Jeff Madsen is now part of the Year of the Pro at World Series of Poker 2015. Yesterday, he took down his fourth WSOP bracelet. The World Series of Poker had three events with a chance to wrap up on Tuesday, but as we noted yesterday, none of them were certain to do so. In […]
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Arizona-based young stallion Bulldogger picked up his first winner June 14, when Prospector Bull won a maiden claiming race at Hipodromo de las Americas.
Congratulations, you’re now registered! Let us know what news and updates you want to hear about and we’ll send them straight to your inbox. The Standard was contacted yesterday by a local resident who had received a letter purporting to be from the ‘EuroMillions People’s International Postcode Lottery’.
The United States Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service were told June 17 that current regulations related to the tax withholding and reporting of pari-mutuel winnings are “unfair and totally burdensome.”
By @TheDailyPayoff
For all the disruptive forces daily pay fantasy sports have caused in the professional sports scene in the past few years, the industry’s still dominant player, Fan Duel, looks like they will stick to the core that has brought them success and players in the millions, according to their CEO at the Cynopsis Sports Business Conference Tuesday in New York.
Eccles, whose company has continued to thrive in the marketplace even with the ongoing push of Boston-based DraftKings, was frank in his assessment of the formula that has brought the company success, market share and solid partners like the NBA as well as 18 NF teams for the coming 2015 season.
He declared there are really two sports that drive the revenue, and that’s where FanDuel will stay.
“When we started our business, we saw and engaged in MLB as the dominant sport in fantasy,” he said during the closing remarks at the Time Warner Center. “However,we came to realize pretty quickly that MLB, despite their efforts to try and engage with a younger audience, has not driven adoption with pay fantasy. The marketplace is dominated by the NFL and the NBA and then everyone else and that’s where we have had our great success and will continue to do so.”
Eccles said that in the past few years over 50 percent of their revenue has come from the NFL offerings the company has, followed by 30 percent of revenue from the NBA.
MLB, he added, contributed 15 percent of their business, with other sports like golf and soccer only holding five percent of their marketplace. Surprisingly he added that he does not see that formula changing at any point in the next five years, even with the continued growth of soccer on the American landscape.
“Pay fantasy appeals to a younger demo, and that demo in the United States is driven by the NFL and the NBA,” he added. “We have seen all the work that we have done with the NBA pay dividends in fan engagement for a growing audience, and that is where we will continue to spend our marketing focus, along with what we will do around the growing NFL audience. The engaged pay fantasy player has become a more engaged fan, and that has benefitted everyone.”
Eccles also pointed out that all of FanDuel’s research has shown, somewhat surprisingly, that monetary winnings was not the primary driver for their engaged fan base. Rather the biggest driver was what he dubbed “the pregame experience,” the time when fans prepared for games by gathering and engaging with content to help them make their decisions. That engagement was what has fueled Fan Duel to enhance its daily content offerings in recent months, much like DraftKings has recently. The feeling is the better the ancillary content, the more engaged fan and the more engaged fan the better chances of cultivating him or her as a regular daily pay fantasy player.
“Every aspect of our fan experience gets better the more consumers are engaged on our site,” he added. “The better the overall engagement, the more loyal the customer becomes.”
While it was pointed out that other companies, most notably DraftKings but others like Mondogoal, which has specialized in European soccer and also launched a Women’s World Cup business have sought to diversify their offerings with niche sports, Eccles was steadfast in his belief that their research shows to fish where the biggest fish are.
“We will continue to offer games for other sports, but we know what our fans want and what they will engage with regularly, and our plan is to spend our time and our efforts there. It has worked thus far and we don’t see it changing much in the near future.”
That future appears to continue to be bright, as FanDuel will offer enhanced games around their new NFL partnerships this fall while continuing to expand their relationship with the NBA, one which many thought was not as vibrant as baseball even the last few years.
Even the disruptor it appears, knows the big players when they see them, and as the saying goes, if the pay fantasy model isn’t broke, then no need to fix it.
By @TheDailyPayoff
YONKERS, NY – The Fall will bring not only the return of chillier temps, but one of the most elite harness racing events, Yonkers Raceway executives announced Tuesday.
Missing for nearly 20 years, the International Trot, featuring top horses from around the world, was last run at Yonkers in 1995 and won by Sweden’s His Majesty and heralds a return to one of the richest purses in harness racing.
The race is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, Oct. 10, and the seven-figure purse would be Yonkers’ second-ever million-dollar race (2007 Art Rooney Pace, won by Southwind Lynx), said Yonkers officials.
“It’s our pleasure to bring back the International Trot,” Raceway president Timothy J. Rooney said. “It’s been a signature New York race since it debuted at Roosevelt Raceway back in 1959. We took over the race after Roosevelt closed, and it was very well received.
