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Casinos are throwing cash at sports betting media

02 March 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Casinos are investing millions on sports betting content to lure bettors to their online and in-person sportsbooks.

Why it matters: It’s a mini gold rush for some sports media companies that were struggling in the pandemic.

  • Amid the pandemic, audio has become a strong tool to engage consumers.
  • "The difference in audio and video is audio can live with you in a lot of different spaces as a consumer," says J.D. Crowley, the chief digital officer at audio giant Entercom.

Driving the news: Wynn Resorts is the latest casino to invest in sports content, spending $3.5 million to build a dedicated studio at its Las Vegas resort in conjunction with sports podcast company Blue Wire.

How it works: Media companies make money by referring customers to sportsbooks, Axios sports editor Kendall Baker and I write.

  • Wynn Resorts' deal with Blue Wire is meant to help lure potential sports betters to the casino's online betting arm WynnBET. Blue Wire focuses on long-form sports narrative and conversational podcasts.
  • ESPN's sports betting analyst Doug Kezirian relocated to Las Vegas to host "Daily Wager" from ESPN’s new studio at The LINQ Hotel + Experience. Kezirian also hosts ESPN's "Behind the Bets" podcast from the venue.
  • VSIN, a sports betting network that produces audio and video content from its studios inside five U.S. sportsbooks, struck a deal last year to produce content at "the world's largest sportsbook" at Circa in Las Vegas.
  • Entercom launched a six-year audio partnership with FanDuel last year to co-produce audio betting content. The radio giant acquired the QL Gaming Group for $32 million last year, which includes the sports betting app BetQL.
  • Action Network, a subscription sports betting media company, works with several sportsbooks, many of whom sponsor its video and podcast products.

Media companies with their own branded sportsbooks, like Fox Bet and Yahoo Sports, use content integrations to keep fans hooked.

  • Penn National, a casino operator, kicked off this trend by investing $163 million in Barstool Sports last year.
  • Barstool produces hours of daily betting-centric audio and video. In 2020, the company launched its own branded sportsbook which Penn National says will be live in at least 10 states by year's end.

Be smart: "You're seeing a real lane for sport gaming-related content but it's not just transactional content, such as how lines moving or what sides to take. Rather, it's entertainment content that revolves around personalities," says Crowley.

The bottom line: "It's a land grab for operators to acquire customers as more states go legal," says Action Network CEO Patrick Keane.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.