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00:00So stay with us here at SportsGrid as we get you ready for the big weekend ahead and actually
00:03recapping everything that happened in sports yesterday.
00:06Some big NBA news, I guess you could say.
00:09And also we finally have determined the final four in college football.
00:12I guess the only issue is the final four football teams are not the first four seeds in the
00:18college football playoffs.
00:19So will they fix this thing or just keep it going?
00:22Who knows?
00:23Either way, Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish, they are headed to play in the Orange Bowl
00:28next Thursday night against Penn State.
00:30That one-day delay to the game didn't seem like it factored in at all to this one.
00:3523-10, the final, Georgia couldn't get anything going with their backup quarterback offensively.
00:40A big fumble in this game was really the key to it.
00:43And Notre Dame carried on the strength of their defense and, you know, decent quarterback
00:47play as you would say from Riley Leonard has got them now one game away from a national
00:52championship.
00:53They will have to do it in South Florida where it should be a very compelling game on Thursday
00:57night against Penn State.
00:58Here's Marcus Freeman, the head coach of the Irish, talking about the accomplishment of
01:02getting there.
01:03You know, I think I said this after the game, but I'm so proud of this program, the team,
01:10you know, for the work they put into obtaining the result that we got tonight.
01:14I would remind them the last 10 days as we prepared, like this will be a 60-plus minute
01:20fight.
01:21Georgia's been down in nine games this year and they find a way to come back and win.
01:25And so they had that mentality.
01:28Our coaches called the game aggressive.
01:31Our players executed, put everything on the line for this university and this football
01:35team and I'm really proud of them, proud of the way they handled, you know, the events
01:40of the last 24 hours.
01:43And I want to make sure, again, send our condolences on behalf of our university and our football
01:48program to everyone that was affected by the tragedy.
01:53You know, they had to be able to still get ready for this game with the natural emotions
02:01that come into each individual that happened after the tragedy.
02:05And so I'm proud of the way they prepared, they stayed steady and they went out and they
02:10did a great job.
02:11And so.
02:12Meanwhile, Georgia's season comes to an end with a whimper, Kirby Smart after the game
02:17giving all the credit to Notre Dame.
02:20A lot of credit to Notre Dame.
02:22Their staff and their team, they played exactly like we expected them to play, physical, tough,
02:29don't beat yourself.
02:31And they did that.
02:32They did those exact things.
02:33Right.
02:34They got two turnovers and we didn't and they returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
02:37So we basically spotted them probably 14 points off of that and costed ourselves a possession
02:44in the red area when we when we fumbled down there.
02:46But you know, they did a really good job.
02:48They play really hard, physical, random football.
02:51So do we.
02:52They carry each other.
02:53I think both defenses played well and we turned the ball over and they didn't.
02:58And they they they gave us problems in the past game with the sack and the sack fumbles.
03:02So give them a lot of credit.
03:03It takes nothing away from these men on the stage and the seniors that are part of this
03:07class.
03:08I mean, absolutely incredible.
03:09I just told them what they went through this year and what they played and how they played,
03:13the resiliency, the injuries that we've had and to win an SEC championship, which I have
03:18so much respect for our conference and to win some of the comeback games they won and
03:22never quit.
03:23Even in this game, never quit.
03:25That's the attitude you got to have to get better as a football program.
03:28So we got a lot of guys moving on a lot of guys hurt in that locker room because, you
03:33know, we didn't get the outcome we wanted.
03:35But that's part of life.
03:36And give Notre Dame credit for how they played and give our seniors and our leaders credit
03:41for what they've done for this program.
03:43Nebraska still expected to be ranked in the top five going into next year as well.
03:48Meanwhile, where will Alabama be ranked?
03:49They'll be looking for a new quarterback either internally or through the transfer portal
03:53as Jalen Milrow makes his intentions known.
03:56He's headed to the NFL draft, making a statement yesterday that he is leaving the Crimson Tide.
04:00Football has always been my passion since I was a kid dreaming of competing at the highest
04:04level.
04:05I also said that he's very happy for the opportunity in the sport.
04:09And at the end said he is declaring for the NFL draft.
04:13There's a lot of difference of opinion on where and when Milrow will be drafted.
04:19Most draft prognosticators have Shadour Sanders and Cam Ward as the top two quarterbacks taken
04:24in the upcoming draft.
04:25But look, who knows?
04:26I mean, you know how quarterback inflation works.
04:29Maybe Milrow ends up being drafted right ahead of them.
