Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Let's get started here with this edition of Newswire and let's start off as we seemingly
00:03have here for the last few days with this update on the latest in prediction markets as it pertains
00:08to sports. Remember, these are not specifically sports betting companies, but they're trying to
00:12operate in the same space essentially by not paying taxes and still getting people to use
00:17their websites. Well, in this case, it is Crypto.com who was issued a cease and desist
00:23in Maryland and are fighting back saying that they should be able to operate in the state.
00:28Very similar lawsuit was recently filed by Kalshi. Both companies are saying that contracts
00:34fall in the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, and not state
00:40regulators. And this is a story that we've been following throughout the country. A lot of these
00:45different companies have been told that they can operate in specific states. Nevada, Las Vegas,
00:50one of the places that they can. Maryland, not so much. It's a state-by-state regulation. We'll
00:55follow it for you as we continue throughout the rest of the spring and then into the summer.
01:00In the National Basketball Association, the NBA is certainly hoping for as many Game 7s as they
01:04possibly can. At this point, I don't think we're going to get very many, but it does appear as
01:09though this is going to be a good one coming up because the Clippers beat the Nuggets last night,
01:13111-105. Line was five and a half or six, depending on where you got it. But here's the bottom line.
01:20The series is now tied at three. They will play a Game 7 weekend. Kawhi Leonard had a game-high
01:2527 points and also had 10 assists in this one. Nikola Jokic, 25 points, eight assists and seven
01:32rebounds. Not much can really be said at this point. These teams have played dead even pretty
01:36much through six games. So let's hear from Ty Lue, who's excited about the opportunity to get to a Game
01:417 and happy with the performance that he just saw last night. That they were positive. You know,
01:46they were positive and understood that, you know, the series could have been 3-2 our way
01:50easily, you know. And so just staying a course, you know, they're a really good team. You know,
01:54they have, you know, five starters, you know, four of the starters returning, been there for like
01:58four or five years. They won a championship and they know how to play. And so, you know,
02:03coming out at, you know, Game 5 at their place, they were really aggressive. You know,
02:07I thought Joker really led the charge. With Jamal Murray, you know, stepped up and have him 43.
02:12But I thought early on Joker was aggressive. Then that opened everything up for Jamal Murray.
02:15And so we just got to stay the course. Game 7 is going to be tough, but we're ready for the
02:21challenge. Be the difference in the game. Yeah, we got sped up. It reminded me of Game 3 a little
02:26bit. You know, they got into us. Thought we crossed half court, not being organized. When you do that,
02:33turnovers are going to follow. And, you know, the 14 for 23, it's been the story of the series.
02:39If you don't take care of it, you lose. Bottom line. And when you don't take care of it,
02:44a lot of times it's just spacing. And we're not organized where we need to be. Again,
02:49they picked up full. They changed the game. And I also thought in the third quarter,
02:53we played good defense. We never, ever came up with a 50-50 ball. And that's just such a
02:58backbreaking feeling when you do everything right and don't come up with the ball. So we gave them a
03:03lot of extra possessions. You know, that quarter absolutely killed us. I thought the rest of the
03:07game was very even. We played a really, really good fourth quarter with a lot of effort.
03:12We got to be better throughout the whole game.
03:15It's been decades since the Detroit Pistons played at home in the NBA playoffs and won a game.
03:21They're going to have to wait another year. And they have Jalen Brunson to thank for that.
03:25Another huge game and a big shot at the end of the game as the Knicks take care of the Pistons.
03:30116-113 in the closing seconds. Brunson with 40 points and seven assists. Very clearly the most
03:37valuable player in the first couple of weeks of the NBA playoffs. By the way, the Knicks were 12
03:42in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons went on a run to go up by seven. Prior to tonight,
03:47the Knicks were 0-47 when trailing by seven points. And they came back to win this one.
03:52They'll take on the Boston Celtics in round two. Here's Brunson on the win.
03:56Yeah, it's all about us things. Poise and having that composure. Obviously, we want to have it
04:05throughout the game, but it's most important at the end. We all have each other's backs and we all
04:10know what we want to do. And I'm just thankful for my teammates and coaches for all.
