The Kevin Sheehan Show - Washington Wins 10+ Games If....

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

Kevin today with a list of 3 players who must play well for Washington to win 10 or more games in 2022. You'll hear Dan Snyder's first public comments in 6+ months plus Kevin had more on the timing of Sam Mills' firing, Kevin Durant, and he talked with sports betting expert Bennett Conlin from Sportshandle.com on what Snyder and the team accomplished this morning in front of the MD gaming commission.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. He is Kevin. Dan Snyder spoke today. He spoke today publicly for the first time in over six months. The last time we heard from him, I think, was on 2222.

The day they announced the new name, the day they unveiled all of the new branding. I think that's the last time we heard from Dan Snyder. this morning why he was speaking and what he said coming up, you will hear what he said. And the context in why, around why, he was speaking this morning. That's coming up here shortly on the show today. Don't forget to rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify. Apple in particular, if you can rate us five stars and write a quick one to two sentence review, it is a huge help.

I want to start the show, and it was not the way I was intending on starting the show, but I read this email right before the show started. It came from Kevin. He wrote, Kevin, Wentz Rivera, that's the list. Wentz has to be good. Rivera has to have been right on Wentz. If both of those things are true, it's 10 plus wins this year and for the next few years to come. Kevin, thank you for the email.

You can email me through the Kevin Sheehan Show.com website. You can also tweet me at Kevin Sheehan, D.C. If you're not following me on Twitter, give me a follow, as they say in the trade, at Kevin Sheen, D.C. And you can also, as mentioned, write us a review and ask us a question or make a comment as part of the review on Apple if you'd like to do that. So, Wence and Rivera, of course, of course. Wence, a big of course. If Wence doesn't play well, Washington's not going to have a good season, more likely than not.

And we've had the conversations about this being, you know, a pressure year for Ron Rivera, a referendum year for Ron Rivera, kind of a season for Ron Rivera where they better win more games than they lose or else. I don't know what the or else means. I personally don't see him getting fired. I think if Ron Rivera isn't the coach in 2023, it's because he retired after this upcoming season, not because he got fired.

But I think a lot of the faith that some in the fan base have, I have faith in him as a coach. I don't know if I have, yeah, I certainly don't have blind faith when it comes. to his ability to be a lead personnel guy. He's never been that. And so far, not so good, really, most of the key contributors on the team are still people who were picked prior to him getting here. I mean, the guy that we talked about all offseason who finally signed his contract extension, Terry McClure wasn't selected by this group. But Antonio Gibson was, and others were.

But of course, this is a big year for Rivera. You know, he's kind of put it out there that this is year three and it's time to put up or shut up. It's time to get the ball rolling on a sustained run. So he's kind of put that added pressure on himself. Nobody was really putting it on him at the end of the season last year. In fact, the expectations after his first year were much higher than they were following this year. But year three was the year he really started to turn it around and he started to win in Carolina and get to the playoffs on a regular basis over a five-year period. And he thinks that can happen this year. So we've had the conversation about referendum year, pressure year for Ron Rivera, et cetera, and the importance of Wence.

But it got me to thinking about players that have to have good years for this team to legitimately have a chance to win 10 or more games. Wence is number one on that list. You know, there's not a close number two. If Wence doesn't play well, this team's not going to be a good team. Because we know what's behind him. You know, we like Taylor Heineke, we love his gumption, we love his competitive spirit, I love his playmaking ability. If he starts the majority of games, they're not going to have a winning season more likely than not. I don't care about the improvement to the team around him. I don't care that the schedule is easier. He is not a bona fide and a F. F. starting quarterback. He's a backup. So if you play Taylor Heineke because it doesn't work out

with Wence, they're not going anywhere. This year is a lost year. Wence has to be good. The number one player on a short list of players that have to play well this year, if Washington's going to have a double-digit win season and contend for a playoff berth is Carson Wence. And as coach Thompson would say, count five spots until you get to number two because that's how distant number two is from number one. Wence is number one. Now, it becomes a matter of sort of what you think is important and what kind of team and how they'll play football and how they need to play football to win 10 plus games. It's kind of subjective after this.

