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00:00But unfortunately, we start off the show on a very sad note from the world of the National
00:08Basketball Association with training camps and media days opening around the league.
00:12It's going to be a very somber time for the Denver Nuggets as great Kembe Mutombo, Hall
00:18of Famer, one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the NBA, has passed away
00:23at the age of 58 years old.
00:26He was an eight-time NBA All-Star, six-time all-defensive team in the NBA, four-time Defensive
00:33Player of the Year, and a second all-time in blocks.
00:35But those are just stats.
00:37Kembe, the person beloved in the National Basketball Association, of course, even after
00:41his playing days were over, did a lot of different commercials as well.
00:45A very sad day for the world in the NBA, to say the very least.
00:48So condolences to the Mutombo family and the NBA family as well.
00:52All right.
00:53Now, over to the National Football League.
00:54Let's recap some of the things that happened, and as always here on a Monday, you may have
00:58missed what happened on Sunday night, but you didn't miss much of a game.
01:00The buildup was big.
01:02The result was not.
01:03Baltimore Ravens welcomed the Buffalo Bills into town and absolutely clobbered them pretty
01:08much from start to finish, as the Ravens seem to be getting now back on the right track.
01:13They improved to 2-2 after beating the Buffalo Bills 35-10.
01:18And by the way, it was not even that close.
01:20And the reason why was Derrick Henry just ran amok all day long on the Bills, 199 rushing
01:27yards in this game.
01:29Vintage Henry is now back to current Henry, it would appear, as the Ravens look to be
01:33one of the smartest teams in the NFL for signing him to that contract they did in the offseason.
01:38But needless to say, it was a scoring frenzy on the side of Baltimore, scoring on virtually
01:43every possession, and Lamar Jackson is certainly proud of how that worked out.
01:46Yeah, yeah, it was.
01:48But I believe we scored every possession until I had fumbled, and that kind of stopped our
01:53momentum, you know, and then they end up getting the ball and them scoring.
01:59I was ticked off about that because, like I said, in the NFL, a lot of games is a momentum
02:04type of game.
02:05And we go out there, we score three times, and then that fumble happens, or it slows
02:09us down.
02:10But our defense was playing lights out.
02:13You know, Officer Lyon played wonderful, and shout out to Justice Hill because I believe
02:16when he, on that third down, that goes unnoticed, you know, but that was a spectacular third
02:21down for him to make a guy miss and get North up the field.
02:25And losses are going to happen, of course, in the NFL, as they always do, but this was
02:28really lopsided and very unhappy with Sean McDermott, the head coach of the Bills, after
02:32this one.
02:33Baltimore Ravens came out and they beat us.
02:36They outplayed us, they outcoached us.
02:40And we've got to identify the problems and get them fixed.
02:47And winning the line of scrimmage was a challenge for us tonight, consistently.
02:51And if you don't win the line of scrimmage, and that's a whole team thing, not just the
02:55O-line and D-line, but overall, we've got to do a better job up front, O-line and D-line,
03:02and then collectively as a team, winning the line of scrimmage.
03:04So I thought Josh was moving off the spot quite a bit tonight, made some great plays
03:11doing that, but then just not the healthiest way to live back there.
03:16So, like I said, we'll make the adjustments we need to make.
03:21We got to make them quickly and move on from there.
03:26Offensive line, one very big note for the Buffalo Bills.
03:29Big trouble last night for them in that game against Baltimore.
03:31All right.
03:32Maybe the Chiefs are in bigger trouble than we thought.
03:34They do pick up this win against the Chargers, 17 to 10.
03:37It was a lackluster effort for both teams, I would say, on offense.
03:41Chargers were, by the way, seven and a half point underdogs.
03:43So in some spots, you'll cash that, mostly seven and a half.
03:47So good news for Chargers backers, bad news for the Chiefs.
03:50They win and also lose Rasheed Rice.
03:52He suffered a torn ACL.
03:54So now without Pacheco and Rice for the distant future, no word on what the Chiefs may do
03:59to pick up the pieces here, but probably adding a wide receiver will be in the cards.
04:03Meanwhile, the biggest surprise in the NFL this season, without a doubt, has been the
04:07Washington Commanders.
04:08They look like one of the best teams in the NFL, dare I say.
