State has big rush of wagers ahead of Super Bowl
Johnny Avello couldn’t have imagined sports wagering grabbing hold across the country the way it has in recent years. With 35 years in the horse racing and wagering industry, he’s made a living in Las Vegas setting odds on sporting events.
Only a handful of years ago, his odds on Virginia soon becoming a sports gambling playground wouldn’t have been great, and he would’ve been wrong.
Just in time for the Super Bowl, Virginia went online Jan. 21 for legal sports gambling through mobile apps, becoming the 20th state to permit sports wagering since the Supreme Court started opening the business to states other than Nevada in May 2018.
“I didn’t think it would ever happen going back five years ago, to be honest with you,” said Avello, the Director of the Race and Sportsbook for DraftKings, one of the first five mobile apps to gain a license in Virginia, along with FanDuel, BetMGM, BetRivers and William Hill. “Now that I see it evolving, it’s just like it’s fullsteam ahead.”
Competition to gain a foothold in a new marketplace like Virginia, which could generate nearly $90 million in annual revenues from sports gambling, has been fierce. With the advantageous timing of licenses being handed out and permissions being granted for sports wagering outfits to flip the power switch on for their mobile app operations in late January, promotions centered around the Super Bowl have been a go-to marketing piece.
Naturally, some of the promotions are more attractive — and less inclined to “gotcha” trickery — than others.
FanDuel, in addition to offering a one-time, “risk-free” bet of up to $1,000 where it will deposit the bet amount into your account within three days — is also giving 55-to-1 odds on a first-wager only up to $5 on the outright winner in the Super Bowl. The catch? The 55-to-1 odds refund is issued in the form of credits that must be used on the site.
Avello said DraftKings already had at least 700 proposition bets posted on the Super Bowl by Jan. 25 or 26, which he indicates was two or three days before other mobile apps had their Super Bowl props up and running. BetRivers is offering $55 of free bets to be awarded in $11 increments in return for $55 or more of wagers on the Super Bowl, but all of the Super Bowl wagers must be placed on bets with odds of -200 or longer.
William Hill is giving $25 in free bets in return for five Super Bowl prop bets of at least $20 each from a list of specific prop bets offered for the promotion. BetMGM is providing a $10 free bet in return for a $25 Super Bowl-only parlay, and up to $20 returned to your account on a first-player-to-scorea-touchdown in the game wager if the wager doesn’t succeed.
All eye candy for prospective new clients. All with the goal of getting new bettors signed up in the crucial early stages of the business in Virginia, where wagers on sports involving colleges from the Commonwealth aren’t accepted.
“Very important,” FanDuel Group Chief Marketing Officer Mike Raffensperger said of the push to add clients in the first few weeks of legal sports gambling in the state. “Any new state launch, you’ll see one of the most intense periods of new-customer trial.
Those customers also tend to be, speaking plainly, guys that have bet before, and so they are sticky. They’re highly valuable. They really like the platform, they stick with it, and so you’ll see a lot of intensity from marketing and promotional generosity.”
Through a commercial and marketing partnership with the Washington Football Team — the first of its kind involving an NFL franchise and a mobile app that accepts sports wagers — FanDuel was able to gain preferential access to the Virginia market and, thus, was the first to launch its mobile app when licenses were awarded and standards were established by the Virginia Lottery, which oversees sports betting regulations in the state.
Raffensperger is a relative neophyte to the sports wagering business. Yet, as a former marketing and creative executive with Amazon Advertising, DIRECTV and global marketing firm Magnet Media, he knows a pursuit that’s ripe for growth when he sees it.
While Avello may be surprised by the rapid proliferation of sports wagering in the country, Raffensperger isn’t.
“The United States is the biggest sports betting marketplace in the world,” Raffensperger said. “That is mostly happening through gray-market, black-market and offshore companies that may or may not give you your money. I think a lot of states are realizing this is something important that we can regulate.
“Frankly, (the coronavirus) has been devastating to every state budget across the country, and I think that there’s a realization that this is a new tax base that they can help offset some of those budget deficits. Also, being frank, it’s what consumers want. Whether you’re on the red team or the blue team, it tends to make your constituency pretty happy.”
As the business continues to grow in the Commonwealth, the expectation is more licenses will be awarded in the near future, giving hope to prospective future involvement for people like Shane August, whose initial application for a license wasn’t accepted.
A 2008 Norfolk State graduate who is the President and CEO of August Holding Corporation in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, August aims to expand from his interests from financial services and health care to try to gain a minority ownership foothold in sports wagering.
“I’m in business, so I love competition,” said August, conceding the lack of experience his business has in sports betting played a role in not being granted a license. “The market of sports wagering brings two things together — competition and love for sports. Now that it’s becoming legal, we want to get into the market, but just being candid, it’s a market that’s currently dominated by corporate conglomerates. There really isn’t too much minority participation, so I think we’re trying to be the first or one of the first minority groups to break into the industry. It’s a tall hill to climb, but I do think we have the resources, the know-how and the support to do it.”
Despite being shut out of the first round of licenses, August isn’t straying far from sports gambling pursuits. He’ll have his stake in Sunday’s game.
“Something about Pat Mahomes, man, he’s a winner,” August said. “I’m going with the Chiefs by six.”