Covers Buys SportsBookReview, Shuts Down Picks Dept: Howe No! FanDuel CEO Stirs Things Up in Epic Fashion
It was utter bedlam following a Q&A at this past week's SBC North America Sports Betting Summit as sports bettors took issue with FanDuel CEO Amy Howe's wild claim that 25% of gamblers betting offshore get stiffed. Our Twitter feed exploded.
But not everyone was on the same page.
SandyBestDog tweeted:
I see absolutely no incentive being made by the offshores to keep customers. The sites are outdated and hard to navigate and the banking options are non existent. I literally just went to CVS and sent Maria in Costa Rica a moneygram. No square customer will ever choose offshore.
— Sandybestdog (@Sandybestdog) July 15, 2022
Controversy is Good
FanDuel CEO caused quite a ruckus at this past week's SBC North America Sports Betting Summit with her remarks related to 25% of offshore sports bettors getting stiffed, something refuted by noted pro bettor Gadoon "Spanky" Kyrollos. In the end, though, she was the star of the show along with Gambling911 friend "Mattress Mack", Houston's beloved high rolling furniture store guru.
SportsBook Review Purchased by Covers?
Sometimes we are the last to know, but in recent days folks have been telling us that Halifax-based Covers.com had acquired SportsBookReview, the popular sportsbook review site that is almost as old as Gambling911.
By Monday we were learning that Covers.com had shut down its picks department, per WagerTalk.
@WagerTalk Lawrence Prezman confirms that Covers .com is closing their picks service. https://t.co/K1HSydUzxD via @YouTube
— gambling911 (@gambling911) July 18, 2022
The Prez breaks the news right around the 5 minute mark above.
For years they were a staple in the world of offshore sports betting, as was Covers.com for that matter.
With regulation in the U.S. sports betting market, Cover was quick to switch focus from offshore to U.S. regulated but SBR was much slower. They did so back in October of this past year. The initial rationale is that they were looking to be bought out by a major media company serving the U.S.
Covers is big but Bettors Collective, Catena Media and the Gambling.com Group are widely considered the "big three" in the world of sports betting affiliate media.
SportsBookReview abruptly dropped all mention of offshore sportsbooks, as if they did not even exist. Their popular forum still offers discussion of offshore books.
Gambling911.com has not confirmed this news and we can't find anything in search pointing in this direction. Perhaps it's just a case of us being last to get the memo, who knows.
The people telling us at last week's conference seemed surprised as well.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
