports network can provide operators with cost-effective access to targeted local audiences around their favorite teams and players. Regional media companies that have rights to air sports already have the users the operators need. Smart sponsorship and affiliate deals will follow in a big way in 2020.
The power of casino cross-sell: Five years after I sold my sportsbook to a land-based casino group, 40% of my new depositors were still coming from the casino loyalty program. Those card-carrying loyalty players accounted for 80% of my sportsbook revenues and doubled their value to the casino as a whole. Penn National, MGM, Caesars, and many of the casino groups have excellent opportunities to simply fish from their own barrel (to mix a metaphor). While there are approximately 200,000 sports betting accounts in New Jersey today, most experienced sports bettors that wanted to have already opened an account. Most books are now acknowledging that it will be increasingly difficult to acquire new customers, but the opportunity is clear: casinos have a trusted brand and will educate, entertain, and ultimately acclimate new players to sports betting.
Richard Downey, SVP global new business at The Specialist Works
More betting media and content: As the sector moves from the periphery and into the mainstream of US consciousness, the amount of information available through traditional and modern media channels will increase. Fox Sports’ ‘Lock It in’ and ESPN’s ‘Daily Wager’ have been bringing sports betting insight into living rooms in America for a little while now.
If you also consider the dozens of US sports betting podcasts available across all platforms, and the seemingly never-ending emergence of YouTube creators specialising in US sports betting content, then we have a vibrant and active sector. But with popular content comes marketing and customer acquisition potential for operators. The development of this content will be interesting to follow.
Fox Bet’s continued evolution: As a Brit now based in California, and one that witnessed first-hand the rise and rise of Sky Bet in the UK, the emergence of Fox Bet and their clear intention to mirror the Sky Bet route to success is fascinating. The launch of the Fox Sports Super 6 game has been a big success and the eventual cross-sell from that into real money gaming seems to be a sure-fire recipe for success. Add in a Fox-owned TV channel with daily betting programming and Fox Bet looks to be the main challenger to the duopoly of DraftKings and FanDuel in 2020.
The need for ROI from offline media: The battle for online user acquisition is fierce. Operators and affiliates with healthy budgets fight over a growing, but still relatively small user base. The attraction of high impact offline tactics such as linear and OTT TV is clear but often the prospective advertiser is put off by a media channel that is inflexible and cannot be tracked. TV campaigns that can be optimised in real time with accurate attribution may be the biggest trend from a marketing perspective to watch in 2020.