00:00Okay, so now let's get to Arkansas. And we're hearing a lot of news about some of the sports betting
00:06operators coming online. You can read about this over at legalsportsreport.com, by the way. But Sam will now tell
00:11us more. Who's in?
00:14Yeah, Arkansas has had a change in their sports betting law, which will allow online sports betting brands that we
00:21know to enter the state for the first time. Historically, it's a state's online sports betting market has been run
00:27by its three casinos. Bet Saracen is one of the big, big brands there. But now you have FanDuel and
00:31DraftKings just agreed to partnerships with two of the casinos in the state, not the one that Bet Saracen operates.
00:39So they'll be competing with them, at least theoretically.
00:42They were approved for these licenses just this week. And we're not sure exactly when this change is going to
00:48happen when DraftKings and FanDuel are suddenly going to be in the state, but I'm told that it could really
00:52happen any day. So if you're in Arkansas, definitely expect FanDuel or DraftKings, the apps you know and love, to
00:58be in the state. Bet Saracen did come out this week and testified against this happening.
01:03You know, they said that this kind of changes the market. It unfairly, you know, gives revenue out of state
01:09to these companies. They talked a bit about how the model works, where it's still going to be owned by
01:15the casinos, but they're pretty much just FanDuel and DraftKings are licensing their technology to them.
01:20So for all intents and purposes, you still have FanDuel and DraftKings in the state. The casinos just get over
01:2651% of the revenue. So there's a bit of tensions in the market there. Anytime you have an older
01:32casino, it's been able to operate kind of a monopoly.
01:35They don't want these companies to come in. But it's good news if you're in Arkansas, you have more options
01:40to be able to bet. And obviously, DraftKings and FanDuel, it's notable, they didn't want to agree to this earlier
01:46on, kind of when this law was changed.
01:49But they said that, you know, the market dynamics have changed. It's now going to be a good opportunity for
01:54us, of course, comes after prediction markets. So you have to wonder if that's the reason they're getting it now
01:59as well.
01:59And of course, DraftKings and FanDuel have had their own prediction markets in the state before this.
02:05So it goes to show you that I think sports betting is still really the business they want to be
02:10conducting if they can, you know, pick one or the other in a state, despite all the fees, despite everything
02:15that comes with it.
02:16Because obviously, they're both spending about, you know, 200, 300 million dollars each on prediction markets.
02:20They still want sports betting as their primary thing here. So, yeah, good news for Arkansas, but bad news if
02:27you're one of the casinos in the state.
Comments