Money ball
World Cup could generate up to $4.1bn in handle, says Deutsche Bank
More games and expanded OSB footprint will boost the take, say analysts.
In +More: Polymarket launches prediction markets for private companies.
Reset the clock: Bally’s Intralot seeks more time for Evoke, releases Q1s.
Venture playground: DrawHouse is the in-focus growth company.
Hard Rock Bet is growing – we know you know! And we want to bring in some more maestros to make beautiful music in our Sportsbook. You need to be among the very best in the industry to be considered for these roles. Are you up to it?
Attention grabber
Soccernomics: The confluence of a record number of games, a wider OSB legalization footprint, the benefits of viewer-friendly kick-off times and a potential influx of new bettors could push the handle from the upcoming World Cup to $4.1bn.
Such is the bull case estimate from the analysts at Deutsche Bank, who suggested the handle figure for this year’s tournament could be at least 150% of the $1.6bn from Qatar 2022.
The analysts’ base case of $3.3bn is still more than double the number from 2022 while the bear case is $2.5bn, still nearly $1bn above the handle from the Qatar event.
A marathon, not a sprint: The analysts noted there are 104 matches scheduled to take place from June 11-July 19 in this year’s expanded tournament, compared to just 64 games in 2022.
Meanwhile, the DB team pointed out that the percentage of the US population now with access to legalized OSB has grown by 30% since 2022 to ~135 million.
This expansion also helped explain the potential influx of new bettors.
Lastly, the analysts said handle would also benefit from the favorable time zones and increased media coverage/fan engagement for a World Cup hosted across North America.
Note: As part of its calculations, Deutsche Bank relied on data from Kalshi suggesting there is a 42% chance that the USA team reaches the last 16.
The group stage: By operator, the Deutsche Bank team estimated FanDuel would see an incremental $1.3bn of handle from the World Cup, with DraftKings closely behind on $1.1bn and BetMGM trailing in third on $250m.
Back of the net: Speaking to analysts at MoffetNathanson, DraftKings CFO Alan Ellingson said last week it would be “interesting” to see how the World Cup plays out, suggesting it was a “fantastic” engagement and acquisition opportunity.
“With all the improvements we’ve made to the app, I think we will have a great experience out of it,” he added.
Rob Coldrake, CFO at Flutter Entertainment, expressed similar sentiments, saying there is a “bit of a misconception sometimes that the World Cup is a huge profit-making machine.”
“We view it more as a customer acquisition event,” he added, before suggesting it would pay back “future revenue” over time.
The European game: In Europe, the World Cup is also starting to loom large on the horizon of the operators. On its Q1 call on Monday evening, the CEO of Banijay, Francois Riahi, said the tournament “represents a major catalyst for the business, with an expanded format featuring more teams, more games and a longer competition expected to drive significant player acquisition and engagement.”
“It is widely expected to be the biggest sports-betting event in history, and we are extremely well positioned to take advantage,” he added.
Banijay Gaming now incorporates Tipico and Admiral under its banner alongside Betclic.
Going to penalties: Back in late April, Stella David, CEO at Entain, was slightly more cautious on the effect of a longer tournament on the bottom line. “It will be great for volumes but it’s going to be a bit of a roller-coaster ride,” she said.
“With more teams, margins could be wildly fluctuating because there’ll be high-scoring lopsided games.”
Yet, that will settle down as the tournament progresses with more equally based games.
“There’ll be some lovely upsides there, particularly given that most of our markets are in the World Cup.”
Octoplay has launched in Georgia through a strategic partnership with Adjarabet, the country’s leading operator. 🇬🇪
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Polymarket has launched prediction markets tied to private companies using data from Nasdaq Private Market, allowing users to trade on company valuations, IPO timelines and secondary market activity. Initial markets include firms such as OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic and Stripe. Polymarket said the partnership gives retail users exposure to private-market sentiment across companies representing more than $5trn in combined value, while Nasdaq Private Market will provide settlement and valuation data for the contracts.
Worth a read: ‘Prediction markets are the new public markets, by Bloomberg’s Matt Levine. ”We seem to be reaching the end of securities regulation.”
