In May of 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of an individual state’s right to govern legal sports betting within its specific borders. At the time, Nevada was the only state in country operating legal sportsbooks.
Three years later, as many as 25 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting in some form. Many other states are going through the legislative process to hopefully join that list.
The driving force in the overwhelming success of the legal sports betting industry in the US has been sportsbooks such as FanDuel. Owned by Ireland’s Flutter Entertainment, the popular daily sports fantasy site controls almost 30% of the legal US sports betting industry.
Much of this company’s growth has come from its mobile sportsbook app. This past Super Bowl, this was the third-most downloaded app in the entire country even though it is not available in more than 39 states.
Amy Howe is the president of the FanDuel Group in the US. She has gone on record as saying that legal sports betting has become “a mainstream part of live entertainment.” Given the company’s current growth trends, FanDuel could easily become a major part of live entertainment, especially during football season as the most heavily bet US sport.
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FanDuel has embarked on an aggressive expansion plan. Just a few weeks back, the company announced it had become one of three official gaming partners with the NFL as the most heavily bet pro US league.
Her comments on that strategic alliance included:
“We’re really looking forward to that partnership, the integrations, the content really enhancing that experience right as you’re watching an NFL game.”
Flutter Entertainment stock holders have enjoyed the ride. That company’s stock price has jumped 66% over the last year. Rumors still persist that Flutter is looking to go public with FanDuel in the US to fully leverage the company’s value.
Another successful gambling vertical that is part of the FanDuel Group is the TVG Network for legal horse betting. This is the perfect tie-in for sports bettors looking to wager on a few races at their favorite horse track through the ease of a mobile betting app.
Ms. Howe recently commented on TVG in terms of this year’s Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 1:
“It’s such an iconic event and it’s become such as huge part of entertainment. So engaging consumers with betting is going to be an even more enhancing part of the Derby this year.”
FanDuel was founded in 2009 as a daily fantasy sports site. It remains one of the most popular sources for daily fantasy sports leagues. The association with Flutter Entertainment has resulted in the company’s legal sports betting services being available in 10 different states.
This includes New Jersey as the single-biggest legal sports betting market in the country. More than 90% of the state’s total sports betting handle goes through mobile sportsbook apps. Expansion into more states in the coming months and years should keep FanDuel at the top of the list in terms of total industry market share.