04:17In the immediate aftermath, what emotions are you feeling and what will stick with you from this series?
04:22The immediate one is disappointment. We feel good about this series. So, you know, to not pull it
04:31out hurts. But that feeling will stick with us throughout the summer. My dog. That feeling will stick
04:41with us throughout the summer and our workouts and conversations and everything. We'll be back
04:47getting better.
04:48Okay. Team was up seven, obviously late. What was tough with the Knicks down the stretch that
04:56made it difficult to close this one out?
04:58I mean, they made a couple of tough shots along with gave them some second chances. That was,
05:05you know, not just not coming up with the ball. And then, you know, we missed some shots. So, all of those things
05:14allowed them to get back in it. And then, obviously, a big shot there.
05:17In the National Hockey League, the Edmonton Oilers win their series four to two. They take care of the
05:23Kings and put up offense in a big way yesterday. Six to four the final in this one. Needless to say,
05:30Connor McDavid was huge. One goal, one assist, but got contributions from everybody on the team.
05:37Here's McDavid on the offensive showing.
05:40Well, yeah, we got offense from all over the lineup today. It's great. You need that. You need
05:46different guys stepping up. I thought Brownie had his best game as an Oiler maybe today. He was
05:51fantastic. Picks, obviously, you know, go down the list. You know, we had guys step up. I'm sure
05:59guys have already said, you know, it wasn't our best, but found the way tonight. And that's what good teams do.
06:04This is kind of stemmed from the stretch when a lot of those guys are taking on more minutes and
06:08more responsibility. And now that's kind of carried over into postseason.
06:13Yeah, sure. Yeah. You know, Brownie's confident. Obviously, a lot of guys have confidence. You need
06:18that at this time of year. You need everybody feeling good about themselves and everybody should.
06:23You know, we had different guys step up at different times throughout the series and everybody should feel
06:29good and proud of that and ready to carry that into another tough opponent.
06:33Well, Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars are headed to a seven game series.
06:38It's now tied at three. Avs force a game seven.
06:41Colorado scored all four goals in the third period, four to nothing the final.
06:45Meanwhile, with that game going to a game seven finale,
06:51let's get to the very latest with the Golden Knights and the Minnesota Wild.
06:55The Knights win the series four to two. Jack Eichel and Mark Stone each had a goal
06:59and an assist. And the Knights certainly are on their way to another deep run in the playoffs.
07:05They've been used to this for years. And how about the Toronto Maple Leafs finally getting a win and
07:09getting a playoff victory in a series feels like it's been forever. The Maple Leafs beat the Senators
07:15four to two and they win the series four to two. Jack Eichel, Mark Stone each had a goal and an assist.
07:21All right. Now let's get to the latest in Major League Baseball. Unfortunately for Mike Trout,
07:25it's something that we have heard far too often over the last few years.
07:29Injured list with a bone bruise in his knee. He's hitting just 179 on the season.
07:34He does have nine home runs. Trout heads to the injured list officially today.
07:38The Cubs take care of Paul Skeens and company. How about this? Three home runs in the game yesterday
07:44off Paul Skeens. You don't see that very often. And Juan Soto hits his first home runs at city
07:50field with the Mets, but the Diamondbacks win by a final of four to two. Soto certainly had
07:58not had the very best start for the Mets, but he certainly has picked it up. And also the New
08:02York Yankees announced this morning that Jasmine Junior is headed to the injured list as well with an oblique
08:07strain. Sam McQuillan is with us, of course, from legalsportsreport.com. You should read all of their columns,
08:14by the way, and news updates on everything going on in sports betting. It's great to have Sam back
08:18here on this Friday edition of the show. Sam, great to have you back here on Newswire. We got news
08:23earlier today, the prediction markets. Boy, I mean, this has really been the story of the year.
