Each week, OddsTrader will take a brief look at some of the more important stories permeating the U.S. sports betting and gambling landscape. Below we report on those that made headlines recently and will update our readers as events unfold.

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Michigan State & Caesars End Pact Early

Sportsbook giant, Caesars, and Michigan State University have agreed to end their deal four years early after agreeing to partner in January 2022. In exchange for a reported $9 million to the university, Caesars was allowed to run ads during Spartans’ sporting events and was granted access to the student email registry. Caesars employees would also get free tickets and seats on the teams’ private jets.

But a petition by some of MSU’s faculty in April was likely the driving force in ending the agreement. The petition beseeched school administrators to end the agreement for the good of the students to whom they serve.

“If we create even one problem gambler, that will be too many, but probably we are creating hundreds of them. MSU has declined to comment for any of the news stories about university partnerships with sports betting companies. Declining to comment is a good idea because our position is indefensible. … With our partnership with Caesars … MSU is selling out for profit at the expense of our students’ well-being.”

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Bet365 Partners with Casino Queen Marquette in Iowa Partnership Pact

UK-based bookmaker, bet365, has reached a multi-year deal with Casino Queen Marquette and will enter the Iowa online sports betting market tethered to the riverboat casino located in Marquette, Iowa.

The move marks the latest push into the U.S. market for bet365 and its presence in Iowa will be in addition to its four other markets:

• Virginia
• Ohio
• New Jersey
• Colorado

“We are incredibly excited to welcome the Hawkeye State to bet365,” said a bet365 spokesperson. “From Sioux City to Marquette and everywhere in between, Iowans will now have access to our market-leading sportsbook product.”

“We’re thrilled to work with bet365 to provide players with an in-demand and trusted source for safe online wagering,” said Sean Bateman, general manager of Casino Queen Marquette. “It’s an exciting time for our guests and passionate sports fans in Iowa, who will benefit from fantastic site features and attractive offers.”

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Caesars Racebook Goes Live in California

In what is one of the country’s most fertile horse betting markets, Caesars Racebook will launch in California, which will be the 15th state in which the horse racing app will be live since its rollout only a year ago. The app also just recently launched in Colorado and Pennsylvania.

This is the first step for the gaming goliath to get a foothold in California’s sports betting market if and when the Golden State approves online sports wagering. That is truly the holy grail for any sports betting company and the company’s arrival via horse racing should assist in making a seamless transition to offering its sports betting app when the time comes.

Caesars has a white-label agreement with NYRA Bets, an Advance-Deposit Wagering (ADW) company, to use its platform under the Caesars banner to facilitate wagers in the Golden State.

As of this writing, there are seven ADWs allowed in California including Lien Games, Game Play NYRA Bets, Watch and Wager, TVG Network Twinspires (Churchill Downs), and Xpressbet.

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FanDuel Revenue Tops $1 Billion in New York

There’s a very good reason why online sportsbooks agreed to pay an exorbitant 51% of their revenues to the state of New York – enormous betting volume. As long as California, Texas, and Florida remain on the outside looking in on the domestic online sports betting market, New York is the gold standard.

And of all the digital sportsbooks doing business in the Empire State, FanDuel stands above them all, surpassing $1 billion in revenue, which is not to be confused with the betting handle or total amount of money wagered.

In the 73 weeks since online sports betting has been operational in New York, FanDuel has generated $1,007,415,901 since its launch on January 8th, 2022. The total amount of gross revenue generated during that time reported by all of the sportsbooks combined is $18.3 billion, which means FanDuel is responsible for 5.5% of that figure.

Mobile Sportsbook	Gross Gaming Revenue	Number of Weeks in Market
FanDuel	$1,007,415,901	73
DraftKings	$567,294,778	73
Caesars	$279,179,103	73
BetMGM	$120,733,913	71
PointsBet	$35,097,820	70
BetRivers	$34,517,168	73
WynnBET	$8,531,912	69
Resorts World	$4,445,468	65
Bally’s	$818,774	47

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