The Closing Line

What if you rooted for fumbles and bad defense instead of touchdowns and yards? Loserball is fantasy football reimagined; I talked with founder Jonathan Gruber about his startup on this week’s Closing Line podcast. You can find the company on social media as @PlayLoserball, including on Twitter.

G2E is where the global gaming industry comes together to navigate what’s next—delivering an all-in-one experience designed to move business forward. With actionable insights, high-value connections, and real-world solutions, G2E delivers value that extends far beyond the event itself. G2E takes place September 28–October 1, 2026 at The Venetian Expo.

Flutter Entertainment — the parent company of FanDuel — reported its Q2 earnings on Wednesday, but the biggest news was a change at the top. Flutter CEO Peter Jackson will step down from the role on Sept. 30. Dan Taylor, president of Flutter and CEO of Flutter International, will succeed him as CEO. The move comes after FanDuel CEO Amy Howe stepped aside earlier this year.

Novig is live with its sports prediction market as the start of the NFL season and college football loom. The company announced it launched as a federally regulated exchange on Tuesday. Novig has operated both as a state-regulated sports betting exchange and a sweepstakes operator before pivoting to the federal model that has risen to prominence over the past year and a half. “For too long, sports fans have had limited ways to engage with the markets they know best.

The Closing Line provides gambling industry data and analysis in The Cashout every week to paid subscribers, along with a news roundup for free subscribers. Kalshi volume is on the rise despite the end of World Cup as football season looms. And nearly two-fifths of its notional volume is on parlays.

June’s reporting is finalized for US online casinos and poker sites, putting a nice big bow on what will go down as another record-setting first half of the year. Here were the totals for the month: Interested in a free trial to The Handle? Contact dustin@closinglineconsulting.com.

Sports betting in the United States is in some ways in a precarious place. Gambling on sports is obviously quite popular based on how much people bet at sportsbooks and prediction markets. But betting on sports — or at least its ubiquity and advertising — is popular to criticize in the media and online. A lot of people don’t like how much gambling has become a part of how we consume sports.

British online trading firm IG Group has agreed to acquire Underdog, the fantasy sports and prediction markets company, in a deal that could be worth up to $1.3 billion. The deal carries an upfront enterprise value of approximately $1.1 billion, with another $200 million available through an earnout tied to Underdog’s 2026 performance.

Hard Rock Bet no longer accepts credit card deposits in any of its US markets, and launched in Ontario without credit cards as a deposit method, The Closing Line understands. SBC Americas had the news first. The policy includes Florida, where Hard Rock is the only legal sports betting operator in a compact between the Seminole Tribe and the state.

The Closing Line provides gambling industry data and analysis in The Cashout every week to paid subscribers, along with a news roundup for free subscribers. New York sportsbooks are still seeing a spike in handle because of the World Cup, per weekly data reports. And Kalshi weekly volume is back under $8 billion as the summer sports calendar slows.