Raiders president, Barstool Sports CEO cover sports betting at G2E

Sports betting is entering a new era as more states legalize the practice and online betting allows for more people to place bets outside of traditional sportsbooks.

And how the industry is changing was discussed during the Global Gaming Expo’s Wednesday keynote featuring Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini and Las Vegas Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan.

Both executives said increasing the offerings for sports betting helps the gaming industry since sports bettors tend to be in a younger demographic.

The American Gaming Association reported that 45 percent of people that placed a traditional sports bet are between the ages of 23 and 34, and 39 percent of Americans over 21 years old could be a potential sports bettors.

“We’re creating the first generation of legal American sports bettors, we really are, and that’s a big responsibility,” Nardini said.

The sports betting industry has grown rapidly across the U.S. since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for states beyond Nevada to offer legalized betting on professional sports. Since then, more than 30 states and Washington D.C. offer sports betting. A recent poll found 66 percent of Americans support betting on pro sports.

“It’s still a nascent industry, those regulatory structures are still growing and being tested,” Douglass Morgan said. “And so it needs to be a balanced approach.”

American Gaming Association CEO Bill Miller, who led the keynote, spoke with Nardini on how she has guided Barstool’s social media strategy.

“If your brand or company or product, your mission wants attention, you have to be able to use and understand social media to get it,” Nardini said.

This focus around betting can be good for sports, Douglass Morgan said, as long as it doesn’t impact the integrity of the games being played and doesn’t become a nuisance for non-betting fans. BetMGM became the first official sports betting partner of the Raiders in 2020.

“Thirty-one jurisdictions now have approved sports wagering, and so it’s a balance for people that are watching those games,” Douglass Morgan said. “So how much is too much?”

Nardini said for sports betting to ingratiate itself to the public it needs to avoid the messaging strategy of other industries.

“I think the worst thing that can happen to the sports betting industry is for it to be like a credit card industry or the airline industry,” she said. “Which is you’re screaming a bunch of offers and (to) consumers in very traditional formats.”

Barstool launched its sportsbook in 2020, and it’s currently licensed to take bets in 13 states, according to its website.

Nardini said Barstool has always been a “renegade brand” due to the brash nature of its content that’s aimed at younger people. She said its reputation made it difficult to establish business relationships with other companies even though it worked with MGM Resorts International and DraftKings, before partnering with Penn Entertainment Inc.

“When we met Penn, it really clicked, this could be a partnership,” she said. “There were a lot of things that we needed. We needed guns. We needed money. We needed steel. We needed backing. And (Penn) needed a brand and story, and it was a very good marriage in that regard.”

“Now we’ve built this thing. It’s like where you put it into use? And we’ll work closely with Penn to figure out what that looks like.”

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on Twitter.