Viewpoints: How operators can stand out in the US sports betting market

Matt Prevost, Chief Revenue Officer, BetMGM 

Matt is responsible for driving revenue across all channels of business by acquiring and retaining customers, and providing superior customer experiences. He brings a unique combination of brand leadership experience and expertise with a deep understanding of the US consumer and media landscape. Prior to joining BetMGM, Matt served as the CMO of Coral Interactive in Gibraltar.  

Scot McClintic, Chief Product Officer, Fanatics Betting & Gaming  

Scot brings over a decade of experience in product development, strategic business analysis and a deep understanding of the US sports betting and iGaming markets. Prior to Fanatics, Scot served as the SVP of iGaming Product & Strategy at Paysafe Group, overseeing the growth of its B2B and B2C gaming business and supporting customers such as DraftKings and BetMGM. Previously, he was the Chief Product Officer and General Manager of Barstool Sportsbook & Casino at Penn National Gaming. Scot also served as a Principal at Comcast NBCUniversal where he co-founded its sports betting and iGaming strategy. 

Karol Corcoran, SVP and General Manager, FanDuel Sportsbook 

Karol leads FanDuel’s sportsbook business, setting the strategy to win in 2023 and beyond. He joined FanDuel in 2015 and has held various commercial and marketing leadership roles across the fantasy and sportsbook businesses both in Europe and the US.  He served as VP Growth from 2018 to 2020, building and scaling FanDuel’s customer acquisition practice post the repeal of PASPA. Prior to joining FanDuel he worked for Amazon in the UK and started his career as an M&A lawyer in Ireland.  

Brain Becker, VP of Marketing, Tipico 

Brian is the Vice President of Marketing for Tipico – North America. Brian oversees brand, digital marketing, media, retention and social marketing, working closely to manage all go-to market process and product marketing for both sportsbook and online casino. He has overseen multiple state launches and exponential growth delivered through new, online campaigns. 

Matt Kalish, Co-Founder & President, DraftKings 

Matt is the Co-Founder and President of DraftKings North America. Matt served as DraftKings’ Chief Revenue Officer from 2014 until December 2019, when he was appointed President, DraftKings North America. His areas of responsibility have grown consistently to now oversee the performance of DraftKings’ Sportsbook, iGaming, Daily Fantasy Sports and Marketplace offerings, and he leads DraftKings’ operations, marketing and customer experience departments.  

WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPACTFUL DEVELOPMENT ON YOUR SPORTS BETTING BUSINESS IN THE PAST YEAR? 

Matt Prevost: The acquisition of analytics provider Angstrom by Entain turbo-charged the modeling and pricing capabilities of BetMGM. It’s allowed us to offer new live betting markets, parlays and props which continue to grow in popularity with our customers. Angstrom gives us an opportunity to offer differentiated options with fast, accurate pricing. Further enhancing the customer experience is BetMGM Multi-State Account which provides customers with a seamless, more convenient wagering experience. Now they can access their BetMGM account using one email across states without having to re-register. Anytime you can make your product faster and easier for customers to use in a significant way, it is hugely impactful. 

Scot McClintic: Fanatics Betting & Gaming is barely three years old, so the most impactful development on our sports betting business this year was finally lowering the beta testing gate and officially launching the Fanatics Sportsbook in August. After nearly six months of beta testing, we were able to debut the Fanatics Sportsbook to sports fans living and visiting the states of Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Tennessee. Fanatics is a sports brand entering an industry dominated by gaming companies and we are looking forward to making an impact as a second mover in the industry.

Karol Corcoran: Earlier this year, FanDuel allowed customers to access both pari-mutuel wagering on horseracing and traditional sportsbook wagering with a single account. Horseracing is part of our DNA, and with us fans could wager on this year’s Kentucky Derby. This brought fans closer to the action by giving them a way to wager on the sport through a single wallet. It was successful, and we had customers who bet on horseracing for the first time who aren’t traditionally bettors on the sport. In addition, I would also give a special mention to the launch of online sports betting in Ohio, which quickly became a material part of our business given the sports fandom in the Buckeye State. 

