Bill King
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Senior Writer at Sports Business Journal. Focus on enterprise, profiles and US sports betting. Reader, writer, occasional 'rithmeticker. Husband and Dad.
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Articles by Bill King
DraftKings’ latest ad campaign takes aim at the next frontier
The first spot to break in the latest DraftKings ad campaign features the often-manic Kevin Hart in the passenger seat of a sleek 1970 Chevelle beside fellow “Jumanji” cast member Nick Jonas, an oversized set of dice dangling fittingly from the rearview mirror. “Now that DraftKings is available in all 50 states, we can finally go on that road trip we’ve always talked about,” Jonas says in the first of a series of shot-on-film commercials that debuted Aug. 31.
NFL: We won’t approve ads that blur line between gambling and prediction markets
With a new cycle of deals with official sponsors DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics announced Thursday, it’s time to check in with NFL Chief Revenue Officer Renie Anderson on some related ramifications. • The league has taken a firm stance that will keep FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics from using the benefits of their sportsbook sponsorships in the prediction products they offer in states that haven’t legalized online sports betting, including California, Texas and Georgia.
For the NFL, it takes a Genius
Word is that Fanatics got a call from one network’s sales staff within minutes of Tuesday’s news that it had signed on as the first official sportsbook of the NFL’s new sponsor cycle, loosening the bottleneck in a category that has been vacant since deals with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars expired at the end of March. Indications are that it won’t be the last. Though Caesars is out, talks continue with the other two incumbents.
NFL lands Fanatics, loosens sportsbook sponsor bottleneck
Fanatics has signed on as an official sportsbook of the NFL, breaking a logjam that left the sponsor category vacant for the league since multiyear deals with FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars expired at the end of March. The deal, expected to be announced before the start of the season, includes rights to promote across NFL-controlled media channels, allowing Fanatics to air spots during game broadcasts.
Even odds: How sportsbooks are raising the WNBA’s betting profile
The basketball betting options FanDuel featured on its app on the second Tuesday in August, in the dead of the NBA offseason, looked similar to those presented on a Tuesday night in mid-March, when many of its teams were jockeying for playoff seeding. This time, the New York vs. Indiana game at the top of the menu was Liberty-Fever rather than Knicks-Pacers.
SBJ Betting: DraftKings takes the offensive
Between frenzied World Cup betting and the accelerated discovery of the daily MLB betting bingo card, the summer swoon hasn’t been quite so swoony. And now here comes football, which you can bet on legally (or without fear of prosecution, at least) in 50 states. Lots to cover today coming off of a busy week of earnings calls. Let’s get to it.
Polymarket’s moves in baseball, tennis
Polymarket’s unveiling of its first MLB team sponsorship deal, which will place its logo in rotation behind home plate at Yankee Stadium, overshadowed a more interesting, and conceivably more impactful, deal it struck in tennis. As part of an agreement that made it an official prediction market of the ATP Tour, Polymarket secured exclusive rights to low-latency streams of all tour matches, including its second-tier Challenger Tour.
Handle gets boost from World Cup, Knicks
Boffo betting on the World Cup and the Knicks’ NBA Finals run in June allowed sportsbooks reverse six consecutive months of year-on-year decline, with handle up 26% percent in legalized states with only Illinois and Arizona still to report. Among the bigger states, New York, North Carolina, Maryland and Tennessee all were up 30% or more. The digits:
FanDuel foresees football rebound
Peter Jackson opened his final quarterly earnings call after an eight-year run as Flutter’s CEO Wednesday morning with one last, measured response to a market that has moved decidedly away from the once high-flying company in the last year. Shares in the FanDuel parent peaked at $307 ahead of last football season. On Thursday, they bottomed out just shy of $90.
DraftKings’ Robins: ‘We are on offense’
Heading into his company’s crucial customer acquisition and reactivation period — more commonly known as football season — DraftKings CEO Jason Robins offered a bold and optimistic assertion during Friday morning’s second quarter earnings call.
Yankees first MLB club to land Polymarket as sponsor
Prediction market exchange Polymarket will join the rotation of brands prominently displayed behind home plate at Yankee Stadium for the rest of the season as part of a sponsorship deal that also includes premium seats and single-game suite availability. It is the first team deal Polymarket has signed since splurging to lock down an exclusive position as the official prediction platform of MLB in March.
NFL submits public comment on CFTC’s proposed prediction market rules
The NFL has submitted public comment with the CFTC calling for tighter restrictions on sports prediction markets than the regulatory agency laid out as part of an initial rule-making proposal it made public in June.
