Sports gambling

I’m off to Vegas today to watch my Huskies take on the Ducks in the Pac-12 championship game. It’s going to be really nice to reconnect with friends and have some fun. It was only a little more than a month that we were away in Croatia, but it felt like a lot longer.

On a similar, but related topic… sports gambling is beginning to take off here in the U.S. This football season has been a bit different in that the major networks like ESPN are now actively talking about and promoting gambling. It’s a pretty wild departure from even a few years ago.

The degenerate economy is trending and growing. I don’t gamble often, but I dabble especially when I go to Tahoe or Vegas. By comparison, I’m a very mild gambler but I do love it. I have a hard time not seeing sports gambling grow significantly in the next 5-10 years. Put simply, it’s just too much fun and there’s too much money to be made.

In terms of investing in this trend, my initial thoughts are that the big casinos and existing players will benefit the most. They have the money and means to capture market share quickly. I have been a holder of DraftKings stock for a few years now and I am long.

I have seen quite a few startups raising money that’s trying to capitalize on the trend. Most are startups doing some variation of fantasy or gambling on the games. I do find them interesting, but it seems much more like a flash in the pan. I have a hard time seeing why the big players don’t just implement their own games in their apps to compete directly. For that reason, I’m staying away from angel investments in the space for now.