04:1142 to 14, they defeat the Arizona Cardinals and are surging right now behind Jaden Daniels,
04:18who was the overwhelming favorite to win the Rookie of the Year in the NFL.
04:21Kirk Cousins, last minute game-winning drive against the Saints.
04:24Saints have now fallen back after looking so good the first couple of weeks, 26-24.
04:29And Minnesota held off Green Bay's comeback.
04:31Sam Darnold, three more touchdown passes.
04:34Packers were favored in this one.
04:35A lot of underdogs winning outright yesterday, again, in the National Football League.
04:40And perhaps the biggest surprise of all, because everyone used this team in the survivor
04:43pools this week, and the circus survivor, I'm sure, are the New York Jets.
04:47Has anybody left in the survivor pools at this point?
04:49The Jets were 7.5, 8-point favorites in most places throughout the week.
04:55I know it climbed a little bit at the end of the week, but it did not even matter.
04:58The Jets just couldn't get out of their own way.
05:00They lose the game outright to the Denver Broncos at home.
05:03To me, that was the stunner of the week.
05:05Caleb Williams and the Bears, they hold on to beat the Rams at home, 24-18.
05:09Rams, of course, really banged up.
05:11Buccaneers destroy the Eagles, 458 total yards.
05:15Final score, 33-16.
05:18And also, the Pittsburgh Steelers finally lose their first game of the season.
05:21Close game, by the way.
05:22Very exciting back and forth, 27-24.
05:26Joe Flacco won this game for the Indianapolis Colts.
05:29As Anthony Richardson mistimed his report this morning, saying it's just a hit pointer
05:33for Richardson, and he's expected to play next game the Colts play.
05:37All right, the new AP poll in college football is out.
05:39We got an instant classic on Saturday night between Alabama and Georgia.
05:43So, naturally, you got to put Alabama number one after that win.
05:47And I think with the way that Georgia came back, they got it right.
05:49They only moved Georgia down to five after the loss there.
05:53So, as you saw, it was Alabama one, Texas two, Ohio State three, Tennessee four,
05:58Georgia five, and yes, four teams, as you see there in the Southeastern Conference,
06:03ranked in the top five in college football.
06:0441-34, by the way, was the final in that game on Saturday night.
06:08In case you missed it, Alabama, they got off to this huge lead,
06:10and then Georgia came back late.
06:12Number six, Ole Miss on Saturday.
06:14They fell to Kentucky 20-17.
06:17They missed a late field goal that could have tied the game.
06:20So, Mississippi probably needs to win close to out to get back
06:23into the college football playoff scene.
06:25Arch Manning and Texas defeated Mississippi State 35-13.
06:29Texas was a huge favorite in this one.
06:30They did not cover.
06:31And also, Arizona, by the way, had been a nice surprise in college football.
06:34They went on the road and beat number 10, Utah, by a final of 23-10.
06:39All right, the Major League Baseball postseason, I mean,
06:42you could say it begins tomorrow, but it really begins today.
06:45The Mets and Braves are going to play a doubleheader, and I know this is going
06:50to be a little bit confusing for some, but the bottom line is this.
06:53If Atlanta wins one game in the doubleheader, and the Mets win one game
06:57in the doubleheader, both teams are going to the playoffs.
07:00Whoever sweeps the doubleheader is in, and whoever,
07:04if they lose the doubleheader, they're out, and the Diamondbacks are in the playoffs.
07:07So, this is going to be a wacky day of baseball, considering that the team
07:10that wins the first game doesn't need to even play anyone in the second game.
07:14I would assume that's what will happen, but we'll see.
07:16Diamondbacks are on pause, waiting to see what will happen.
07:18American League wildcard is set.
07:20Orioles and Royals, Astros and Tigers.
07:22Louisa Rice, who went over to San Diego in May in the trade with the Marlins,
07:26wins the batting title yet again.
07:29Three different batting titles, three different teams, three different years,
07:32and the Marlins and Skip Schumacher made an announcement last night
07:35that he will not return as manager, which we knew would happen for quite a period of time.
07:39All right, in the WNBA, let's get to this.
07:41The New York Liberty defeated the Las Vegas Aces final there, 87 to 77
07:46in game one of their semifinals.
07:48Also, Connecticut beat Minnesota 73 to 70 as they outscored the Lynx 16 to 8
07:55in the fourth quarter.
07:57Xander ends up winning the President's Cup for the 10th consecutive time.
