The US sports betting market has seen a flurry of new operator launches and states reporting handle/revenue figures, so let’s dive right in, shall we?

In West Virginia, sports betting handle hit $40.4m in August, a new record for the state and more than two-and-a-half times the $16m the state reported in July. August’s online handle of $31.1m was nearly twice July’s total, a figure that will only grow larger in September as additional operators go live. August’s betting revenue gained one-quarter to $2m.  

Lest we forget, West Virginia’s fledgling online casino market reported customer spending of $39.6m in August, from which $555k of revenue was held. BetMGM ended DraftKings local online casino monopoly in late August, so September’s figures should see a boost.  

In Iowa, betting handle more than doubled from July to August to $50.3m, of which $35m was wagered online. August’s betting revenue rose more than one-third to $3m, of which $1.6m was earned through digital channels.

Betfair is shutting its New Jersey race betting exchange, following years of fiscal futility and just weeks after the state learned it was getting its first sports betting exchange.

On Friday, Thoroughbred Daily News reported that Betfair had informed its New Jersey customers that the site would officially bid them buh-bye as of October 1. FanDuel Group COO Kip Levin, who’s been overseeing Betfair’s US operations for years, said Friday that the New Jersey exchange “never hit the critical mass needed for it to be viable.”

Betfair received its New Jersey exchange wagering license in 2015 and the exchange product launched on the company’s 4NJBets site the following year. However, it struggled to convince US bettors what all the fuss was about and handled only $12.4m in wagers in all of 2018, the last year for which figures are available.

Levin said the New Jersey exchange’s challenges included “a customer base used to exotic wagers and a reluctance by major US racing associations to embrace the different business model.” California approved exchange wagering way back in 2012 after furious lobbying by Betfair but the state never got around to actually authorizing any betting exchanges due to stakeholder squabbling.

Sweden’s licensed online gambling operators suffered a revenue decline in the second quarter, as government restrictions eliminated the pandemic pump enjoyed in other markets.

Figures released Friday by Sweden’s Spelinspektionen regulatory body show locally licensed online gambling operators generated revenue of just over SEK3.6b (US$411.5m) in the three months ending June 30, up 3.6% from the same period last year but a 1.2% decline from Q1 2020’s figure (which was itself down 1.5% year-on-year).

Sweden’s online casino licensees were blindsided this spring as the government announced tough limits on customer deposits and spending. The government claimed it was acting to protect consumers from excessive gambling while under pandemic lockdown but data showed Swedes hadn’t significantly ramped up their gambling activity.

The state-run Svenska Spel’s lottery and slots hall revenue fell 8.5% year-on-yar to SEK1.3b in Q2 while the company’s Casino Cosmopol land-based casinos were shut for the entire period. All other verticals were also negative, except for charitable lotteries, which rose 2.7% to SEK950m.

Spain will grandfather existing online gambling sports sponsorships after imposing its proposed ban in October, although the government isn’t yet sure how long a grace period will be permitted.

On Friday, Spanish media quoted Consumer Affairs minister Alberto Garzón saying there would be a “short transition period” for the country’s sports clubs to rid themselves of their online gambling sponsors after the Royal Decree on gambling advertising takes effect in October.

Garzón (pictured right) has been made to look foolish over the past couple weeks as a flurry of new sponsorship deals between online bookmakers and Spanish football teams was announced. Garzón has accused betting operators of “huge recklessness” for mounting “an absurd challenge” to the government’s stated aims.

This month has already seen Betway sign second-division footballers RCD Espanyol de Barcelona; MarathonBet re-up with Sevilla FC; William Hill re-up with Málaga CF and ink a new deal with UD Logroñés; Grupo Orenes’ Versus brand sign a three-year pact with Atletico de Madrid; Betsson sign UD Ibiza while La Liga inked a four-year Asian-facing partnership with M88.