08:29You know, earlier in the show, we told folks that crypto.com is going to be joining Kalshi in this long
08:36lawsuit against Maryland. Maryland doesn't want to let prediction markets operate these, you know,
08:41these sort of non sports betting entities. And now we have another story here where the roundtable
08:47has been canceled here. I mean, look, this is this is there's got to be some sort of regulation,
08:52I would think nationwide with these prediction markets, but it's just like sports betting.
08:56It's like state by state, make the decision to move forward.
08:59Yeah, it wouldn't be a show if we didn't talk about prediction markets. And beyond that, the craziness
09:05of the unregulated space you just mentioned, where you have these companies like Kalshi partnering
09:10with Robinhood, crypto.com, just kind of deciding one day that, hey, we want to offer a sports
09:15product. We're going to hire all these people who used to work in sports betting, we're going
09:19to use some of the same engines that some sports betting platforms use, but we're going to make a lot of
09:25money on it because we're not going to call it sports betting. We're going to call it trading
09:30and we're going to say we're regulated by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission.
09:34So once that happened in January with the Super Bowl, there was huge blowback.
09:38Everyone was like, okay, where's the regulation going to come from? You just mentioned multiple
09:42states have sent cease and desist and sued and really waiting on the CFTC, the new regime to
09:48weigh in here and, you know, say, yes, we can regulate these. These are not sports betting.
09:53Or no, you actually have to get licensed in the states. And they were meant to address this
09:58issue in this roundtable. They're actually supposed to host in March, which was going to have input
10:03from stakeholders, from actual gaming companies, from these prediction markets, tribes who are
10:09concerned about their gaming rights. Major League Baseball and the NBA have weighed in saying, hey,
10:13these have no gambling protections and it's essentially gambling. But that roundtable was pushed back
10:18to April. And then this week it was canceled indefinitely with really no explanation from the CFTC, which
10:25just creates even more uncertainty over an already really uncertain space.
10:29And it allows it's a big win for these companies, which meanwhile continue to just ramp up the action.
10:34I mean, Kalshi did $500 million on March Madness, which is about 16% of what the entire legal sports
10:43betting market was projected to take. Over the weekend, 78% of all trades on Kalshi and Robinhood
10:51were essentially sports bets. You know, these are businesses that have made their bones doing prediction
10:57markets on the election, on the weather, Oscar winners, and people are now looking at them as
11:04actual sports betting platforms. These companies are going to only invest more and more while the
11:09silence continues. We'll see if the CFTC will be waiting if they do or say anything.
11:15Meanwhile, you have these lawsuits in a bunch of states which so far have gone in their favor
11:20with a lot of judges ruling, hey, we need the CFTC to weigh in here before we really can enforce
11:25a state kind of enforcing action against a group that says it's federally regulated.
11:30So that's another win for them. They're going to keep operating until the CFTC really does something.
11:35And it has a lot of ties to the current administration of these companies.
11:39So you have to wonder if something comes, will it be good news for the sports betting industry?
11:44Yeah. And, you know, certainly the sports betting industry wants to fight these companies from operating.
11:49And, you know, I think it's just a much bigger discussion that's going to progress over the course of the year.
11:54Now, this one caught me by surprise here, given the inroads that Bet365 has made over the last couple of years.
12:00You say I'm in the United States. Is there a possibility that Bet365 is ready to sell their company?
12:07I did not see this coming.
12:09Yeah, just briefly on that last story, I think the sports books want to make sure that everyone is playing by the same rules.
12:15So if these companies can do it, they want to do it, too. They want to be in 50 states.
12:18They don't have to pay for licenses. But speaking of sports books, like you mentioned, Bet365.
12:23Yeah. One of the world's largest gaming companies is a surprise to me as well.
12:28Reportedly considering a sale. The Guardian reported it yesterday that the Coates family is going to is in talks to either sell the entire global business of Bet365 or just certain parts of it.
12:39And that's, you know, the monumental online sports book that was founded by Denise Coates in a port-a-cabin years ago.
12:47So it would be a huge, huge come up for her.
12:50Reportedly the sale is going to be around twelve billion dollars.
12:53And she would make about five billion of that because she owns 58 percent stakes.
12:58So, yeah, this is one of the biggest companies in the world.