It's not debatable on Wence being the number one influencer on a 10 plus. win season this year. But after that, I wrote down a short list of the players following wents that I think have to have really good seasons for them to have a chance to win double-digit games. Now, you know, if these guys don't play well, could they win eight games? Could they win nine? Could they be, you know, in contention until the final week of the season? Maybe. But to win double-digit games and have a legitimate good NFL season, 10 and 7, 11 and 6, 12, and 5. This list of players, and it's really a very short list, they have to play well, in my opinion. These are people right now that if they don't play well, I think it will be really hard for them

to win double-digit games. So number one is Wentz. Number two for me, may say, surprise you. Because it's at a position that, you know, some have kind of diminished in recent years in terms of importance, wide receivers, passing game, pass happy league. I think Antonio Gibson has to have a really good season if Washington's going to win double-digit games. He's number two on my list. He's the first player after Wentz. I think Antonio Gibson has, star potential. I think he's got much more star potential than Carson Wentz. I think in many ways his upside exceeds Terry McClurens. And I don't know about Jahan Dotson. I continue to hear things from camp that Dotson, for many people out there, has already proven he's legit NFL caliber and he is,

I was told by one person a few weeks back and I shared this with you, he's the best receiver on the team. Antonio Gibson has on offense, I think, the biggest potential in terms of becoming a real NFL star. I believe Terry McCorn can be that. I believe Logan Thomas can be that. I think Jehan Dodson can be that. Curtis Samuel all depends on health. Hard to really rely on that at this point.

In terms of their offensive linemen, I think Cosmi's got a chance. to be a real NFL star, a Pro Bowl right tackle. But Antonio Gibson, and I had Scott Turner, hopefully you listened to Scott Turner. I had him on radio and I played a lot of that back for you on Friday. I asked Scott Turner, how good can Antonio Gibson be? And this is what he said. You know, I'm not going to put any limitations on him because you're talking about a guy that had 33 carries coming out of college and has really carried the load for us now two years in a row, and you just see him getting better and better. He needs obviously, you know, take care of the ball security issues.

You know, we can't have the ball on the ground. And, you know, that end of the year last year, you really saw, you know, his vision is continuing to get better. And the more reps he has, the better he's going to be. and he's just seeing it over and over again. And that's really where you can go because you talk about he's 230 pounds. You know, he's a 4-4 or close to being a sub-4-4-guy. He's hard to tackle, you know. And when he's decisive and he puts his foot in the ground, he can run through tackles.

And then, you know, he also is – he can do a lot of things in the passing game as well. You know, he's got that background. So I just, I think that, you know, the sky's the limit for Antonio and we're just kind of seeing him scratch the surface. I loved hearing that from Scott Turner because as many of you have heard me say previously, I like Antonio Gibson. Of course I don't like the fumbling. And the fumbling, if it continues to be a problem, he's not going to be on the field. And they drafted a running back in the third round. You don't draft running backs in the third round or earlier

unless you think there's a legitimate chance of that player contributing sooner rather than later. But I think Gibson is everything Scott Turner believes he can be. I think his potential is unlimited. I think he can be a massive star at the position. And I think he's got to have a good year because I think for Carson Wentz, you've got to have a running game and you've got to be balanced

and they've got a weapon in Antonio Gibson. If he reaches that potential, and we see it over 17 games minus the fumbling, it's going to be massively impactful on the results of these games. Is he Derek Henry? Is he Dalvin Cook? Is he Christian McCaffrey? I don't know. I don't think he's Derek Henry.

I think there are similarities in many ways to Christian McCaffrey. I think his vision improved. McAfrey's got phenomenal vision. Unlike McCaffrey, he's got a fumbling problem. McCaffrey doesn't. They both have had, obviously, McCaffrey major staying on the field and being available issues. Gibson has to make sure that he's available. But Gibson is one of the players on the team that, to me, has A-plus potential. True star potential.

If Washington's going to win double-digit games this year, Wentz has to be good and Gibson has to be really good. I'm putting a lot of stock into a position that many of you would say she and it's a pass-happy league. Well, I think Gibson can become a part of that as well, more so than he has in the past. But I could see Gibson being near the top of the league in rushing. and by the way, in total yards as well. Last year, Jonathan Taylor, all right, Carson Wentz's running back, led the league in total all-purpose yards.

