Viewpoints: Sports betting’s small margins mean casino will always be ‘the darling child’

Tribal gaming continues to grow in the US, but to keep up with the ever-growing commercial gaming market, new verticals may need to be explored especially with online gaming’s growing popularity.

In recent months, there has been much movement within the sports betting market.

More and more states continue to introduce legislation for online sports betting, most recently North Carolina on Monday, with huge potential for more as 2024 progresses.

On top of this, we are seeing the sheer size of the potential that the vertical brings, with a product that has mass appeal.

New York, for example, became the first state to surpass the $2bn mark for online sports betting handle, while prior to the Super Bowl, the American Gaming Association (AGA) estimated that wagers for the game could reach $23.1bn.

Tribal gaming continues to grow as well, with revenue reaching a record $40.9bn in 2022, but the idea of sports betting is quite new for some Tribes, and sometimes bringing with it legal questions.

In the upcoming edition of Gaming America magazine, Steven DeMar, EVP Business Development at Oddsworks, will feature in a Tribal special on this very topic among others.

Though DeMar admits, “The sheer ability of the market to absorb this kind of dramatic player expansion builds a strong case that sports betting is working and players want it,” he does offer some insight into some of sports wagering’s limitations.

He tells Gaming America: “The cloud over the forecast is the small margins from sports betting. The win from casino is significantly larger than that of sports. To exceed casino, sports betting would have to grow many multiples in magnitude than it is now.

“Sports betting is a superb complement to casino, but the math is strongly in casino gaming’s favor as the darling child.”

DeMar was answering questions for our upcoming Gaming America Viewpoints feature surrounding Tribal gaming, which also includes contributions from Justin Arnett from the Potawatomi Casino Hotel, Guy Greene of Mohegan Digital and Brooke Fiumara from OPTX.

Watch this space!

Ciaran McLoughlin

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