FanDuel has a player database of 6 millon US sports gamers, while Paddy Power Betfair owns the TVG networks.
FanDuel Group plans to launch a series of sports betting TV shows on the TVG and TVG2 cable networks. The decision to broadcast sports betting-related programming comes less than a month after FanDuel’s merger with Paddy Power Betfair Plc.
Matt King, the new CEO of FanDuel, said, “We are going to be investing heavily in content. There’s a lot of different formats we can distribute through and a lot of different channels.”
FanDuel rivals William Hill USA and DraftKings both are planning partnership deals with US casinos and racetracks, so they might well follow suit with bookmaker-related programs. FanDuel has a major leg up in the competition, though, due to its new relationship with Paddy Power Betfair.
TVG and TVG2 have broadcast horse and dog racing-related programs out of the Meadowlands and Tioga Downs racetracks for 10 years, so Paddy Power Betfair has knowledge of the New York and New Jersey betting markets. Paddy Power Betfair signed deals with Jeff Gural, who owns both racetracks, to operate sportsbooks out of those venues. Meadowlands is open, though Tioga Downs must wait for New York to approve sports betting.
Television Games Network (TVG) History
Paddy Power Betfair owns the TVG and TVG2 cable networks. Television Games Network (TVG) began broadcasting racebook betting programs in 1999. At the time, TVG was owned by the Universal Video Satellite Group, which also owned TV Guide Magazine and TV Guide Network.
Gemstar International Group Ltd. bought Universal Video Satellite Network later in 1999, but itself was bought by Macrovision in 2007. In 2008, Paddy Power Betfair purchase bought TVG from Macrovision.
Network Includes 15 US States
To promote horse betting, TVG and TVG2 operated a fictional betting site, TVGfree.net, which operated in 15 US states which banned horse betting. TVGfree.net worked much like the .net freeplay betting sites now operated by Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. The idea was to promote the brand name and build a potential customer database, if ever horse betting was legal in those states.
Though TVGfree.net closed operations in 2012, TVG and TVG2 are well-placed to promote sports betting in the United States. On May 14, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Betting Act (PASPA), which banned sports gambling in 46 US states.
FanDuel’s Current Audience
At the present, New Jersey, Delaware, and Mississippi have legalized land-based sportsbooks. New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia have sports betting bills in their state legislatures. Nevada, Oregon, and Montana also have various forms of sports betting, which are holdovers from their PASPA exemptions. Delaware also had an exemption, but changed its laws from sports lotteries to single-game sports bets.
Several finacial analysts estimate that 18 to 20 US states will legalized sportsbooks in the next 5 years. Eilers & Krejcik, a gaming analyst firm, estimates that 44 states will legalize sports betting in the next 7 years.
VSiG’s Sports Betting Programming
If so, then the TVG and TVG2 networks could become prime sources for sports betting information. Few other dedicated sources exist at the moment for sports betting news. Vegas Sports & Information Network (VSiN) is the one notable exception. VSiN was founded by Brent Musburger in 2017 to broadcast bookmaker programming. It since has signed a print media deal to provide sports betting information to the New York Post seven days a week.
When dozens of states legalize sports betting, viewers can expect to see national sports broadcasters like ESPN and Fox Sports to launch sports betting programs, as well. It is incumbant for FanDuel TV and VSiN to build a brand name recognition before that happens. American viewers prefer specialized programs to the more homogenous, watered-down programming on the mainstream sports networks, but they have to know a program exists before they’ll watch it.
US Sportsbook Expansion
Sports betting appears to be on the verge of a huge expansion. Already, Caesars Entertainment Corp., MGM Resorts International, and Penn National Gaming Inc. have plans for multi-million dollar sports-betting facilities at casinos in states such as New Jersey, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania (which has enabling legislation).
William Hill plans to open a sportsbook in the Palace Casino Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. Keith Crosby, the general manager of the Palace Casino Resort, said the partners’ plan is to open a sportsbook by late-August, in time for the college football season. Set in the heart of SEC football country, Keith Crosby said American football betting season is most important, because SEC football “is like a religion down here.”
