AGA suggests legal sports betting would equal more TV viewers, hires former Clinton staffer

Twice weekly, we’ll comb through as many articles, tweets and podcasts as we can find related to the world of sports betting and daily fantasy sports, and publish the good stuff here. 

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A new study published by the American Gaming Association said that adults who placed a bet on an NFL game watched 19 more games last season compared to non-bettors.

The AGA concludes from the Nielsen data that if sports betting were legalized, the number of regular-season sports viewers betting on games would jump from 40 million to 57 million, or 36% of the NFL audience.

And those bettors would be more engaged. Another example beyond the NFL is NCAA March Madness: those who visited March Madness bracket or fantasy sites or apps during March 2015 watched, on average, 20% more of the games than those who did not.

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The appeal to broadcasters isn’t just ratings, but in selling time to advertisers. 65% of sports viewers say they are more likely to talk about a game on social media if they have placed a bet on it; the reasoning here is that legal bettors might buzz about an ad they’ve seen, too.


In other AGA news, the industry body recently hired a former Hillary Clinton and John Kerry staffer to lead campaigns to fight for legalized sports betting.

“Erik brings sharp campaigns skills and unmatched experience, including working on gaming issues in Massachusetts, that will help AGA and the industry achieve its most important goals over the coming months and years,” AGA senior vice president of public affairs Sarah Rayne said. “Many in the industry already know what Erik is capable of, and we’re excited to welcome him to the AGA team.”


William Hill US gave all active users of its app $25 to compensate for system downtime on Tuesday.

“We know that it inconvenienced our customers, so we wanted to show our appreciation for their loyalty with us,” Grodsky said.

Sports bettors were unable to make wagers while the system was down.


Legal Sports Report put together a summary of states with plans to legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports in 2017.

Thanks to the two sites’ lobbyists, eight states passed laws formally legalizing and regulating daily fantasy sports. That includes a pair of states — New York and Mississippi — where state attorneys general said DFS contests were illegal.

And while most legislatures have adjourned until after the November elections, some lawmakers are already eagerly looking ahead to next year. Here’s a roundup of chatter that’s already surfaced; these jurisdictions will likely be joined by an array of statehouses who took up the issue this year but didn’t pass a bill.


An FCS coach said he’d mortgage his house to bet on Washington to win the national championship.

“I wouldn’t be shocked at all [if Washington won the national championship],” Barnum said Wednesday via the Seattle Times. “I don’t know what the odds are in Vegas because I can’t gamble because I’m a head coach in college football but … I’d mortgage my house and put it on the Huskies.”


Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel lost a “friendly wager” to Houston mayor Sylvester Turner on head-to-head results between the cities’ teams last weekend.

Turner laid out the conditions: “Each baseball game is worth 1pt. Football game= 2. If you win, we’ll send brisket. If we win, you send deep dish pizza. Deal?”

Emanuel agreed. “You’re on!” he tweeted. “And we’re hungry!”