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00:00Let's get started with some sports betting news, and it's not on the positive side for those of you who are living in the Twin Cities or anywhere in the state of Minnesota.
00:08It does not appear sports betting is coming to you. The proposal that was trying to get through the Senate has been rejected.
00:14Gambling supporters thought they hit the jackpot when some stakeholders endorsed a bill to legalize bets in Minnesota,
00:20but the Senate committee turned it down. So as of right now, the state does not approve sports betting.
00:26They're going to have to kind of go back to the drawing board on this one, and Senator Matt Klein said it was a rare phenomenon,
00:33which was backed by all the stakeholders, but not backed by the bill and the government itself.
00:39The state of Minnesota in a state of limbo with sports betting in 2025 does not look like it's going to happen.
00:46All right. Well, the good news for Minnesota is that if there is one team in the Twin Cities that appears to be ready to take down the potential champs,
00:55it definitely is the Minnesota Timberwolves. How about their win last night? 116-101.
01:01They beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, stopped their seven-game winning streak. Anthony Edwards had 23 points.
01:07Minnesota finishes the first half with a 31-25 record. The West, by the way, has been dominated all season long by the Thunder.
01:17They're 44-10. Mark Dagno talked after the game about the outcome.
01:23Yeah, just got off to a poor start and then did a nice job in the second quarter of getting ourselves back into position to give ourselves a chance
01:31and then cut into it in the third and really give ourselves a chance.
01:35But they just outplayed us for way too much that night. Tonight's come out of here with a win.
01:40You know, we shot more free throws. They shot 27 percent from three.
01:45It's just kind of a point of attack, offensive rebounding. They just kind of outworked us for that one.
01:49Yeah, we've I mean, tonight was obviously the exception for us. I mean, we've transcended our circumstances for much of the season.
01:55We haven't had excuses and different guys have stepped up on different nights.
01:59So the body of work is definitely in a great place. But obviously, we weren't there tonight enough to get a road win.
02:08All right. So Oklahoma City ends the first half with a loss, also a big loss again for the Dallas Mavericks.
02:13Another injury for them. Daniel Gafford, one of their best big men, out six weeks, 12.7 rebounds a game.
02:20He's got a right MCL sprain. It looks like two months for Gafford.
02:25But meanwhile, what was in the water last night with the Dallas Mavericks not having Anthony Davis, Gafford, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson?
02:34I mean, somehow the Mavericks beat the Miami Heat last night with basically no one.
02:39The final 118 to 113. The Heat has now lost four straight games to go into the break.
02:44Tyler Hero had 40 points. He missed the game tying shot. Dante Exum was the high score last night for Dallas.
02:52Eric Spolstro, absolutely looking for answers after that one.
02:56It seemed like another one of those games. You got up four, you got up six.
02:59You were positioned to do something and then almost within a flash every time you came back.
03:04Why does that keep happening?
03:06We need to have our breakthrough. We talked about it. We were actually plus seven when they called the timeout.
03:12They went on an 8-0 run, then it ended up being another 6-0 run.
03:16I believe it was 14 and 15 straight.
03:21We just have to be better. We have to be better with our execution, intentionality, with what we're trying to do offensively.
03:28I understand it wasn't going to be a lot of precision execution either way because both teams were just switching everything and taking away all the triggers.
03:36But intentionality obviously needed to be better.
03:39And then we always talk about it. You can alleviate a lot of that stuff with just multiple stops in a row.
03:49But it happened fast. By the time I called that timeout it was a minute and a half, 8-0 run.
03:55And we're going to correct that. We're going to get better.
04:01We have enough experience with it now. Our guys are fully aware of it.
04:07Everybody wants to be better in these situations when we're up.
04:11We'll take a few days off and I'll get to work. Staff will get to work.
04:19We'll do what we need to do. I promise we're going to correct this.
04:24We shall see. A tough time for the Miami Heat right now.
04:27Good time for the Golden State Warriors as Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry are helping that team win 27 points last night for Golden State.