Sporttrade is shutting down its sports-betting exchange business as the company pivots toward prediction markets. Founded in 2018, Sporttrade positioned itself as an exchange modeled on financial markets but more recently CEO Alex Kane has argued that federally regulated prediction markets such as Kalshi created an uneven playing field. Earlier this year, Sporttrade petitioned the CFTC for approval to operate nationally as a derivatives platform.
DraftKings is closing its retail sportsbook at Wrigley Field – home of the Chicago Cubs – around three years after launch, citing Illinois’ high operating costs and tax structure. The operator said the economics no longer justified investment in a standalone retail venue, though it remains committed to serving mobile sportsbook customers in the state.
Evolution has launched a €2bn share repurchase program running through to its 2027 annual general meeting. The supplier also secured a three-year €300m senior unsecured revolving credit facility from JPMorgan Chase and Citibank Europe, which it said would preserve financial flexibility.
Help the aged: BoyleSports is exploring a potential sale and has begun circulating details to prospective buyers for its 200+ UK & Ireland shops and its online business, according to Next. The operator’s assets include around 390 retail betting shops across the UK and Ireland alongside its online business. The article cited the age of founder John Boyle, 70, and the growing capital demands of regulation as key drivers behind the move.
Earnings in brief
Playtech reported a strong start to 2026 in its AGM update, with trading momentum continuing through the first four months of the year across regulated markets in the Americas and Europe. The company highlighted particularly strong performances in the US and Mexico, alongside solid growth in its Live segment. CEO Mor Weizer said the company was “well positioned to capture the significant market opportunity ahead.”
Bally’s Intralot
Time added on: Bally’s Intralot reported its first clean post-Bally’s International Interactive (BII) consolidation quarter on Tuesday, alongside news on Monday evening that the deadline for a firm offer for Evoke has been pushed back to June 8, with scope for further extension subject to Evoke’s consent.
The 50p-per-share proposal first announced on April 20 is unchanged and is still expected to comprise an all-share combination with a partial cash alternative.
Bally’s Intralot said it reserves the right to vary the price, consideration mix and structure.
Trading through the news flow: The news of the extension came ahead of the Q1 numbers, which showed revenue of €268m, up from €95.6m, reflecting the consolidation of BII. Adj. EBITDA of €100m was up 6% YoY.
Within that, UK online grew 10.5% on a constant-currency basis, with preliminary post-new UK iCasino tax revenue in April up 11.5% YoY to £52m
Excluding BII, legacy revenue of €84.2m was down 12% reported and 7.1% in constant currency, with legacy adj. EBITDA of €27.5m.
The legacy B2B segment adj. EBITDA was broadly flat at €20.4m despite a 6.2% constant-currency revenue decline in the US on softer lottery activity.
Legacy B2C revenue of €21m reflected the impact of an amendment to Bilyoner’s remuneration structure in Turkey.
The company also flagged two recent contract wins: a 15-year EGM monitoring license in Victoria, Australia and a contract of up to 12 years with Polla Chilena.
Liquidity stood at €417m, comprising €257m total cash and €160m of undrawn RCF capacity while net debt closed at €1.49bn, with the pro forma adj. leverage ratio at 3.5x.
Bally’s Corporation
Going to the zoo: During Q1, Bally’s received its gaming facility license from the New York State Gaming Commission for Bally’s Bronx and paid the $500m statutory New York license fee, committed $115m in contingent consideration for the golf course concession and secured roughly 16 acres of parkland.
The 3-million-square-foot site, targeted to open by 2030, will feature a 500-room hotel, 2,000-seat event center and 18-hole golf course.
Bally’s Chicago, meanwhile, “topped out” in April and, according to CEO Robeson Reeves, made “substantial progress.”
Q1 revenue rose 28% YoY to $756m, lifted by the Intralot transaction and the Queen Casino acquisition; pro forma combined growth was 24%. Casinos & Resorts revenue rose 8.1% to $380m, with segment adj. EBITDAR up 1.2% to $96.2m.