Brian Becker: Launching in Ohio laid the foundation for our continued growth in 2023. It was the first time that Tipico launched into a state as a first entrant and we were confident that it is a state brimming with not just passionate sports fans, but sports bettors. The dynamics there were perfect – diverse demographics, multiple professional sports teams and a passion for college sports. Through our hyperlocal approach, we introduced our brand in unique and creative ways and leaned on partnerships with Ohio athletes and promotions. Launching in Ohio was a big step for Tipico and a good sign for things to come. 

Matt Kalish: DraftKings has established a reputation for our relentless focus on putting the customer at the center of everything that we do. This year was no different, we created a more robust suite of offerings from building our own same-game-parlay betting feature and integrating it into our app, to launching DK Horse, as well as opening retail sportsbook locations at iconic venues such as Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, and TPC Scottsdale in Arizona, which will serve as the company’s flagship locations.  

WHAT STATES ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT?

Matt Prevost: We are incredibly excited about the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a huge milestone and BetMGM has been preparing a number of ways for our brand to resonate with our customers, our stakeholders and the entirety of the sports and entertainment world. It is not only the world’s biggest stage for two teams on Super Bowl Sunday; it presents a huge opportunity for us to strengthen customer acquisition and customer affinity in the days leading up to it. I am confident that our team is prepared to meet the moment. We are also very excited about legalized professional and college online sports betting in North Carolina in 2024, which Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law earlier this year. 

Scot McClintic: I know most operators will say Texas or California, but I am going to say West Virginia. West Virginia is going to be a landmark state for Fanatics Betting & Gaming when we launch Fanatics Sportsbook and Fanatics Casino simultaneously in mid-November. It will be our sixth state for sports betting and our very first for iCasino. Our product and engineering teams have been working hard to develop our iCasino product and we can’t wait to debut it in West Virginia. The Fanatics Sportsbook is easy to use, trustworthy and rewarding and we can’t wait for the good people of West Virginia to experience Fanatics Casino. 

Karol Corcoran: Each state offers its own unique opportunities and communities of sports fans, and we’re excited about all of them. We most recently launched FanDuel Sportsbook in Kentucky, which became the 20th state to offer online sports betting. With our horseracing history and as an Official Partner of Churchill Downs, we’re excited for next year’s Kentucky Derby. We also anticipate additional states will legalize online sports betting in the months and years to come, including Vermont and North Carolina, and we look forward to offering sports fans in those states another way to engage with their favorite sports. 

Brian Becker: Establishing a foothold in Ohio has been a challenging but exhilarating journey. This is the first full football season for legal sports betting in the state, and we’re thrilled about the strides we’re making. We’re also excited about New Jersey, Colorado and Iowa, which each have interesting characteristics and are at different points of market maturity. They present an entirely different cluster of bettors with different allegiances. We certainly have a passion for New Jersey and Colorado where our employees are based, but we’re also excited about our most recent state launch in Iowa. 

Matt Kalish: We are always thrilled for the opportunity to expand our footprint, delivering more sports fans a seamless and enjoyable sports betting experience. For DraftKings, each new state is very important to us. A lot of planning goes into a state launch to help ensure that eligible customers get acquainted with our brand and become aware of DraftKings’ offerings such as our promotions, educational tools, responsible gaming resources and more. Looking ahead to 2024, it’s shaping up to be another exciting year with the potential to enter more new states.

HOW DOES YOUR BUSINESS STAY UNIQUE IN A HYPER-COMPETITIVE MARKET?

Matt Prevost: By continually building our product and listening to our customers on ways we can make the user experience even better. BetMGM has incredible support from our shareholders – MGM Resorts and Entain. Through our connection with MGM Resorts, we can offer our customers an omnichannel experience that meets them where they are and it is only going to get better. Over the summer, BetMGM entered into a loyalty marketing agreement with Marriott and, in the near future, customers will be able to exchange BetMGM Rewards points for Marriott Bonvoy points. 