13:01It's kind of interesting. They really haven't done.
13:04We're not as aware of them in the U.S. because they really haven't ramped up stuff.
13:07They're licensed in, I think, only about 13 states and they only have three percent of the market share.
13:12So a lot of people have been kind of looking at this company for a long time as sort of a sleeping giant because, you know, they have the technology that we've talked about being key for sports books, you know, just becoming good businesses and acquiring and keeping customers on the platform.
13:25They have they've demonstrated that across the world.
13:28They certainly have a lot of money that privately owned so they don't have to adhere to a lot of the constraints that, you know, a lot of other sports books do.
13:35That could change if it's sold. It could be listed in the U.S.
13:38They're reportedly talking with private equity firms and banks.
13:41So we'll see what happens there.
13:43But it'd be really interesting to see who ends up buying it and what they do with it, especially in the U.S., considering they do have licenses in a lot of states, but really haven't ramped up their actual operations beyond the run of the mill default sports.
13:56You know, sign up five dollars to bet two hundred dollars promo.
14:00There's a lot they can do that they kind of have been waiting on the sidelines.
14:03And you have to wonder, maybe they didn't want to ramp up U.S. business because they knew this sale was coming.
14:08So, yeah, really fascinating story and would be one of the biggest sales in gaming in a long, long time.
14:14All right. Finally, Sam, let's close it out.
14:16I know the year in sports betting went on the side of the books.
14:20We don't love to say that, but that's the reality of the situation.
14:23So I'm going to guess that I'm sorry, the public public, excuse me, totally backwards there.
14:28The public ended up winning all the money.
14:30Not so unusual that. Yeah, it's so unusual.
14:33Yeah, usually the sports books are built or building another hotel these days.
14:37So let me recant.
14:39The football season went in favor of the public.
14:42March Madness went in favor of the public.
14:44So when Caesars put their numbers out, how did they look?
14:48Yeah, everyone was expecting another bad quarter.
14:51And that was kind of the vibes around the investment community.
14:54March Madness, all the favorites won NFL historically bad.
14:57But Caesars actually did pretty well.
15:00They just reported their second or their first quarter earnings yesterday.
15:04And they pulled in 43 million dollars of profit in their digital segment compared to just 5 million in the same quarter last year.
15:11So that's almost five times as much despite the awful quarter of March Madness.
15:16So the obvious question is, how did they do that?
15:19It seems that they, as well as other companies, kind of knew that they had to do something to fight this unlucky streak and stop investors from being spooked about what they usually call one time headwinds that kept happening.
15:33And, you know, the answer is always Craig, you know, you drive people to more parlays, these higher margin bets, which people love to bet parlays as a percentage of all bets were up about 3% from last year, which, you know, goes into everything Caesars has done with the promos.
15:48And you see that every sports book now, there's no longer, you know, the free bets on a single bet are very minimal compared to parlays.
15:55So that helped drive hold up from 6.7% to about 7.5%.
16:01That's the win margin that the sports book takes.
16:04And even though betting volume was actually down a little bit year over year, it kind of shows that Caesars, you know, they figured out a way to make more out of less.
16:13And I think the investment community is going to be really encouraged.
16:16And I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see similar results for DraftKings and FanDuel, BetMGM and everyone else when they report their earnings.
16:24But again, kind of a surprise after the very, very chalky March Madness and an encouraging sign for the sports books, especially Caesars, which is actually doing pretty well right now in their digital segment when we expected everything to be a disaster.
16:36So it's a fascinating one.
16:38Did you pick a horse for the Derby, Sam? Last time we talked, I thought you may think of one.
16:43Did you officially pick one yet or no?
16:45I did. I'm on Sandman.
16:47I never had a horse coming out of 17 win before, but I really, really like the jockey.
16:54I really like the position around the other horses.
16:57And I'm also a big fan of journalism because, I mean, for obvious reasons.
17:01So those are the two horses I'm rooting for, Craig.
17:03All right. Sam, thanks, man. Appreciate it.
17:06Yep. Have a good one, Craig.