*By Michael Teich*
New Jersey is on track to overtake Las Vegas as the new sports betting mecca, Darren Rovell, senior executive producer at The Action Network, told Cheddar in an interview Friday.
With fewer than 7 months of sports betting on its books, New Jersey is expected to hit $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion in bets by the end of the year, Rovell said.
"As a comparison, Nevada is $4.7 billion," he added. "I think New Jersey and Pennsylvania will pass Nevada by 2022."
Bettors in the Garden State have been piling on the wagers. New Jersey just closed out its best month ever, attracting $330.7 million in bets during the month of November.
Mobile betting has been a key driving force in the growth of sports betting. Since June, 58 percent of dollars bet in New Jersey have been made digitally, and the number is climbing higher.
"Seventy-two percent of New Jersey money in November was on mobile, which is a better margin than a retail sportsbook," Rovell said.
DraftKings' early embrace of mobile betting put the daily fantasy sports app in a position to capture significant market share against rivals such as William Hill and FanDuel, Rovell said. The company brought in $7.1 million in gross revenue for New Jersey in November,.
"They have a real database of people who are daily fantasy players or as close to gamblers as you want, and it's active," he added.
The U.S. Supreme Court gave states the green light in May 2018 to legalize sports betting on individual events. Prior to the decision, Nevada was the only state where it was legal. Now, eight states have full-scale legalized sports betting: Nevada, New Mexico, Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