SBJ Betting: Why Kalshi won the World Cup
For World Cup king Kalshi, it was never about the free 15 bucks Timothée Chalamet's Kalshi ad during the World Cup was something that engaged but perplexed just about everyone. Curation station A more broadly relevant decision came on July 8 in New York, where a federal judge denied Kalshi’s attempt to keep the state from applying its gambling laws to prediction platforms.
World Cup, Knicks are boons to June betting handle
The World Cup has sportsbooks on pace to reverse six consecutive months of year-on-year decline, with June handle tracking 26% higher than last June in the 24 states that have reported results for that month. Some of that likely came from the New York Knicks’ five-game run through the NBA Finals, as evidenced by an eye-popping 36% year-on-year boost for sportsbooks in New York. But the World Cup likely accounted for the bulk of the turnaround. North Carolina also saw a 36% bump over last year.
For World Cup king Kalshi, it was never about the free 15 bucks
You wouldn’t think a $15 offer would drive prediction app trials in an age of $100, $200 and even $365 sportsbook signup promos. And yet here came Kalshi, which blew up to the tune of $12.4 billion in volume — $27 billion if you count parlays, executives from the exchange said — during the 4½ weeks of World Cup play, adding about 1 million new customers during the tournament.
How Kalshi won the World Cup
When the World Cup opened, marketers at predictions operator Kalshi were confident they could gain sufficient exposure for their product by cobbling together endorsement deals with a handful of retired stars from the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, England, Spain and France, and sponsorship of the Argentine national team, home to icon Lionel Messi.
Charlotte not quite Super Bowl ready, but Goodell opens door to NFL Draft
In Charlotte Thursday night for the public unveiling of upgrades to a $1.3B stadium renovation planned by the Carolina Panthers, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deftly dodged owner David Tepper’s suggestion that the city be considered for a Super Bowl, but offered an appealing alternative: The NFL Draft.
Champions 2026: Media titans weigh in on James Brown
During his 42 years at major networks, James Brown has worked for many of the industry’s more influential leaders. Here’s what they said about him: Sean McManus, former chairman, CBS Sports “You’re never going to find a better broadcaster or gentleman than James Brown. His versatility is phenomenal. I think he is among the best studio hosts in the history of sports broadcasting. He’s also an accomplished play-by-play man. He’s a terrific writer. And he can report the news.
Champions 2026: James Brown
A few months after earning his bachelor’s degree from Harvard, James Brown sat sobbing in the bedroom he shared as a child with three brothers and a young nephew, unexpectedly out of a job — and a dream. Taken by the Atlanta Hawks in the fourth round of the 1974 NBA Draft, Brown went to the team’s training camp in Savannah, Ga., uncertain of whether he could make it in the league.
PrizePicks strikes first NBA team deal with hometown Hawks Original
Atlanta-based PrizePicks has signed on as the first pick ‘em and prediction market operator to sponsor an NBA team, striking a comprehensive deal with the Hawks that includes broadcast integrations, arena signs and a branded party deck at State Farm Arena. The NBA cleared the way for the deal in April when it blessed PrizePicks, known best for a popular parlay-only player prop offering, as an official Daily Fantasy Sports operator.
Understanding how the prediction game plays out
The lines separating traditional state-licensed sportsbooks from federally regulated prediction markets have blurred to the point that they’re indistinguishable. We had questions. We bet you do, too. What are these things?
A look at prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket
Kalshi Launched in 2021 as an exchange licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Kalshi soon ran into resistance from federal regulators when it attempted to add prediction contracts around congressional elections. That led to a court battle that it won in time to offer markets on the last presidential election, a watershed moment that yielded more than $1 billion in volume. When Kalshi expanded into sports with the Super Bowl two months later, it struck oil.
SBJ Betting: Kalshi’s $1 billion-a-day World Cup surge
Kalshi posts $1 billion-a-day volume from coast-to-coast World Cup betting The largest item on Kalshi's homepage Friday morning was its contract activity for the Norway-France World Cup match. Fanatics acts to prevent harassment from bettors Fanatics is working with ProhiBet to betting flag bettors who harass people in sports online — and ban them.
Fanatics acts to prevent harassment from bettors
Fanatics says it will suspend or banish account holders who are caught harassing players, coaches or officials through a service introduced by integrity monitoring platform ProhiBet, an IC360 brand best known for blocking pro and college players from betting on their sports. Launched in conjunction with London-based online threat monitoring firm Signify Group, ProhiBet will flag abusive bettors, notifying participating sportsbooks, which can then restrict them from wagering.