04:35How about the spread? It was 6 and the final score 105-98.
04:39The odds makers certainly know what they're doing.
04:41Warriors took an 11-2 run to go up 11 and then Houston sort of stormed back in this one.
04:48It was actually 88-86 with 7 minutes to go.
04:51Jimmy Butler played big in this one and there was some thought that maybe Butler would not get along with former champ Draymond Green.
04:59Still with the Golden State Warriors but Green in some shades last night after the game did not throw any shade toward Butler.
05:05He's a franchise changer. He's done it everywhere he's gone and he is helping revitalize what we got here.
05:17The belief amongst this team now that he's arrived as opposed to what it was before he got here is night and day.
05:25We let one get away last night but this one tonight we would have lost.
05:30Just having a guy like that changes everything for us.
05:34After four games, what was the word you used? Evaluation? No, assessment.
05:42The assessment is great.
05:46Where's your chemistry level? It looks like you guys are developing that chemistry.
05:51It's getting there. It takes a while but Jimmy over communicates which is great.
05:56He doesn't leave anything in the gray area. He comes like, hey, so what was I supposed to do there?
06:00What did you want me to do there? He over communicates about every play.
06:04A sign of a true leader. I love what he's bringing to this team.
06:10As a leader, coming in and being that guy and not just taking the back seat because that's what we need.
06:16Chemistry is definitely getting there. It will take some more time and we'll continue to figure it out.
06:23Like I said before, we're all winners. We're all smart basketball players so we can figure it out.
06:32Warriors have figured it out through the years.
06:35It looks like the Clippers figured it out at least for one night.
06:38Just give the ball to Norman Powell and let him do his thing.
06:41Didn't see that one coming. 41 points for Norman Powell last night.
06:44James Harden had 32. Clippers come back in overtime to beat the Utah Jazz by 4.
06:49C.J. McCullum, by the way, big games for a lot of guys last night. 43 points.
06:52Pelicans over the Kings. So much scoring this season. 140 to 133 in overtime.
06:58Juju Watkins has a huge game. USC in college basketball rallies to beat top-ranked UCLA.
07:05The Trojans win 71-60 in that game. Also Derek Queen had 24 points in Lincoln.
07:12Maryland beats Nebraska 83-75.
07:14Memphis extends their winning streak to eight games.
07:17They beat South Florida. Final score 80-65.
07:21Light night tonight in college basketball. Usually the case ahead of all the big games tomorrow.
07:26Lots of news in Major League Baseball, especially with all the pitchers and catchers not just reporting,
07:31but throwing on the mound this week. Full squads coming up next week in games next weekend in spring training.
07:36Yes, it's really happening. The Dodgers have finalized their contract with Clayton Kershaw.
07:40It's a one-year, $7.5 million. He's 32 strikeouts away from 3,000.
07:45At some point he'll pitch this season. Nobody really knows when.
07:48The Brewers have named Freddie Peralta their opening day starter for their second straight year.
07:53The Marlins have named Sandy Alcantara, no huge surprise, their opening day starter.
07:57And the Padres make a move signing the equivalent of what the KBO Cy Young Award is.
08:03It is Kyle Hart who signs a one-year deal with the Padres.
08:07And also this morning it was announced that Joey Gallo was coming back for another season
08:11as he signs a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox.
08:16Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid. I'm Craig Misham.
08:19Sam Quillen is with us from Legal Sports Report. We'll get into an update on the state of Texas,
08:23more cease and desist issued to offshore sportsbooks,
08:26and the very latest on DraftKings' winnings at the Super Bowl.
08:30Thanks again, Sam, for coming on the show.
08:33Thanks for making the appearance here on this very busy Valentine's Day edition of Newswire.
08:39And love is in the air in DraftKings.
08:42They made some big historic financial numbers during the big game, didn't they?
08:48Yeah, certainly, Craig. Thanks for having me.
08:50DraftKings just last night announced their quarter four earnings for 2024,
08:56as well as the full entire year outlook of kind of how they did and where they are going to go going forward.