08:03He had four straight birdies on Sunday to get that win.
08:06And also, in case you missed it, in the NBA on Saturday, a pretty mega trade right ahead
08:10of media days here as Julius Randle and Dante DiVincenzo were traded
08:15to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Carl Anthony Towns, a trade that seems
08:19to be debated on both sides back and forth.
08:21Who got the better of that deal?
08:22I guess we'll wait to see.
08:23Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:25Are you streaming us in the state of Wyoming?
08:29I'm sorry we have not talked about you a ton here on Newswire on Sports Grid.
08:33In fact, that may have been the first time that I've ever uttered sports betting
08:37and Wyoming and casino betting and Wyoming together in the same sentence
08:41since I started this show a couple of years ago.
08:43So the good news is Matthew Waters is here from Legal Sports Report.
08:46Tell us why we're going to be talking about that.
08:48But Matt, thanks again for coming on the show.
08:50Hope you had a good weekend.
08:51Before we get to Wyoming, let's dive into a very big day for Flutter,
08:55FanDuel, Investor Day.
08:57We get to learn a little bit more about their company.
08:59So once again, thanks for coming on.
09:01What have you learned?
09:04Yeah, thanks, Craig.
09:05Listen, Flutter had their Investor Day on Wednesday, and investors seemed
09:10to love what they heard.
09:12FanDuel came out swinging with what it expects for the U.S.
09:17It significantly increased what they think the total available market is going
09:21to be by 2030.
09:23Previously, they had said $23 billion for sports betting and $18 billion
09:28for iGaming.
09:30They bumped that up to almost $40 billion for sports betting and $24 billion
09:35for iGaming.
09:36So basically, what FanDuel and what Flutter is telling us is that over the last two
09:42years between when they made that last announcement and now, they just did not
09:47expect for the kind of growth that they're seeing right now.
09:51One of the things that they said is that they're trying to get to a 16% hold by
09:582030 as well.
10:00And it's easy to see how that's going to happen, right?
10:03We've already seen it bump up and bump up.
10:05They're at about a 12% gross margin right now compared to 7% back in 2020.
10:13The good part about that for bettors though, obviously, you don't want to hear
10:16that the hold is getting higher.
10:17That means you're getting less money.
10:19But they plan on using about 4% of that percentage point.
10:25So the net would be 12% hold, the money that they actually keep.
10:29But they're going to be giving back more to the customers as well, retaining
10:33customers and bringing in customers because they've seen that not only are new
10:38customers doing better than expected, but the older customers are putting more money
10:44into the FanDuel system than expected as well.
10:48And we can see why in one area, Craig.
10:51We talk a lot about parlays whenever I come on.
10:54And when you look at the 23, 24 NBA and NFL seasons, 70% of the action for FanDuel
11:03involved a parlay.
11:05That's just incredible to me.
11:08Twenty-five percent of it came from live action bets.
11:14And more than 50% now are based on player narratives, these prop bets that
11:20everybody is revamping their sportsbook for to get in a front and center place.
11:26So you can go and, you know, some of the sportsbooks have it so you can search a
11:30name directly and just get all the available props for your players.
11:34So it's interesting to see that this is the way it's going.
11:39And the 70% in parlays, I never would have guessed that high, Craig.
11:42That is incredible to me.
11:45And they say that 88% of bettors believe that sports betting makes games more fun
11:50to watch.
11:52I'm surprised by 88% as well because, you know, 88% aren't winning out there.
11:56So that was surprising to me too.
12:00But look, I've seen industry pushback on some of these numbers too that, you know,
12:06the market just may not get as big as they're saying.
12:09But that doesn't really matter to the everyday bettor, right, Craig?
12:13The point is, is that these sportsbooks are seeing more business than they
12:17expected to.
12:19They, even with the states not expanding sports betting and iGaming like they
12:25thought it would with it slowing down a little bit, they still expect more growth
12:30even if it only comes from those existing players.
12:32So really impressive 150-page PowerPoint that FanDuel put together, that Flutter put
12:41together, their parent company.
12:43It's linked to you on our website.
12:44I would encourage anybody to go ahead and read through that.
12:47But, yeah, FanDuel, they're a leader in sports betting.
12:50They're now a leader in iGaming.
12:52They don't show any sign of slowing down.