Kalshi posts $1 billion-a-day volume from coast-to-coast World Cup betting
It appears the Californians, Texans, Georgians and others who have been boxed out of legal online sports betting have discovered Kalshi’s World Cup prediction market offering. And, based on the girth of the numbers, there’s a decent chance some consumers and deep-pocketed market makers in legalized states have been drawn to the rhythm of its swaying soccer prices, too.
Survivor contest app Splash to add Poly’s prediction markets
Survivor contest operator Splash Sports will add Polymarket prediction markets to its platform in time for football season through a deal that also includes sponsorship of the popular seasonlong NFL contest. Splash, which also offers pick ‘em and daily fantasy, is slated to pay out more than $21M next season. It plans to serve as a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-registered broker.
SBJ Betting: ‘Rules of the road’ coming for prediction markets
CFTC’s Selig: ‘Clear standards’ coming for sports prediction markets CFTC chief Michael Selig has long believed his agency is the “cop on the beat” to police prediction markets. Betting handle leveling out in April Betting speed reads Here’s the latest on the unfathomable case of Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby, and the court ruling that has set college football’s hair on fire. “He can figure out anything.
CFTC’s Selig: ‘Clear standards’ coming for sports prediction markets
The 267-page rules proposal that the CFTC released Wednesday regarding prediction markets largely deals with a “public interest” test that the commission wants to apply to contracts now traded in areas once declared out of bounds for the suddenly popular derivatives.
CFTC head Selig: League input ‘factored in’ proposed prediction rules
The rules that the CFTC proposed around sports prediction markets Wednesday, which included a ban of pitch-by-pitch micro markets in baseball but left more popular player prop bets across all sports alone, stemmed from concerns several leagues raised during meetings with the regulator in recent months. “That feedback certainly factored in,” CFTC Chairman Michael Selig told SBJ in an interview after the regulator posted the 267-page rules proposal on its web site Wednesday morning.
Sportsbooks roll out strategy to turn hype around World Cup in the U.S. into soccer betting growth
FanDuel will reward World Cup bettors with instant bet credits for each goal scored in the first four days of the tournament. It has new ad creative featuring U.S. soccer legend Landon Donovan that will air during games on Fox. BetMGM will give away $500,000 in bonus bets for each goal the U.S. side scores. Fanatics is offering new customers $10 in FanCash for every American goal.
Paul Liberman is DraftKings’ builder and problem-solver
DraftKings founders Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman were in the early stage of forming the company when the web architect they targeted to be its first chief technology officer passed on the job in favor of another startup. Crestfallen, they contemplated next steps. Though still employed full time at a Boston area e-commerce company, they were far along enough on their idea that they were ready to develop software.
SBJ Betting: Fanatics’ World Cup move
Fanatics move clears FIFA’s prediction market haze Fanatics Markets landed U.S. rights to offer the official prediction markets of the World Cup, combining with ADI PredictStreet on a co-branded digital hub.
Fanatics still on the podium, Bet365 on the rise
State regulator reports from the first quarter show no movement in the pecking order of handle share among U.S. sportsbooks competing in most legal jurisdictions, though there was slight widening of some gaps. FanDuel continued to slip behind DraftKings, which has opened up a 3 percentage-point lead by holding at 35%, while FD dropped to 32%. Fanatics, which moved ahead of BetMGM in the second half of last year, added a point to get to 9%, while BetMGM added one to get back to 8%.
Sportsbooks reversing the downward handle trend in April
U.S. sportsbooks are on pace to stem four consecutive months of decline in April, with handle 1% ahead of the same time last year. Maryland, Indiana and Michigan led the way with double-digit percentage gains. Pennsylvania was down 10%. We also can close the book on March, which finished down 5% compared to last March, the largest year-on-year drop since legalization outside Nevada began in 2018. That marked consecutive months of year-on-year decline.
Fanatics move clears FIFA’s prediction market haze
When FIFA named then-nascent ADI Predictstreet as the official prediction markets platform for the World Cup early in April, many wondered what that would mean in the U.S., where the federal government’s regulation of event contracts would preclude the Abu Dhabi company from securing a license in time for the tournament.
Fanatics strikes deal to offer official World Cup prediction markets in U.S.
Fanatics Markets has landed U.S. rights to offer the official prediction markets of the World Cup, combining with global FIFA rights-holder ADI PredictStreet on a co-branded digital hub that will include tournament news, stats and other in-app content.
Early mover NHL, CFTC strike predictions MOU
The NHL has entered into a memorandum of understanding to work with federal regulators on the oversight of sports prediction markets, agreeing to share information in an effort to police what has emerged as a popular form of sports betting in states that have not legalized it. The agreement with the Commody Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) largely mirrors one MLB signed with it in March.