All right, he had over 2,000, had 2171 to be exact, 1,11 rushing, 360 receiving. You had Najee Harris, who finished fourth. You had Austin Echler, who finished seventh. You had guys like Mixon. You know, in the top 10, I think Antonio Gibson could be that. He's got to stay healthy. He can't put the ball on the ground.

But he's got the potential to be, I think, an elite back in this league. So behind Wentz, I've got Gibson. And then after Gibson, because of Chase Young's injury and the expectations being dialed back, I have Montez Sweat. I think that John Allen is going to have a, John Allen kind of year. It wouldn't surprise me if Duran Payne, as Doc said, Chase in the bag, the bag full of money is he's heading into a potential unrestricted free agency year if the team doesn't franchise him. I think Duran Payne will have a good year. Montez Sweat is a game changer.

Montez Sweat without Chase Young has to step up and be a monster at that position, not just as a pass rusher, but as a past deflector as a turnover creator. And he has the ability to be that. God, I love Montez Sweat. And I've loved his upside since Mississippi State. Many of you know, I wanted them to take him where they took Dwayne Haskins. They got him by trading back into the first round. But Montez Sweat is also an A-plus potential player. He's got to play up to to his potential. If Carson Wentz, Antonio Gibson, and Montez Sweat all have excellent seasons, this team's got a chance to win double-digit games for the first time since 2012, and they've got a chance to win 11 games for the first time since 1991. Those three players

would be my top three players in terms of players that must have big seasons, for the team to threaten double-digit wins. Now, Chase Young would have been number two or number three on that list. Can't count on him. And there are other players that are very important. Look, if it's not Antonio Gibson for all we know, but we don't know, which is why I'm not including him, it could be Brian Robinson. Maybe he's better than Gibson right now.

Maybe he's so powerful and with the speed that they don't have to risk Gibson's fumbling issue. But Gibson's got talent, man. Sub 4-4-6-2, 230 pounds. You heard, Scott Turner. This guy was a receiver. He's just really starting to get comfortable. I think the vision improved. Gibson, I don't know if he can be Derek Henry. I don't know if he can be Jonathan Taylor. I don't know if he can be Christian McCaffrey. I don't know if he can be Dalvin Cook. I don't know if he can be Alvin Kamara, different kind of back there, obviously. But I think he could end up being an A plus back in this league. Top five, top seven in all purpose yards.

I hope that happens because I want to be right about Antonio Gibson. And I want to be right about Montez Sweat. In many ways, Montes Sweat was such a key part of the 2020 run. He did not have a great season last year. with that length, with that explosiveness, you know, you can't teach what Gibson and Sweat have. The physical talent, the explosiveness, the playmaking ability. You get excellent seasons from Sweat and Antonio Gibson added to one from Carson Wentz. You got a real good chance to have had a really good season.

All right. I want to get to what Dan Snyder said earlier this morning. Snyder was presenting in front of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission. It's one of the steps required to get a gambling, a sports betting license, which they are trying to get for FedEx Field. Now, there were a bunch of these Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control people on a Zoom call. Dan did not zoom in. He phoned in.

and he made an introductory statement, and then no questions were asked of him after that. None. But here is what he said, and I think his first public comments in over six months. I just wanted to thank everyone at overall, not only the Maryland Lottery Gaming, but just Prince George's County,

where our stadium has been head. quartered and I want to thank it's been an absolute pleasure and our stadium we've dramatically upgraded. We're encouraging everybody come to see all the changes we've done to the stadium this year. I think it'll be quite impressive.

We're going to have some big time attendance shortly as our staff, our leadership team, Jason Wright, and Trista and the team have done an amazing job. So we're very, very optimistic also on the season. We finally have ourselves a quarterback. But I wanted to say thanks to everyone. I really truly appreciate this. He's hardly the greatest communicator you've ever heard.

But that aside, that was it. No questions were asked. These people could have asked them questions. They did not. He is trying to land this license so that, that there is a sports book at FedEx Field. I'm sure they'd like to get that thing built and up and running at some point this season.

My guest, Bennett Conlin, will give us kind of the best case timeline for a sports book at FedEx Field. They want a sports book at FedEx Field because they want anything and everything that will attract more people to FedEx Field, especially on game days. Now, my personal belief is a sports book at a football stadium like FedEx Field, where they have just eight to nine home games a year in the regular season,

is not going to generate probably the kind of revenue that maybe they're projecting. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Capital One has a sports book right in the arena. It's in a high-density, high-foot traffic area. Same thing with Nat's Park. Same thing, I believe, with the soccer stadium. What's it called, Audi Field?