12:55No, and listen, I'm not surprised, by the way, that that number is 70%.
12:58I guess what I'm most surprised by is nobody's betting, nobody's making
13:01straight bets.
13:01It's either parlays, you know, some teasers or, you know, in-game lives and
13:07some futures, stuff like that.
13:08I mean, nobody wants to just bet on games anymore individually.
13:11But look, that's, you know, options are new for a lot of people around the country.
13:14All right, well, here we go.
13:15All of our friends in Wyoming, Matt, who are watching this live are like, all right,
13:19give me the update on the online casino gaming there because, again, not a state
13:24that we talk about a ton, but certainly there are a lot of, you know, listeners and
13:27viewers here at a sports grid in Wyoming.
13:29So tell us more.
13:31Yeah, look, I know Wyoming is a bit of a small market.
13:35And at the beginning there, I even forgot that they had sports betting until you get
13:38the monthly reports coming in.
13:40You go, oh, yeah, that's right.
13:41But it's interesting that such a small market like Wyoming is looking toward
13:46iGaming now.
13:47Because, again, when you hear Wyoming, even in the industry, you don't think,
13:51wow, that is a gambling market that I need to get into.
13:55But the fact that Wyoming is looking at this, and we know that other states are
13:59looking at it, too, that is a positive right now.
14:03And honestly, the gaming industry will take any positives around online casino
14:08that it can get.
14:09It's a very well-known group that's doing the study at Spectrum Gaming Group.
14:13They do a fantastic job at laying out what an industry is going to look like for
14:18states depending on what they want to see.
14:20And so it'll be really interesting to see what a smaller sports betting state in
14:25Wyoming, what it's expected to do from an online gambling perspective.
14:30Obviously, you have two different kinds of bettors there, and then you have some
14:34crossover bettors as well that'll love it as well.
14:37But, you know, you think about all the female slot players that exist in the
14:42world, online casino is exactly targeting them and then, you know, trying to back
14:47them into some sports betting at the same time, get them to do a couple of parlays,
14:50too.
14:51But the fact that Wyoming is looking at this as, you know, a generator of revenue
14:58is great for the industry.
15:01They need anything with online casino right now.
15:04So while Wyoming may not be the biggest win in the world from a revenue standpoint,
15:10if another state can get across the finish line on online gambling,
15:14maybe that would lead to New York taking it a little bit more seriously,
15:18or Ohio, or Illinois.
15:21You know, there are so many states out there that are kind of just mulling it and
15:25thinking about what could happen if they legalize online casino.
15:31You know, there's still a concern out there about online casino and whether it
15:36cannibalizes the retail industry.
15:39And people will argue one way or another on that.
15:42But overall, we've seen that online casino is generally accretive to whichever gambling
15:48state they enter into.
15:50Okay, fair enough.
15:51Now, let's close it out with the story that we heard about back in August,
15:54which is the possibility of FanDuel and DraftKings adding a surcharge to some
15:59of their bets.
16:00Is there any update on that now?
16:03Yeah, you know what, Craig?
16:04It was interesting because obviously DraftKings decided not to go forward with it.
16:07And so we didn't really hear too many regulators speaking on the record about
16:11this, but New York did last week.
16:14And it was interesting because the chairman of the regulator up there,
16:19Brian O'Dowd, he basically said that, you know, it's their job to protect the people
16:26that gamble in the state.
16:27And so he said, quote, in that regard, I looked with great alarm about the recent
16:32proposal for a 20% surcharge.
16:36And basically what he said was, look, if any gambling company has any ideas about
16:41this again, we're going to look at it and we're going to look at it really close.
16:46We'll be subject to, quote, the strictest scrutiny and if appropriate, be rejected.
16:51So it was interesting to me that we finally had a regulator come out and say
16:55something so firm about it because we never had to actually get there in the step.
17:00But, you know, if New York and they're 51%, they're saying, look, you got to come
17:04here and pay it off.
17:05You want to be here.
17:06That's a powerful statement to the industry.
17:08Yeah, definitely is.
17:09All right, Matt, have a great rest of your week.
17:11I don't know, am I going to see you later in the week?
17:12I have a feeling I am.
17:13Yeah, I think you are.
17:14Yes.
17:14OK, good.
17:15So I'll catch up with you later in the week.
17:16Have a good one.
17:17Thanks, sir. You too.