09:02But the big news here is that the stock market really loved what they heard.
09:06DraftKings right now is up to $53 a share on the stock exchange,
09:11which is its highest price it's been in three and a half years.
09:14So investors are really loving what they heard.
09:17Some of what they heard is that revenue was up 13 percent in the fourth quarter,
09:21which was ahead of Wall Street's expectations.
09:24And it was also the company's first ever full year of profit with $181 million in EBITDA,
09:31which was up from $151 million in losses last year.
09:36So for a long time, we've talked about these sports betting companies making these huge investments,
09:41asking Wall Street and their investors for more money.
09:44And, you know, you have your first year of one of the major ones really taking home a lot of profit,
09:49which is kind of interesting when you talk about what happened during the fourth quarter and this past season.
09:55NFL obviously is the most popular sport to bet on.
09:58But DraftKings, as well as FanDuel and everybody else, got just absolutely killed on NFL results.
10:05This was the first time in 40 years that favorites won 75 percent of their games in a week at least 10 times.
10:14So that's 10 out of 17 weeks where the favorites just overwhelmingly won.
10:19And obviously the public loves to back favorites.
10:22So that's been kind of what we talked about all NFL season was the public just keeps winning.
10:27But it's not a big concern for the stock market.
10:30They see that as what we call an industry headwind, just something that can happen.
10:34The fact that it's the first time it happened in about 40 years.
10:38People seem to be thinking that speaks less to the public necessarily getting better at sports betting and just kind of a random happenstance,
10:45crapshoot occurrence. So it's interesting that they posted such low hold and bad results in the NFL.
10:52But Wall Street still really loved what they heard.
10:55This was DraftKings' best Super Bowl ever, which is no surprise considering what we talked about on Wednesday with,
11:02you know, the public just getting absolutely killed on player props and same game parlays despite winning on the major market.
11:08So that's another big sign for the industry. And a good sign for DraftKings is people continue to bet more and more parlays.
11:14It hasn't stopped yet. And it's really helped them mitigate some of those headwinds.
11:18So it's a really good outlook so far to start the year for DraftKings.
11:22And going forward, I'm sure they'll try to build on momentum with customer acquisition.
11:26They just bought the online lottery retailer JackPocket, which so far has produced good returns for them,
11:32though customers are spending at a little lower than they typically do on iGaming or sports betting because, you know, lottery tickets are cheaper.
11:40So they're going to try to expand the business that way and hope for a more favorable NBA season and MLB season once that gets underway.
11:48Yeah, agreed. I mean, we could say the public was very lucky this season.
11:51You don't have to say any other words, Sam, for that. Winning a lot with favorites is luck.
11:57All right. So bad luck, we learned this morning in the state of Minnesota, maybe some good luck coming from Texas.
12:03You know, Sam, I would not have predicted that Texas could legalize sports betting before the state of Minnesota,
12:08but it sure seems like there is at least a stronger possibility in Texas getting something on the bill with the results from Minnesota yesterday.
12:16Yeah, you want to talk about luck in a crapshoot. It's which state is going to legalize sports betting next.
12:21You know, one day you hear that Minnesota is close to doing it.
12:24Then you hear that Texas, a state you think will never do it, is inching towards it as well.
12:28So Texas, you know, they introduced a bill this week which would allow the legislature to amend the state constitution to then legalize gambling.
12:38So essentially this would have to pass first the House, then the Senate.
12:42Then it would go towards voters in November on the ballot, and they would get to essentially pick whether or not they want sports betting legalized.
12:49Now, whenever sports betting has actually been able to get to the ballot in the state, it's usually passed.
12:54California is the only time it hasn't happened.
12:56And that was a very interesting, unique circumstance with the tribes and everything over there.
13:01But in Texas, this has been tried before.
13:04The legislature only meets in odd years, which is very strange.
13:08So that's been a big roadblock to getting this done.
13:11But beyond that, it's been the lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who has pretty much said that he will not be in favor of any gambling expansion.