“With Yonkers now a major player in the overseas simulcast market, we feel this is the best time to showcase our track to the world by again inviting the best trotters in the world to race here. We have had tremendous cooperation from our horsemen, and all of us are looking forward to it.”
The return of the International Trot has been discussed for years, gaining momentum with the success of last season’s International Trot Preview. That race, contested at a mile-and-a-quarter, was won by Natural Herbie (Verlin Yoder) in a world-record 2:24.4.
The 1 1/4 mile race will feature 10 horses and a $1 million purse.
The purse distribution (same as all events) will see the winner get 50 percent, second place 25 percent, third place 12 percent, fourth place eight percent and fifth place five percent.
Those overseas horses out of the top five will receive $37,500 purse supplements , while North American horses out of the top five will receive $10,000.
Square in the Air has retained the Marketing and PR Provider of the Year award at the betting and gaming industry’s leading ceremony, the eGaming Review B2B Awards. The event, now in its sixth year, was held at the Pavilion at the Tower of London.
U.S.-based Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. IT) winner Hootenanny will try to win a race at Royal Ascot for a second straight year when he faces an expected 17 challengers in the $360,000 Commonwealth Cup (Eng-I) Friday, June 19.
In its fiscal year financials filed June 17, parent company Betfair reported a strong year for its U.S. advance deposit wagering operation and racing channel, TVG.
Trainer Wesley Ward added another Royal Ascot stakes win to his ledger on Wednesday, June 17 when Acapulco delivered a clear victory over 19 other 2-year-old fillies in the Queen Mary Stakes (Eng-II).
The Wyoming Lottery board voted 8-1 at a special meeting Monday to release salary information for board members and employees.Legal, Financials, Administration, Wyoming, News Media, Director
Lotto players in the United Kingdom will have to select their winning numbers from a pool of 59 rather than 49 under sweeping changes to the game taking effect later this year.UK National Lottery, Changing Game, Camelot Group
Arizona Lottery officials say the winner of the $188.9 million Powerball jackpot has come forward to claim the prize from the June 3 drawing.Powerball, Winner Stories, Arizona, Jackpots, Multi-State Game
For the first time lottery players have a simple way to find a store to buy lottery tickets no matter where they are.Lottery Post, Insider Buzz, Technology, Announcement
Poker Industry PRO, the only premium news service & data source dedicated to the online poker industry, with in-depth features, analysis and data, is now accepting Bitcoin. To celebrate the launch of Bitcoin’s integration onto the PRO platform, Poker Industry PRO is offering 20% off their annual news & data subscriptions for new subscribers wanting to pay through this method, through till the end of July (2015).
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are changing the face of the online gaming industry with more and more operators accepting this new payment method, along with mainstream companies such as Overstock.com, Microsoft & Dell.
“It makes complete sense for us to accept Bitcoin payments, and it is exciting to have integrated it into our PRO platform,” said Michael Gentile, Director of Poker Industry PRO. “Bitcoin is no longer a niche way to pay. We are delighted to offer our customers, especially those overseas, a more flexible way to pay for our news and data service.”
For more information please visit pokerindustrypro.com
The chances of winning the lottery jackpot are to be drastically reduced as part of sweeping changes to the game. Experts say that means the chances of scooping the top prize will shrink from about 1 in 14 million to about 1 in 45 million.
A Morrow County undersheriff has won the $5.5 million lottery after purchasing an Oregon Megabucks ticket in Boardman. The East Oregonian reports 53-year-old Steve Myren bought the winning ticket at a Chevron station June 7 for the June 8 drawing.
Idle Hands Craft Ales, one of the Boston area’s popular craft brewers, announced Tuesday it’s moving out of its Everett space at the end of the month, as demanded by its landlord – Wynn Resorts. It doesn’t have a new home yet.
The iGaming Super Show 2015 will be held in Amsterdam on June 23 to 26, expecting 3,500 delegates, 100+ speakers and over 100 stands.
Last year, 3,487 delegates from 70 different countries attended the event, confirming the cachet the iGaming Super Show has within the gambling industry. If you have any interest in all the iGaming industry has to offer, you need to be at this event.
The 2015 iGaming Super Show will have eight events in one location including dedicated payments, player acquisition, regulation and compliance, sports betting, binary/financial and affiliate events, which makes it easier for you to find out about the industry inside and out whether you are an affiliate or a business.
The iGaming Super Show also includes one of the biggest exhibitions in the iGaming industry, with two distinct zones – one dedicated to the business to business side of the industry and one to the affiliate side.
Arizona Lottery officials say the winner of the $188.9 million Powerball jackpot has come forward to claim the prize from the June 3 drawing. The winner didn’t want to be identified and lottery officials didn’t release any details on the person’s gender, age or hometown Tuesday.