Scot McClintic: While the competition is spending money on mass-market commercials, we are investing in our product.  For the real estate business, it’s all about ‘location, location, location’, but in legal sports betting, it’s all about ‘product, product, product’ – and that’s not because I am biased as the Chief Product Officer! Innovation has been stifled in the sports betting world.  We have search-and-discovery functionality that provides customers with the ability to find and search the bets they want easily, including betting directly from search results.  These features offer customers an alternative to the scrolling experience offered by other sportsbooks. 

Karol Corcoran: Our priority is always our customers, and we’re constantly innovating to ensure we provide them with our best sports betting proposition. We recently introduced a new curated experience on FanDuel Sportsbook called The Pulse. It follows the biggest storylines in sports and offers live bets in a narrative-driven format, providing fans with a simple and streamlined way to quickly bet on the narratives that are unfolding in real-time. 

Brian Becker: We built our technology in-house, completely from scratch. It has given us space to make long-term investments and prove to bettors that we care about their interests and want to ensure our customer experience adapts to the unique behaviors of sports bettors and casino players. We put the bettor first and focus on establishing long-term brand loyalty as opposed to transactional customer relationships. Offering state-by-state VIP programs and seasonal promotions that incentivize our customers to bet and stay with Tipico has been our strategy since our initial US launch. 

Matt Kalish: We’ve maintained that competition is a good thing: it challenges us to think outside of the box to deliver fans the latest innovation, while also connecting with them beyond our products. Over the past year, we made a concerted effort to tap into the interest and lifestyle of basketball fans. Ahead of the 2023-2024 NBA season, we became the first official sports betting partner of the NBA to launch co-branded merchandise with the league, and back by popular demand, “The Compound” will once again air on DraftKings Network and feature exciting conversations with guests across sports, fashion, music and more. 

WHAT DO YOU FORESEE HAPPENING IN THE SPORTS BETTING MARKET IN 2024?

Matt Prevost: New entrants to the sports betting market with notable name recognition bring an added level of competition. We have seen a great deal of consolidation and movement in the past couple of years and anticipate we will see more as we head into next year. I would expect that with a slow down in new state launches, each operator will be increasing its focus on player experiences and retention in 2024. We have already seen a shift to more live (in-play) betting and the rising popularity of player props. The acquisition of Angstrom greatly improved both for us. 

Scot McClintic: I think sportsbooks will follow Fanatics’ lead and try to deliver more personalization. The companies that have dominated other industries as second movers have won with personalization like Spotify. Nothing has resonated with our customers like our Discover Page. It’s our login page, where we curate the most popular bets of the day and soon it will be personalized to feature the bets our customers care about the most. If you are a Phillies fan like me, but living in Ohio – we will be able to populate your Discover Page with Phillies-related markets, so you don’t have to scroll to find them. You know what you like, so why shouldn’t your sportsbook know it too?   

Karol Corcoran: While it’s always difficult to predict the future in our industry, some things remain constant. Customers will always choose the best product and experience. One area where I expect to see more innovation is live betting. We know customers will prefer the strongest product and we look forward to creating offerings that will capture the attention of fans. 

Brian Becker: We’ve witnessed significant growth in emerging sports like tennis, UFC and women’s basketball, sports that are quickly gaining steam. The clear trend we are seeing is more bettors leaning into betting in-game with live and rapid betting. In every sport, the dynamics are changing and there is an increasing interest to bet on different parts of each game or sport, and we are at the forefront of enabling this for our customers. Sportsbooks will continue to look for new ways to help bettors unleash their creativity. And of course, we can’t ignore the wave of consolidation that has dominated headlines for the past few years. But even with multi-billion-dollar budgets, it will take time for new players to secure market share. We hold firm to our strategy and look forward to what 2024 holds in store for Tipico. 

Matt Kalish: Since PASPA was overturned in 2018, the growth and widespread adoption of legalized sports betting has been incredible. As we look to next year, we expect the industry to continue its fast-paced development with more US states coming online with legalized sports betting, and operators sharing their latest innovations and product enhancements. It’s amazing to see how far we have come this year and can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2024. 

David Thompson

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