A gaming company taking COVID-19 relief funds? As questionable as that sounds, that’s exactly what Ladbrokes did. We’ll start there as we recap this week’s casino news.
Ladbrokes Gathers $140 Million In COVID-19 Relief Funds
Ladbrokes has been considered one of the luckier businesses in terms of the financial hit that the COVID-19 pandemic brought them. Still, the company is accepting major contributions from the United Kingdom’s relief fund. Ladbrokes’ parent company Entain, which just saw revenue of $4.87 billion during the 2020 year, apparently required relief funds for some reason. Remember, they also increased that revenue by eight percent in 2021. That’s what makes it so peculiar that they needed to take a large government handout to negate the COVID-19 effects.
While the acceptance certainly raises some eyebrows, the company didn’t break any laws by taking the money. It isn’t likely to be that huge of a deal moving forward, but stranger things have happened.
Gaming operators all over the world have been getting stronger as time passes by. Crown Resorts in Australia had just brought in $208 million in revenue. Star Entertainment helped add to that by providing $112.17 million of their own. It doesn’t seem like there is a huge public outcry about those, so don’t expect Ladbrokes to see any type of backlash.
FanDuel, DraftKings Miss Out On The Athletic
FanDuel and DraftKings, two of the largest sportsbook operators, have been battling it out with content and acquisitions throughout all of 2021. That’s why it’s surprising that both are missing out on a pretty coveted asset in the media industry: The Athletic. Both companies weren’t able to get their hands on The Athletic as it instead was sold to The New York Times for $550 million. The Athletic is a subscription-based service that provides sports media coverage and is backed by numerous investors.
The Athletic was hoping to get sold for more than $550 million as their initial price tag sitting at $750 million. It isn’t currently known if either DraftKings or FanDuel made an offer, but if they did, it must have been a lot lower than what was agreed upon.
While it may seem like a missed opportunity, neither of these sports betting giants are hurting in terms of control in the media world. DraftKings purchased Vegas Sports Information Network (also known as VSIN) as well has invested in Meadowlark Media. They also even tried to grab The Action Network on top of that. FanDuel, on the other hand, inked a large $30 million annual deal with the Pat McAfee Show just a few weeks ago.
Crypto Site ‘Stake’ Pushes UK Sports Betting
Crypto sportsbook Stake continues to expand and bring this type of gaming to the mainstream. They are now arriving in the UK and they are already hoping to push the envelope on cryptocurrency and sports betting in the country. The company has turned to marketing to make a big push by partnering up with Swindon Town FC, the soccer club.
Stake just got approval to set up shop in the UK and have since started to build their brand awareness. They partnered up with The Gaming Platform Europe to ease their transition a little bit in terms of iGaming operations. Stake provides a wide array of sports betting and iGaming options and is one of the few sites to embrace cryptocurrency on their platform.
Stake also has been talking about introducing more unique markets and ideas to the table in the future. Some include the possibility to bet on eSports events, political elections and even entertainment award shows like the Grammy’s. They are hoping to be the first to do a lot of these things.