04:31But he will be a first day pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
04:35Meanwhile, Cliff Kingsbury has had a lot of success with quarterbacks in the past, and
04:40he could potentially become a head coach once again in the NFL.
04:42He's done a fantastic job with Jaden Daniels in Washington, and his name is now in the
04:46coaching circle again.
04:47But this time around, Kingsbury said he'd like to return, but in a careful situation.
04:53Do you want to be a head coach again?
04:56Yeah, I'm sure at some point.
04:59Yeah, at some point.
05:03Do you plan to interview for jobs this year?
05:06I won't comment on that.
05:07But yeah, we'll see how everything plays out.
05:11But I'm very happy here.
05:12Yeah, this has been an awesome, awesome place and has really helped me kind of rekindle
05:17my love for the sport.
05:19Last one.
05:20But what did you learn from your first interview?
05:21What would you be looking for?
05:22Yeah, I think the first one, I didn't know what I didn't know, really.
05:26Coming from college, my first, I bounced around on teams as a player, but not as a coach on
05:30any level.
05:31So to come in there, I don't think I set the foundation the way I would do it after
05:39watching DQ and how he set the foundation from day one.
05:42And it was, these are the standards, this is what we won't compromise, this is what
05:44we're going to be.
05:45I definitely could have done a better job of that.
05:47And kind of once you don't lay it out like that, it's hard to put it back in, you know,
05:51it's hard to kind of reset it.
05:53And I think that's where he's done such a great job.
05:55It's like, this is what we're going to be from day one, there was no ifs, ands, or buts.
05:59And the guys bought in, and he's led in an incredible way.
06:03Back to some other NFL news, the Jets are interviewing Mike Vrabel for their head coaching
06:08position.
06:09Louis Riddick has interviewed for the GM position, and also the Browns announced they're starting
06:12Bailey Zappi at quarterback, the Ravens are 20-point favorites going into that game.
06:16Also another bowl yesterday, in case you missed it, it wasn't much of one, Ole Miss crushes
06:20Duke in the Gator Bowl, 52-20, Jackson Dart threw for four touchdowns and 400 yards.
06:25Louisville's punter Brady Hodges said he opted out of the Sun Bowl because he didn't
06:28get the NIL money he was supposed to get, how about that?
06:31Also Indiana quarterback Curtis Rourke played the 2024 season on a torn ACL, he's going
06:35to have surgery, he'll be fine going into next year.
06:38Couple of college bowl games today as we get ready to close out bowl season, Texas State
06:4213.5-point favorites against North Texas.
06:44And then later tonight on the Mayo Bowl, we've got Minnesota taking on Virginia Tech.
06:49In the NBA, the Miami Heat lost yesterday to the Indiana Pacers, that was not the story,
06:54even though Tyrese Halliburton went off, so did Jimmy Butler.
06:57But in a different way, post-game, Jimmy Butler was asked about if he could be happy remaining
07:02with the Miami Heat for the remainder of the season.
07:05Whether I score 9 points or 29 points, I will compete, that's one thing that I will say.
07:11So you won't say that I'm out there not playing hard, and I look like that because my usage
07:17is down and I don't shoot the ball a lot, but we won't sit here and say that I don't
07:21play hard.
07:23We'll fix it.
07:24What do you want to see happen to fix it?
07:27What do I want to see happen?
07:30I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball.
07:34And wherever that may be, we'll find out here pretty soon, but I want to get my joy back.
07:41I'm happy here, you know, off the court, but I want to be back to somewhat dominant.
07:50I want to hope, and I want to hope the same way, and right now I'm not doing that.
07:54Can you get your joy back here on the court?
07:56Probably not.
08:19I'm happy here, you know, off the court, but I want to get my joy back here on the
08:26court.
08:27I'm happy here, you know, off the court, but I want to get my joy back here on the court.
08:32I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:34I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:36I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:38I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:40I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:42I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:44I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:46I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:48I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:50I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:52I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:54I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:56I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
08:58I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:00I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:02I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:04I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:06I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:08I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:10I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:12I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:14I'm happy here, you know, off the court.
09:16And again, as you had another record amount
09:18And again, as you had another record amount
09:20And again, as you had another record amount
09:22of total dollars bet, LSR were projecting
09:24of total dollars bet, LSR were projecting
09:26$150 billion, all legally bet at Sportsbooks
09:28during the full year of 2024.
09:30That's according to data only from 33 states
09:32out of the 37 that report so far.
