Chris Grove’s Post

Great to see the American Gaming Association getting into the fray with hard facts about the trajectory of onine sports betting ads. The past 18 months have brought a torrent of negative coverage of the industry, some of it deserved, much of it wildly off the mark. It’s critical that the AGA and other stakeholders carve out and occupy an aggressive, research-based position in the national conversation about sports betting, and work like this is a good example of what such a position looks like and why it matters.

I've always been a personal fan of nVenue since Kelly Pracht took part in the NEXT.io Hot 6 back in the day. Great team, great people. Now, the team and the people are even greater with my buddy Quinton Singleton's elevation to the role of President and COO. Quinton and I are always talking about taking bigger swings with the companies we work with as investors and advisors, and I'm excited to see him take what looks like an absolute monster of a swing with this new role.

One of the questions I get asked more than any other is: "Who let you in here?" Another is "Why are online casino bills so hard to pass?" There are many reasons: - Lack of alignment across stakeholders who want online casino - Lack of political will to pass bills - Lack of broad-based public support for online casino - No ancillary support from sports leagues, et al. who showed up for OSB - Opposition from labor unions As the chart below from Chris Krafcik and my colleagues at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC, another issue is the over-performance of digital-first brands in states like Pennsylvania, a track record that complicates the risk-reward analysis for retail casinos.

Appreciated the chance to chat AI and regulated sports betting with Matt Heap, Rufus Peabody, Doug Kezirian, and Gabriel Benedik at the GLI Regulators Roundtable. Great venue at The Palms, property looks like it’s absolutely crushing it under San Manuel Band of Mission Indians ownership. I am pleased to report that the burger at Scotch 80 is still good.

Given the substantial brand equity both US Integrity, Inc. and Odds On Compliance have built over the last few years, I know this wasn't an easy decision. Changing brands never is. But congratulations to Matthew Holt, Scott Sadin, Eric Frank, Cheryl Jones, and the ever-growing team at what is now IC360. The missions of USI and Odds On have expanded dramatically since the two companies were founded, as has the map of global markets demanding the services (like ProhiBet) that the new IC360 provides.

Gaming conference in Vegas? Yes, please. Looking forward to joining the Mayor Of Conference Selfies Joseph Bunevith and the entire Gaming Laboratories International, LLC team at the Palms next week for the Regulators Roundtable. While I love the big-tent conferences like SBC Americas, NEXT.io, and Global Gaming Expo (G2E) 2024, there's a clear need for tightly focused events like Regulators Roundtable that provide an opportunity for a specific slice of industry stakeholders to go narrow and deep on a given topic.

This is one that the folks at PENN Entertainment, Inc and ESPN should find the time to watch. Sky Betting & Gaming remains the most successful - arguably the only successful - example of a marriage between media and betting. As Richard Flint tells GeoComply's David Briggs, the one ingredient that mattered more than the rest in the recipe for success: A focus on people, team, and culture.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to appear on CNBC and chat with Contessa Brewer about the Ohtani sports betting saga. My takeaways: --> While the betting activity occurred exclusively in the illegal market, there will be implications for the legal sports betting market. --> Those implications will likely come in the form of increased demands from state and federal regulators for tracking, reporting, and general transparency around money movement for high-value or high-volume accounts. --> Federal regulation via legislation focused on marketing restrictions, consumer protection, etc, remains quite unlikely; federal intervention via Treasury/FinCEN is all but inevitable. --> Most betting-adjacent crimes (theft, money laundering, etc.) take place in illegal gambling markets, meaning that it's imperative for policymakers to support a robust and viable market for legal gambling. --> Bonus that I didn't get to cover in my comments: The winners of increased scrutiny are the third-party companies (such as Kinectify, GeoComply, Xpoint, and Gaming Laboratories International, LLC) that can help the FanDuels and DraftKings Inc. of the world mitigate the impact of increased regulatory scrutiny. --> While not *net* winners, the operators best positioned to absorb the increased costs and friction from additional regulatory scrutiny are those who sit most squarely at the intersection of "largest" and "most experienced with federal scrutiny." P.s.: Those are Kimberly Harvey's books in the background doing the heavy lifting.