But they're looking to create a business that is losing resilient. Mention that many times. Jason Wright has been tasked to build a business that is losing resilient. This is all part and parcel to that. Now, some of the other comments he made. Our stadium, he said, we've dramatically upgraded. We're encouraging everyone to come see all the changes we've done to the stadium this year. I think it'll be quite impressive.

I don't know what those new stadium upgrades are. I don't know how much will be noticeable. But you don't go to a stadium. At least a certain generation doesn't go to a stadium because of the upgrade. at the stadium. You go to the stadium to see hopefully a winning football team. Winning and a good football team is still what matters. But I can't speak to the dramatic upgrades. I thought it was interesting to hear him say. We're going to have some big time attendance shortly as our staff, our leadership team, President Jason Wright and Senior VP of Operations, Trista Langdon,

have done an amazing job. We're very optimistic also on the season, and we finally have ourselves a quarterback. And then he says, I just want to say thanks to everybody. I really truly appreciate this. So he's pushing the team a little bit, trying to get people excited even on this Maryland gaming control call, excited about the team.

Again, I don't know about the stadium upgrades. I don't know what kind of crowds they're going to have big time attendance, whatever that means. I know that Jason and company have done a better job of selling tickets. And, you know, I think they're confident that they're going to have 50,000 or more for the Jacksonville game. I mean, look at what we're talking about these numbers. But that would be a good opening day crowd for them, considering where they were for a lot of the games last year. You know, they have a week three home game against Philadelphia. You know, some of what will hurt them this year in terms of attendance.

We've talked about before is just that their home schedule isn't stacked with some of the draws that it was last year. Remember, last year at home, I mean, they had, you know, the Chargers and Justin Herbert. They had the Chiefs. They had Tampa. They had, you know, Brady. They had Mahomes. They had Russell Wilson. They had the Cowboys who were always a big draw.

so they had some big name home dates last year. This year, it's Jacksonville, Philly, Chicago, Minnesota, Atlanta, the Giants, Cleveland, and the Cowboys. So they don't have that same ability. But I know that they have increased their overall ticket base, and they're expecting, you know, north of 50,000 for the opener against Jacksonville on September 11th, nearly a month from today. But Snyder excited about the quarterback. We finally have ourselves a quarterback. Finally, we'll see about that, whether or not he's right about that. All right.

Up next, some additional thoughts on Sam Mills and the firing of him yesterday. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So I have a theory as to why Sam Mills was. fired yesterday that I'll share with you here in a moment. It's not something that I learned from any conversation that I had after the podcast yesterday, but before I get to that theory, I just wanted to read to you what Ron Rivera said today 24 hours after he announced the firing of Sam Mills, his defensive line coach, and elevating Jeff Skinina into that position. a very energetic kind of coach. Rivera, the first question he was asked. On defensive line coach, Jeff Skinina, how much energy does he bring to that defensive line unit? And Rivera said, quote, well, I think what I'm looking for is that constant push, pressure, and growth. I want to be more demonstrative. I want it to be more in their face, at them, stuff like that. And that's pretty much what we've accomplished,

close quote. And when he says what we've accomplished, I'm assuming what he's implying there, is with the change from Mills to Skinina. And then he was asked, you know, what he's looking for from Schenina. He said, I'm looking for a different style, a different vibe, a little difference in my philosophy on how I think it needs to be coached. So Rivera speaking to like this philosophy, the way he wants the position coached. It's probably true. I'm not disputing that this is a big reason as to why he made the change, but it doesn't explain why he made it yesterday.

He obviously knew the differences between Sam Mills and the assistant D-line coach, Jeff Skinina, last year, in the year before. And when the season ended, when most teams make the kind of positional coach changes, that Washington made yesterday two weeks into training camp. I mean, he knew those things. He knew the differences. My theory is this. Sam Mills III attended with an excused absence the enshrinement of his father into the Hall of Fame last weekend in Canton.