09:34So it might even be a much bigger total than that.
09:36Interestingly enough, 95% of that was online.
09:38Interestingly enough, 95% of that was online.
09:40We've kind of seen that move more and more
09:42as the years have gone on, as legal betting
09:44has spread, you have the shift away from
09:46retail sportsbooks and the shift towards
09:48online where you can bet on your phone
09:50and you see so many more states
09:52are embracing it now as well.
09:54And the total bet was a 23%
09:56increase from last year
09:58but notably the revenue that the
10:00operators keep after
10:02they pay out winning bets was up
10:04even more, 29% to $14.2 billion.
10:06So it shows that while
10:08more people are betting, more people are betting
10:10larger amounts, the operators are
10:12increasing the pace
10:14at which they squeeze revenue out
10:16of players by an even higher count.
10:182.9
10:20billion of that total was
10:22sent to state and local
10:24governments in the form of taxes.
10:26Now it's still just a drop in the bucket
10:28compared to the total amount of
10:30taxes that a state might get in their budget
10:32but it's not nothing and it's a lot
10:34more than we really conceived of
10:36when the Supreme Court repealed
10:38PASPA and paved the way for states
10:40to legalize sports betting.
10:42So you see it's just continuing to grow.
10:44You have sportsbooks also taking a record
10:469.5%
10:48hold that is
10:50essentially the money they keep after they
10:52pay out bets, their winning margin
10:54so to speak. So the holds have gone up
10:56as you've seen.
10:58We talk about it a lot but I'm going to say it again. Parleys
11:00are increasingly popular. These
11:02high margin bets for the sportsbooks,
11:04they've really leaned into that this year
11:06as well. These things that people kind of look at as lottery
11:08tickets where they can determine a game
11:10narrative and return for a
11:12big return obviously has a small chance of
11:14hitting so sportsbooks have done a really
11:16good job profiting off that
11:18and pushing it on people. You have states like
11:20Nevada were surpassed
11:22by a couple others this year. They actually had a
11:24smaller hold than usual
11:26and a lot of that is because
11:28they have limited props, limited
11:30parlay offerings and more
11:32betting in person, maybe some sharper bettors
11:34in the state as well. You have New York
11:36take all of the states for
11:38most dollars bet ever.
11:40New York has only had legal betting for
11:42a few years but it's already surpassed
11:44New Jersey and Nevada in terms
11:46of total amount bet, just showcasing
11:48that it's one of the biggest states that
11:50is able to squeeze a lot of money out of players.
11:52You have other states as well
11:54like Illinois making inroads
11:56and on this side you have
11:58FanDuel and DraftKings accounting for
12:0065% of all the
12:02dollars bet as they just continue
12:04to widen their lead against
12:06the rest of the competition. I think you have around
12:0850 other or so small
12:10sports betting sites, bigger sports betting sites
12:12across the country but FanDuel and DraftKings
12:14continue to dominate
12:16in that space. Looking forward to this
12:18year you have possibly some new entrants
12:20like Fanatics and ESPNBet
12:22could make some inroads. Crypto.com
12:24and Robinhood we've talked about are
12:26interested in getting in betting as well so we'll
12:28see if DraftKings and FanDuel continue
12:30what they did but it was another great year for them
12:32in 2024 as betting overall
12:34was up across the board.
12:36Yeah no question and that could go up
12:38if other states become legalized
12:40of course we'll keep a close eye on California
12:42and Texas but for today
12:44Sam let's focus on Oklahoma. I know
12:46a legislative session is coming up in February
12:48they'd like to push things a little bit
12:50more forward. Naturally I feel
12:52like Oklahoma and Texas are sort of intertwined
12:54whatever happens with one maybe happens
12:56with the other but at least there's something
12:58in the works although I know that
13:00is cautious optimism. I guess that's
13:02the best way to put it right now.
13:04Yeah there are definitely different dynamics
13:06at play when you talk about the state
13:08legislatures and the stakeholders in Oklahoma
13:10and Texas but you're right Craig anything
13:12that would happen to the smaller
13:14neighbor state in Oklahoma would probably
13:16be beneficial and a good selling point for
13:18Texas to legalize. Lawmakers
13:20could say hey they have it so people are driving
13:22across the state we're losing revenue.
