The Straight to the Point substack newsletter will be 1.5 years old next week, and the support I've received has been overwhelming. 18 months later, the newsletter is closing in on 1,000,000 total views and broke 5k views per day twice this week. I took a big risk traveling down this path, leaving a really good, full-time job with benefits to start the newsletter from square 1. The early sponsorship support from companies like @UnderdogFantasy and @GeoComply, people like @OPReport, who supported the project in a number of ways from Day 1, and the 150+ of you who have upgraded to a paid subscription provided me with some hope. The subscriber list (now over 3,500 and growing by about 200 per month) allowed me to secure more sponsors, including @sporttrade_app, who signed up for a year-long commitment and allowed me to start a podcast, grow my consulting business, and add premium products. What I've learned over the last year and a half is this: Aim big and work hard. If anyone wants to further support Straight to the Point, you can like, subscribe, and comment on my posts, as well as upgrade to a paid subscription. I still have some sponsorship slots available, too.

A fascinating data point from @GeoComply on the effectiveness of C&D letters: "In states where regulators have taken action against illegal offshore sportsbooks... the growth rate of active accounts... was, on average, twice as high" as states that have not taken action."

there are two big questions I'm constantly asked: 1) Will they get restricted or prohibited? 2) Are they a potential challenger to DraftKings and FanDuel? Nobody, myself included, knows the answer. I do know that the foray into sports will be a lot messier than elections.

Also: - Las Vegas Sands trends negative on online gambling - 3 reasons iGaming expansion in 2025 is unlikely - Some (scant) details on the Delta-DraftKings mashup - Nevada's efforts to authorize a state lottery - And more Read and subscribe:

Ending sweepstakes sites is a big part of New York's 2025 effort to legalize online casinos. Some big news for Texas sports betting supporters, as Gov. Abbott recently said, “I don't have a problem with online sports betting." Read and subscribe:

RT @RLinnehanSR: Lasted all of one day. Robinhood is suspending its sports event contracts. The CFTC asked to do…

@hellahungry78 If the prediction stuff takes off (avoids regulatory roadblocks), there's not much of a barrier for the big books to offer the same markets, and likely with far better UX

As @WALLACHLEGAL notes, the same scenario unfolded in 2024 and even landed in a conference committee, but that was more of a Hail Mary attempt than a sign of a potential agreement.

I also cover: - Ohio is trying to double its sports betting tax rate just two years after it doubled it. - The increasingly difficult-to-avoid prediction market space and the Kalshi and Robinhood partnership. - @esaagar et al. online gambling concerns.

As a longtime industry analyst, these scandals, along with the industry missteps and unregulated envelope pushers, have all the hallmarks of an anaconda-like tightening at the state and, quite possibly, the federal level. Read and sub to STTP here:

Either and both? Feds could (it's still unclear what's happening at the CFTC). And leaving up to federal rules means those rules can change at any time with a new administration. States can also change laws to cover these contests explicitly. Loopholes always close, sometimes resulting in prohibition, sometimes in legalization/regulation.

To be clear, I don't believe either company is violating laws or regulations. Instead, they will likely cause (negative?) changes to existing laws and regulations. A good example is the Minnesota Lottery launching online sales (which it was authorized to do) and the legislature later making the game illegal because they felt they weren't adequately consulted.

To be clear, I don't believe either company is violating laws or regulations. Instead, they will likely cause (negative?) changes to existing laws and regulations. A good example is the Minnesota Lottery launching online sales (which it was authorized to do) and the legislature later making the game illegal because it felt it wasn't adequately consulted.