And for the first time since he arrived in Washington and Ron Rivera and his entire staff arrived in Washington, got a chance to see how the team was coached without Sam Mills nearby. And he liked what he saw. He already had an inkling philosophically that Skinino aligned more with the way he wanted the position coached. He also knew that there was a lot of, as I described yesterday, pushback on Sam Mills from the beginning. This was known to a lot of us early in 2020. all right the early in the 2020 season i talked about it back then there was a lot of you know a lot of

confrontation going on a lot of pushback from the players on the way they were being coached by sam mills by the way a guy who had not really ever played in the league skinina did uh and so reveras felt the push to move on from sam mills and have coach zes Jeff Schenina, you know, take over for a while. I think it happened yesterday because he, for the first time, got a chance to see what it was like without Sam Mills coaching practices, coaching the team, because he missed a few days to watch his father posthumously be enshrined into the Hall of Fame. That's my theory.

I'm sticking with it. I don't know if there's something that happened over the last. last couple of days that just finally was enough of enough situation for Ron Rivera. But I think it's possible that on Saturday night at FedEx Field and on Friday and on Sunday and even on Monday, although I think Mills was back on Monday, but for a couple of days, he had a chance to see what it would be like without Sam Mills. It was a hard decision for him. The Mills have been a big part of the Carolina Panthers.

their family and the Ron Rivera coach teams. And he's had Sam Mills the third working for him for a while. So it's not an easy thing that he did. But that's my theory on why it happened yesterday. One more thing that I wanted to get to before we get to the interview for the day with Bennett Conlon from the publication, Sportshandle.com. And it's a conversation about sports betting and the business of sports betting and what happened this morning with Dan Snyder and the Gaming Commission

in Maryland and how close he is to getting a license to build a sports book at FedEx Field. I got this tweet after my rant yesterday on Kevin Durant and even on radio this morning. Kevin Durant gave the owner of the Brooklyn Nets an ultimatum last week in London saying it's me or it's Nash and Marks. Steve Nash, the coach, Sean Marks, the General. manager. Pick one. There's your ultimatum. It's either me or it's both of them. And I just said, you know, my answer to Kevin Durant at this point would be, no, they're not going anywhere. So you choose what your path is. You're under contract with us for the next four years. We signed that

contract a year ago, a four-year contract extension worth $198 million. I've given you every single thing you have wanted. You got to pick the coach. You got to pick players. And you're not having that choice anymore. I'm taking back the franchise and I'm going to do what's in the best interest of the franchise. And unless I get the all time of all time trade offers, you're either going to play for me or you can sit and not get paid. That's my position now. Because I've had it, yes, with certainly the players wielding all the power that they wield in the end. NBA. But that's what the league is, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. But in this particular case, I think Kevin Durant has crossed a line. You don't sign a contract

last year after you're given every single thing that you want. You get eliminated in the first round, and now you want that coach that you and Kyrie wanted hired, fired, or else. You don't give ultimatums now, not a year after signing that contract. not without a playoff series win. And he hasn't won one playoff series in Brooklyn. And I understand he was one toe away from the Eastern Conference finals and perhaps an NBA championship a year ago in the NBA playoffs when they were being played during the summer of 2021.

But my answer to Kevin Durant at this point was, would be grow up, you sign the contract, I gave you everything you wanted, there's no way in hell I'm trading you unless I get the all time of all-time offers and nobody's come close. You're playing for me or you can sit your ass out and I'm not paying you. And so with that, I got this tweet from Anthony. Anthony tweeted, what's your position on owners in front office when they make moves you don't

agree with? Are they also dumb and immature? I called Kyrie Irving dumb and immature. That take on Kady, Kyrie, and Ben Simmons was trash. seem to have disdain towards the leverage these players wield. Well, first of all, my position on owners and front office people when they make dumb moves is to call them out for those moves, as most of you know. No, I do not back away from criticizing owners and front office people. And if you believe that I have, then this is your first day listening. But the difference between

owners and front office people, but owners in particular, is they have the ultimate in responsibility that the players don't have for the health and well-being of the franchise. They have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders and to the other owners in the organization. They gave KD everything he wanted, and they've won nothing. And now he's giving ultimatums, which, by the way, are not in the best interest of the organization.

no. This time, the owner's response should be no. Sorry. We're going to do what's in the best interest of us, not of you anymore. That would be my answer. But you know what? They'll probably cowtow to him because that's the way this league runs. But I don't think it's good for the league with Kevin Durant's putting them through. And the irony of it for me is that Kevin Durant is a major gamer, man. If he went back at Kevin Durant that way, Kevin Durant would play. He loves to play. He is a guy that will show up and will play to the best of his ability. He's not going to mail it in.

