No signs of slowing down for sports betting, industry leaders say

Sports betting is continuing its integration into modern sports culture, and industry leaders do not expect the growth to slow down any time soon.

Executives from FanDuel, Fanatics, DraftKings and Sportradar, a firm that provides data to sportsbooks, spoke at CNBC x Boardroom’s Game Plan sports business event on Tuesday afternoon, discussing state taxes, new betting trends and the companies’ obligations to police safe betting practices.

Of those three companies with sportsbooks, Fanatics is the most junior in the space. The Michael Rubin-led company launched its sportsbook last year and later acquired PointsBet’s U.S. assets as it plays catch-up to the others, which is not cheap.

“The good thing about Michael Rubin is he is not scared of making material investments when it’s something that he believes in, and so our view is we want to be a top three player,” Fanatics Betting and Gaming CEO Matt King told CNBC’s Contessa Brewer on stage.

Sports betting executives said they are also noticing that bettors are increasingly interested in placing wagers on individual players, as well as making real-time bets during whatever sporting event they are watching.

“I think you’ll continue to see sports fans engage more, you’ll see us focus and serve them more with more personalized bets and markets,” DraftKings chief business and growth officer Marie Donoghue said.

As much tailwind as sports betting companies have received from growing legalization and popularity across the country, taxes and ethical concerns have presented difficulties.

Several states have a 51% tax on sports betting companies, and Illinois recently approved a tax increase on sports betting revenue. DraftKings attempted to implement a surcharge on winning bets in some states, but the company quickly walked it back after competitor FanDuel’s parent company Flutter said it would not do the same.

Sports betting has also garnered negative headlines in recent months as professional sports leagues have struggled to effectively stop players from violating betting and gambling rules. Former NBA player Jontay Porter received a lifetime ban earlier this year for violating the league’s betting policy.

The speakers also addressed widespread concerns about whether the nature of sports betting companies’ business models discourages them from providing proper guardrails to stop gambling problems.

“We want to have a long-term sustainable business and if we are generating real-world bad impacts for our customers who have people who love them and are important to them in their lives and who they’re depending on, that’s not good for business,” said FanDuel president Christian Genetski.