SBJ Unpacks: Same-game parlays a big winner for U.S. sportsbooks

After seeing success with NBA games, Flutter decided to export its same-game odds model to the U.S., where FanDuel branded it as the “Same Game Parlay.”

Player props were a natural landing spot for casual U.S. bettors, who’d been building fantasy lineups for decades. Allowing them to cobble together several from a game they planned to watch, at parlay odds that gave them a chance to win more while risking less, was the sports-betting version of Reese’s marrying peanut butter to chocolate.

Today, FanDuel says about 90% of its active users have placed a same-game parlay bet. In Illinois, the only state that reveals not only how much bettors wager each month but also how many bets they place and which books they place them with, parlays made up 71% of all bets placed through FanDuel last year -- 95.9 million bets totaling $982.3 million.

At DraftKings, parlays were 54% of wagers last year, up from 32% in 2020. PointsBet saw its parlay percentage go from 22% in 2020 to 47% through August of this year. BetRivers, which is based in Illinois and is the No. 3 sportsbook there behind FanDuel and DraftKings, went from 11% in 2021 to 47% thus far this year.

Read Bill King’s full story as part of  an Early Access look at next week's magazine .

Becoming an entrepreneur is all about the startup and investment landscapes that can be different for everyone. On the final day of SBJ Dealmakers, a panel consisting of ViewLift Co-founder and CEO Rick Allen, Players Health Founder and CEO Tyrre Burks, Sportsbox AI Founder and CEO Jeehae Lee and Playbook 5 Founder Jason Robinson discussed their success in scaling and fundraising during difficult economic times.

To embrace the founder life and trying to scale the business is what drove some to this point in their career, with some saying it was personal to become what they are today.

For Burks, he said “it was really personal” as he played collegiately and professionally for a few years in what was “a safe place” for him and many others. With his risk management insurance company, Players Health, their mission is to “create the safest and most accessible environment for an athlete to play the sport they love.”

Fundraising through the pandemic brought challenges for many, as Robinson said “not being able to touch and feel people and be able to meet with them and go through that process” as they fundraised through VR had negative impacts.  

“For us, it's like, ‘Let's go prove it. Let's do it,’” said Robinson. “That's one thing I love about both Playbook Five and Elite Sports Equity and two companies that I've founded and I've started from the ground up. We're doers. Let's put the work first.”

Lee started her company during COVID in 2020. The fundraising landscape was a challenge she thought “was great” and was “very fortunate to have some great investors” backing them along the way.

Burks said he “had early success.” Now, he looks back on deals he made and the learning lessons that were there. Burks: “I made every mistake you can make, but so valuable in that because I've seen so much deal flow and have worked with so many, I've done a few rounds now. I now have a science down to how I go about doing it.”

He added that “this market is probably one of the toughest markets” he has seen.

For Allen, he said he has “seen all sorts of economic cycles,” and the pandemic was “actually an awfully good time for entertainment providers” as people were watching more content.

He mentioned the impact on scaling and how it can be “extremely tough” as an entrepreneur, particularly first-time entrepreneur, young entrepreneur, to figure out how much capital to raise.

“That may be the toughest question of all of them. Because you want to retain as much equity for yourself and your founding group,” Allen said. “You want to be very cautious about not raising so much money that you're diluted down or that valuations are just something that's going to end up biting you, but as is often said, more new businesses die, not because the idea is not sound, but because they don't have enough runway.”

Athletes Unlimited co-founder and CEO Jon Patricof discussed how partnering with athletes has given the organization an advantage when it comes to monetizing in a competitive market. Patricof, speaking on Day 2 of SBJ Dealmakers in D.C., described how the league’s BOD from each sport meets weekly with a player exec committee and the senior management team to explore further monetization opportunities. “With AU, you have the league level, you have each of these sports, and then you have this opportunity to work with world-class athletes, the best pro athletes and their sports,” said Patricof. “And that's very different.”

Asked about why there was a need for AU, Patricof said he looked at the landscape in 2018 and saw how women’s soccer had “massive commercial opportunity” because the growing popularity of women athletes. “I started looking at investment opportunities in the NWSL and WNBA, and that actually led me to a partnership with Jonathan Soros and really to this new idea that we should start these leagues from scratch.” He touted how AU now operates on a “tremendous scale,” putting on 130 games a year across the four leagues with 69 broadcasts nationally. He noted sponsorship and ticket sales remain important for growth.