North America Interactive grew 35.9% to $60.5m.
On financing, Bally’s closed a new $1.1bn credit facility due 2031 and completed the Lincoln Casino sale-leaseback with GLP Capital, using proceeds alongside Intralot cash to retire its $1.47bn 2028 term loan.
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Banijay
Taking shape: Banijay’s sports-betting and gaming arm delivered double-digit revenue growth in Q1 despite a meaningful French betting tax headwind and unfavorable sports results, with revenue climbing 17.3% on a constant-currency basis to €433m.
See yesterday’s Earnings Extra (PRO subs only).
Genius Sports predictions
Hitting the benchmark: An analyst note suggesting that Genius Sports’ positioning regarding prediction markets would be validated by engagement between the NFL and the CFTC over PM regulation provided a 20%-plus boost to the share price on Monday.
The team at Benchmark said the recent commentary aligns with Genius’ position as official league data provider.
Zona mista: The team also noted that Polymarket recently partnered with Italian soccer league Serie A, which is another of Genius’ official data partners. The Serie A agreement is “likely one component of a broader commercial relationship being formulated between Genius and Polymarket as the ecosystem matures,” the team wrote.
Noting the lack of an official press release from Genius, Benchmark speculated that this “may suggest the parties are working toward a broader commercial framework beyond a single league arrangement.”
They argued this is supported by Genius’ “repeated references to a growing prediction markets pipeline” as well as Polymarket’s “aggressive push to establish official league relationships ahead of the upcoming EPL season and NFL season.”
Venture playground
Funding news
Press the Flesch: Ex-888ers Daniel Flesch and Elad Dvir have unveiled a new startup studio called Sparley Interactive, which will focus on P2P games and hopes to announce operator launches by end of the year following investment.
Via LinkedIn, the company said it has recently signed up two pre-seed investors, providing a “strong vote of confidence.”
“At Sparley Interactive we’re building something genuinely different, something you’ve never seen before,” the company said.
It added that “the door is still open to a limited number of further pre-seed investors.”
In focus – DrawHouse
Who are you? DrawHouse is a UK-based B2B prize draw supply business founded by Harry Collins, who also founded Network Gaming. The company is building a fully managed platform that allows operators, media companies, affiliates and marketing-led businesses to launch prize draw products quickly, with minimal operational or technical complexity – and aims to become the liquidity network for the prize draw vertical. DrawHouse came out of stealth in April 2026.
What’s the big idea? The UK prize draw market is already large and growing, but it remains highly fragmented, says Collins. “The product experience is often high-friction and the market lacks a dedicated infrastructure layer built for scale.”
DrawHouse is “designed to bring an iGaming mindset to the prize draw category” with better product UX, faster payments, stronger compliance and data-led optimization.
The key idea is networked liquidity, allowing multiple partners to benefit from shared prize pools.
“A media brand with a large audience, for example, can launch a prize draw product in days and access competitive prize liquidity from day one.”
KPIs: Collins points to two metrics: “The first is marketing payback period – measured in days – which reflects both acquisition efficiency and the quality of the product experience, and gives partners a clear benchmark to improve against,” he says.
“The second is whether customers are performing within their expected ROI brackets, with DrawHouse having the ability to intervene with bonusing and retention tools to bring engagement back in line.”
Funding backgrounder: DrawHouse has been backed to date by Network Gaming investors, using the capital and infrastructure already built through that business. The company is now in conversations with strategic partners, specifically those who can bring distribution reach, operator relationships and sector expertise alongside any investment.
Growth company news
In the game: A specialist training provider focused on marketing leadership in the gaming sector called the Edge Marketing Institute has officially launched alongside its flagship program, GAME (Gaming Advancement in Marketing Excellence).
Tequity Publishing has officially launched K-Pop Drop, the latest Burst game from Mirror Image Gaming. Launched earlier in May 2026, the title was initially available exclusively on Stake before rolling out to Tequity’s wider operator network this week.
Upcoming earnings
May 20: Better Collective (earnings), Playtech AGM
May 21: Better Collective (call), GiG Software, CIRSA
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