Sports business educator Jim Kahler to retire in June
Longtime sports business educator and administrator Jim Kahler will retire as director of the sport and entertainment management program at Cleveland State Univ. at the end of June, with plans to transition to a mix of consulting and philanthropic work. Kahler, 67, launched the undergraduate program at Cleveland State in 2022 after 16 years at his alma mater Ohio Univ., where he was the first executive director of the school’s center for sports administration.
SBJ Betting: The secret genius of DraftKings’ combined app
What’s so ‘Super’ about DraftKings’ one-stop shop? DraftKings showed off its new "Super App" during a recent investor day. Senate to put sportsbooks, prediction markets under integrity microscope A Senate subcommittee will examine integrity issues around both regulated sports gambling and prediction markets next week. Kalshi’s latest deal lands it inside Madison Square Garden Kalshi has a made a deal to appear in Madison Square Garden for Rangers games.
Handle inching up so far for April
Handle totals in the 11 states that have reported April results are on a rebounding track after declining through the first quarter, with Maryland and Indiana each up 12% compared to last year and North Carolina up 6%. New York was flat. We have a nearly complete picture of March. With only Illinois left to report, U.S. legal handle was off 4% from the same month last year, marking the fourth consecutive month in which handle was down year over year.
What’s so ‘Super’ about DraftKings’ one-stop shop?
The secret sauce of the unified “Super App” that DraftKings announced in March isn’t that it allows users to toggle between its sportsbook, casino, predictions and lottery offerings — though it does that. There certainly are cross-sell benefits in a handful of states as a result.
Senate to put sportsbooks, prediction markets under integrity microscope
Sports betting is back on the congressional docket next week as a Senate Commerce subcommittee hears testimony Wednesday morning on integrity concerns associated with both traditional state-regulated sportsbooks and their more recent prediction market offshoot.
Kalshi’s latest deal lands it inside Madison Square Garden
Four months after MSG Sports and the New York Rangers named Polymarket the official prediction market of the team, New York City-based Kalshi found its way into the famed arena with a deal to attach its brand to the building’s lower bowl concourse. This MSG LinkedIn post had a revealing look at how Kalshi was able to promote its NBA playoff menu — headlined by Knicks-Sixers — at an arena entrance without actually cutting a Knicks deal, which remains verboten by the NBA, for now at least.
What they’re saying about outsted FanDuel CEO Amy Howe
FanDuel CEO Amy Howe was ousted from the company on Wednesday, and she exited with a $4,370,828 severance package that covers two years of base salary and achievable bonuses, according to SEC filings. Along with being the only female CEO of a sizable gambling company, Howe was the only sportsbook head to come to the job with a sports industry background, joining FanDuel after serving as president and COO of Ticketmaster.
John Henry has built an eclectic sports portfolio by knowing when to make a move
John Henry has acquired the Red Sox, Liverpool FC and the Pittsburgh Penguins over 25 years. His deals included a handshake agreement that changed overnight and a perpetual front-row seat dispute.
What they’re saying about John Henry …
“I would characterize John as a gentleman politician. He’s not overtly political. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t understand politics. He’s not ham-handed. But he does know how to play that game.” — Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner “John really believed there is a different way to analyze football matches leading toward success. That strategy has proven right. John is not only thoughtful, he’s very driven by understanding things.
Listen up: John Henry’s approach to decision making
Theo Epstein was the fresh-faced, newly hired assistant GM of the Red Sox in 2002 when he started getting lengthy, late-night emails from principal owner John Henry, whose curiosity about the way the baseball operations department valued players and the hidden world of baseball math appeared to be boundless.
It all adds up, or at least it better, for numbers whiz John Henry
The young Boston Red Sox staffers who oversaw ticket sales were wrapping up industry meetings in Orlando a dozen years ago when then-COO Sam Kennedy suggested they hitch a ride back to Boston on the plane of owner John Henry, who was itching to review their proposed prices for the upcoming season.
Unintended Empire: John Henry’s eclectic sports portfolio
Picking at his lunch in a home-plate suite in Fort Myers, Fla., ahead of a partners meeting Fenway Sports Group hosts each spring training, Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry paused a story mid-sentence to ponder for a beat, then another and another.
SBJ Betting: Report gets handle on Kalshi’s rise
Report gets a handle on prediction markets’ wildfire spread Kalshi may be different from the other sportsbooks, but for March Madness, its handle ranked in the top four per a new metric from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. The early-stage U.S. market is far more sports-obsessed than the global prediction market, which is what you get when prediction markets are the only way to bet on sports legally in half of a country.
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