13:20And the reason that's important is because he presides over the Senate.
13:23He basically determines what gets a vote, what even the Senate gets to take up.
13:27So as of right now, he's very aligned with the religious kind of right wing, old south base in Texas that doesn't want gambling expansion.
13:36That could change possibly.
13:38There was some speculation about whether he would be leaving.
13:41But as of right now, he's against it.
13:43So while this is a good kind of momentum, at least to bring the idea to the table, it's really going to take him turning around.
13:49But Texas has got a lot of attention as of late.
13:51The Adelman's obviously own the Dallas Mavericks now.
13:54They also own half of the publicly traded gambling companies.
13:58So they have a lot of influence and a lot of big reason to want sports betting legalized.
14:02Jerry Jones owns Cowboys, has been a big proponent, as well as Mark Cuban, former owner of the Mavs.
14:08And we're really seeing the companies themselves focus on Texas as something they want to get over the finish line this year.
14:16But it's all going to come down to politics at the end of the day.
14:19Governor's in favor of it.
14:21They're getting more support.
14:23But unless the lieutenant governor changes his mind, it might be another uphill battle this year for Texas.
14:29All right.
14:30Well, maybe 2026, which is not right around the corner, by the way.
14:34No, it is not.
14:36Okay.
14:37So Michigan has some new cease and desist as far as the offshore sportsbooks are concerned, telling them that you can't operate in our state anymore.
14:47You know, I see a list of about eight, nine here, Sam, and I've only really heard of one of them.
14:54So, you know, the one that I've heard of is BetDSI years ago.
14:59I'm familiar with them.
15:00But needless to say, what's really fascinating is that these cease and desist are being taken seriously, as we've talked about a month ago, two months ago.
15:08I did not anticipate these offshore sportsbooks saying, okay, you know, we're done.
15:13They must have really been threatened to be like, hey, like you're going to be going to jail if you don't get out because they're following the rules.
15:20Yeah, it's been one of the more underrated kind of plot lines we've seen develop over the past year is offshore sportsbooks that are still very active.
15:28Like just because you legalize sports betting doesn't mean these websites are going to go away.
15:32And they certainly haven't.
15:33They've kind of thrived off of this, you know, popularity of legal sports betting in general, saying, hey, you know, we also exist out here and blurring the lines.
15:41And to your point, it's been really hard for states to enforce or take any action against them.
15:46But lately, they've been going away when the states tell them to.
15:49We have nine more websites were issued cease and desist orders by Michigan regulators just this past week, which now brings the total list to about 17, including some other major ones like Bovada.
16:00And everyone has always said, you know, there's nothing that's going to make them comply.
16:04These are websites that exist not in the U.S.
16:07There's no real teeth for these regulators to go after them.
16:10It would take federal regulators, too.
16:12And federal regulators have a ton of other things they've been dealing with.
16:15This is very low on their list.
16:16So to see these websites respond and say, OK, we're going to leave immediately really makes you think why they're going to leave, because these states don't have that much power and kind of makes you wonder why this hasn't been done earlier.
16:30But it is spreading to other states.
16:32Other states, about 17 now, have taken some action against offshore sports books, and most of them, as far as I know, have complied.
16:40So it's been states where sports betting has been legal, states where sports betting is illegal as well.
16:46So you have to wonder if something's coming to a head here, when these websites stop responding, or if this is quite simply the answer to get rid of unregulated offshore sports betting is just to tell them to leave, and they say, OK, we'll take our business somewhere else.
16:59Yeah.
17:00I think there are things we do not know about this situation.
17:03Definitely right about that.
17:06It seems too easy to see these sports books leaving, when for years they wouldn't leave.
17:13Now all of a sudden they've just decided, OK, we're gone.
17:15I don't know.
17:16I wish I knew the answer, but we may never know.
17:18Sam, thanks again for coming on Newswire.
17:20I appreciate it.
17:21Yeah, thanks a lot, Greg.