The apocalypse scenario for sports betting is if football does not resume as expectedGETTY IMAGES
The shutdown of sports and leisure spending has been a "striking turnabout" for sports betting, an industry "less than two years removed from the Supreme Court decision that cleared a path for sports wagers across the country," according to Blinder & Draper of the N.Y. TIMES. Gambling execs had felt this year had "particular promise." More sports books were open, California "could vote as soon as November on whether to allow horse tracks and tribal casinos to offer sports betting, and even before the specter of a recession loomed, even more states were considering allowing wagers on games and players." The NCAA, which has "long resisted gambling and continues to bar many people connected to college athletics from sports wagering, will have to wait another year to see how an expansion of betting will affect its signature event," the NCAA Tournament. Blinder & Draper note as painful as losing March Madness is for the sports betting industry, it is "not the apocalypse scenario." That scenario is if football "doesn't resume in the fall as scheduled" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/6).
POOR TIMING: In Philadelphia, David Murphy notes the ongoing sports hiatus "comes at an inopportune time for DraftKings, which expects to become a publicly traded company this week when it completes a complex merger with sports gambling technology firm SB Tech and Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp." The gambling world is "like the world at large, staring down a summer of uncertainty." The mobile gambling industry at the same time is "still in the early stages of its growth phase" in the U.S. For now, the big question is "if sports will return at all" this year (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/6).