13:24Oklahoma one of those states which
13:26obviously has a lot of interest
13:28in professional sports. They have
13:30Oklahoma City Thunder, best team in the NBA
13:32their colleges as well
13:34Oklahoma State draw a lot of
13:36interest as well so people have been clamoring
13:38for sports betting in Oklahoma for a
13:40while. You have some hope a bill
13:42was filed just before the legislature
13:44took a break at the end of
13:46the year that would legalize
13:48sports betting in the state. Now
13:50the big roadblock there has been
13:52whether or not you can get the
13:54Native American tribes on board
13:56and whether or not you can get them all on board
13:58together to make this happen.
14:00The tribes have essentially been at odds
14:02with the governor who proposed
14:04a mechanism of legalizing sports
14:06betting a few years ago that would have
14:08excluded some tribes and now
14:10you have this bill that was filed by Senator
14:12Dave Rader which would essentially
14:14require that
14:16at least four tribes in the state
14:18all agree to offer sports betting and
14:20then they enter contracts with online
14:22gaming companies like FanDuel, DraftKings,
14:24BetMGM or whomever
14:26and then they would all have to agree to offer
14:28sports betting together as opposed to
14:30a state like Florida where there's a
14:32monopoly dominated by the Seminoles
14:34with Hard Rock and you've obviously
14:36had other tribes have taken
14:38issue with that filing lawsuits against
14:40it so I wouldn't say that
14:42it's a great clear path
14:44ahead but it is promising
14:46that you now have this bill. The big question
14:48here will be whether or not the tribes
14:50and the governor can mend their relationships
14:52from a few years ago
14:54so we'll see what develops but
14:56with only a few states left on the board to legalize
14:58you could definitely throw Oklahoma
15:00in that ring of next closest
15:02to this year. Yeah, it
15:04would be a good story to follow at least
15:06a good start if one of the states
15:08would sort of get moving here a little bit
15:10maybe Oklahoma is that state this year.
15:12Alright, online casino gaming
15:14let's get into it here. I know that Illinois
15:16is a very big state for sports wagering, one of the
15:18top five in the country. I would guess
15:20Sam that anything moving forward
15:22in that realm would push them maybe
15:24even a little bit higher but I don't know, would it really count?
15:26It would count toward betting I guess, it wouldn't count
15:28toward sports betting.
15:30Yeah, Illinois is one of the biggest
15:32states in the country. It has a huge
15:34population and it's done a tremendous
15:36job with the dollars bet
15:38but it's expecting a
15:40three billion dollar shortfall
15:42in its budget this year so now lawmakers
15:44are kind of scrambling to see
15:46hey, how can we fix that? How can we generate
15:48more tax revenue for the state
15:50and Governor J.B. Pritzker as he gets ready
15:52to propose his budget, it's
15:54being reported that he's open to legalizing
15:56online casino because
15:58of the tax revenue it might generate
16:00so Illinois has generated
16:02half a billion dollars in taxes just
16:04from sports betting in a few years
16:06and it actually made headlines last
16:08year when it decided to
16:10up the tax rate that it charges on operators
16:12you had some sports books
16:14like Draft King's Response saying
16:16they were going to end up passing that tax down to bettors
16:18that obviously didn't end up happening but
16:20they've played around with this idea of
16:22getting more revenue for the state by increasing
16:24taxes and sports betting is by no
16:26means this budget savior but
16:28iGaming is a much higher margin
16:30business. The
16:32bill that was just filed is projected to
16:34raise about 800 million dollars a
16:36year and you compare that with
16:38only 200 million that Illinois got from sports
16:40betting this year while it's still one of the biggest
16:42states so it would be a much
16:44bigger windfall for the budget
16:46than sports betting. Illinois
16:48would be the 8th state to have
16:50iGaming joining those like New Jersey
16:52and Pennsylvania so that would be just
16:54huge for the sports betting operators
16:56that are really clamoring to get iGaming moving
16:58and have really been kind of frustrated
17:00with the lack of momentum on that front
17:02and if you have a big state like Illinois
17:04leading the way that's much more significant
17:06to kind of ushering the other big
17:08states in saying hey here's how much
17:10revenue they took maybe we could benefit from
17:12as well so it'll definitely be one we're watching
17:14this year especially as the budget process
17:16develops Illinois would be a huge
17:18huge win for the iGaming industry
17:20alright Sam good stuff
17:22as always congrats by the way to your Nittany
17:24Lions playing in my backyard next
17:26week as they take on Notre Dame
17:28it'll be a fun one as we get
17:30down to the final four in college football we'll see what happens
17:32thanks again for coming on
17:34yeah thanks a lot Craig go state