Quick Hits :

• On the in-house capability around their broadcasts: “We produce all of those broadcasts, we deliver them. … That's a huge capability and important competitive advantage because in this era where broadcasters are not looking to produce more games, you really have to have that ability in-house.”

• On the tailwinds in women's sports and how it affects raising capital: “If you look at returns and appreciation over the last three years, there's been no space where it has been greater than women's sports. … There's a lot of demand out there.”

• On not using a team and franchise-based model: “It doesn't appeal to investors who are looking specifically into franchises. But there are a lot of investors we talk to that are really looking to be at the top coat…want to sit at the table and be involved in decisions that go across an entire organization.”

Commanders owner Josh Harris wants Washington fans to regain what they once had at RFK Stadium decades ago -- and what he saw in Seattle when his team traveled to Lumen Field to play the Seahawks: A competitive edge from the sheer force of the crowd.

"RFK was a place where the opposing teams didn't want to play -- we had an extra man on the field," Harris remembered, describing a similar feeling in Seattle while artfully avoiding the Seahawks' "12th Man" terminology. "It was an edge. And so how do you create that edge for your team is also another important concept as you're thinking about it."

Harris, speaking today to close out the SBJ Dealmakers conference, replied to a question from my boss Abe Madkour about possibly developing the old RFK site in D.C. for a new stadium. Harris was noncommittal about the location but also said convenience matters. "You have to study this stuff a lot, but certainly having a stadium that is accessible to the DMV at large, as best we can manage all that, that is important," he said.

Other notable highlights from Harris' interview:

• On playing a role in NFL league matters: "Over time, given that I've worked across so many leagues -- I'm very involved with the NBA for example -- and I've seen many different structures and approaches, and obviously being an investor that has come out of alternatives and private equity, obviously I have a lot of experience with global investors, I think I can help. So I'm going to look to help."

• On sovereign wealth in sports: "I've grown up with sovereign wealth funds. I think they're astute investors and certainly believe they can be helpful."

• On how visible an NFL owner should be: "I felt that it was really important to be visible, to be on-site, to be at every game, to be there for practice in some cases, because I felt that the organization needed some stability, and I wanted to reintroduce myself to Washington and explain to the fans and the community what I stood for and what we were going to do. And so I've been doing that here. In other situations where we've owned franchises for a long time, in Philly, I let other people take more of a prominent role, the GM, the coach. I also think football's different in some sense. The focus on the owner is just bigger. I can't tell you why, but I do think it is different."

The NHL’s new partnership with online fan engagement platform Rival is an intuitive step for the league as it continues to search for younger fans plugged into gaming. “The initial objective for getting in hasn't changed,” said Chris Golier, the NHL’s group VP/global innovation. “This is a youth touchpoint for us.”

Data supports the strategy. According to the Entertainment Software Association , over 212 million Americans play video games, which includes 76% of those under 18 and 62% of adults.

“With the youthfulness of the game, the players, and the [gaming] community, we know that in speaking to them -- a lot of them come and learn the rules [from playing NHL video games],” Golier said. “They learn the strategies of hockey and pick up the game before they even go to their first NHL game.”

While filling seats remains one of the league’s primary objectives, with Rival, Golier said the two can “create a community where people can sit and talk and chat about hockey on a daily basis, have some fun, win some prize money, and still embrace their favorite team and their favorite players through the game.”

Reaching those fans and understanding their likes, dislikes and needs is one of the vital services that Rival provides. And it reaches beyond hockey.

“Rival sees a much bigger opportunity for gaming at large,” said Rival CEO Matt Virtue. “It's wise to find where this audience spends their time. So gaming is an obvious statement, but then within gaming, what game titles in particular, what forms [an] entry point? Are they playing Roblox, Fortnite, Call of Duty?”

The data flows both ways. "Users are happy to opt into providing the information that is of relevance and importance to our stakeholders because they feel they're getting something in return," said Virtue. "In return for this, I get to play games I like under the guise of these passion points that I'm curious about in the loyalty system or pricing pool that is really fun to be participating in, rather than being spoken at or sold products that they need to kind of contribute or buy." 

• Starco Brands entered a naming rights deal with the LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk, and the SoFi Stadium-owned game will be known as the Starco Brands LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk.  

• Golf Canada and RBC re-imagined the logo for the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open for 2024, recognizing Canadian Nick Taylor’s walk-off victory last year, reports SBJ's Josh Carpenter.

• Mojo, the sports betting startup co-founded by a group including Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, laid off 20% of its staff, targeting consumer-facing departments, writes SBJ's Rob Schaefer.