NFL bettors beat FanDuel, political wagering buzz, and more hot topics in sports betting

There were some raises of Spockian eyebrows last week when Flutter Entertainment, the owners of FanDuel, announced an expected drop in revenue of some $370 million (Amarican bucks) thanks to its NFL customers getting the better of the books this season. So, as the four-down football league’s postseason got underway with wild card weekend, Gaming News Canada Show regular Phill Gray – who led trading operations at Sports Interaction for more than two decades – rejoined the podcast. Gray and your humble host dug a little deeper into the reasons behind the bettors taking advantage of sportsbooks, and also looked ahead at the challenges and opportunities for the betting populace in the race to next month’s Super Bowl. The 2024 U.S. presidential election and Justin Trudeau’s pending departure as leader of the Liberal Party here in our home and native land has reinvigorated wagering on politics, including in Ontario’s regulated gambling industry (as Dave Briggs reported in Friday’s newsletter). We asked Gray for his thoughts on that topic, too. Finally, we took a quick peek at stories to watch in the sports betting space in 2025, including the odds of regulated gambling coming to Alberta, the crypto/betting story, and the potential impact around the growing popularity of women’s sports on sportsbook operators. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.