If you don't get the all-time trade offer, you can't trade him. I really do wonder why Kevin Durant chose Brooklyn and chose Kyrie Irving in particular. I know he wanted to set out on his own and not be tied to Curry and Draymond and Clay Thompson. He was the best player on those teams. I think anybody that watched those games understands that. Now, would he have won titles without Stefan, Draymond, and Clay Thompson? No. But he was the best player on that team.

And I know he wanted to set out and kind of create a no-brainer legacy where, well, then he went to Brooklyn and won a couple of titles there. But man, leaving Steph for Kyrie Irving, that nut job. Brooklyn, that's best opportunity to win is to keep Kevin Durant, to keep Kyrie Irving, and to have Ben Simmons finally play. By the way, I don't know if anybody read it, but Ben Simmons was on a group chat before game four. I think Rick Buecker reported this before game four of their series against Boston. And the team, the players on the group chat, said, are you going to play in game?

for and he left the chat. And at that point, Kevin Durant reportedly said, what am I doing here? All right. Up next, an interview on sports betting and what happened this morning with Dan Snyder and the Maryland Gaming Commission. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, so we played in the opening segment of the podcast, the audio from Dan Snyder. You don't hear Dan Snyder's voice very often. We heard it this morning with the discussion that he had with the Maryland state lottery that manages giving out these licenses for sports books. And I came across this morning the Twitter account of Bennett Conlon. Bennett writes for sports handle, which is, for all intents and purposes, an online magazine that covers.

sports betting, you know, throughout the country, including, you know, really throughout North America, including Canada as well. And I invited Bennett to come on the show. I want to get to what the significance of today was. I've already talked a little bit about Snyder's comments related to stadium upgrades and finally having a quarterback. Those are more non-sports betting issues. But I, I, I'm very interested in sports betting as a lifelong sports better and someone who has talked a lot about gambling on my various shows over the last 15 plus years. But you really have a handle, I believe, on how it's going and how it works in all of these different states. So I want to start with this right now. How many states right now in the United States don't have legal sports betting?

Of the 50. I think it's just over 30 that have it. So you're looking at it, I think it's, you know, just below 20 states that do not have legal sports betting. Technically, Maryland does, even though they've yet to launch mobile betting. Right. They've got physical sports books where you can go in and play sports bets, but they don't have mobile betting. We'll get to that, you know, in a few minutes. But of those states, what are the big-time successes and, you know, how many states have really fallen far short of projected revenue goals?

Yeah, I think, I mean, a decent number of them do fall short, especially in the DMV area. You've had some pretty high, lofty expectations. So, like, Washington, D.C. is one that's a jurisdiction that's fallen short. I think Maryland, in terms of how long it's taken. to launch mobile has been disappointing, but like Virginia is going to do a good job. They have mobile only betting. So currently no casinos there and no physical sports betting, but something that will come in the future. So Virginia has done well in the DMV area.

It's got other states like Arizona is one that launched really quickly and seems to have decent revenue figures and things like that. So it kind of varies by state. Each state has kind of wonking and weird legislation. So a lot of different specifics depending on which state you're addressing. Why hasn't it worked in the DMV? Yeah, so for DC they awarded like a sole source contract Intralot, which runs the Gambit DC app.

And that app is the predominant one that's available for mobile betters, and it's just not a very good app. The odds are kind of unfair, the interface is clunky. So nothing about that is particularly effective. So then you have a few stadium sports books where people are allowed to bet in the stadium Capital One Arena. You got Audi Field, Matt's Park. But if you can only bet in that location, it's obviously not particularly convenient. Yeah, I mean, the launch in D.C., the first thing, and I talked about it here in the podcast,

and, you know, there was a little bit of conflict for me because all of these sports books have been spending. you know, a ton of money on radio and podcasts to sort of, you know, grab land. And I would still categorize and describe as the Wild Wild West and legal sports betting right now. And the obvious thing to someone like me was just how, you know, expensive it was. I mean, you know, if you're a small better, who cares if you're paying minus 125 on a straight bet loss, you know. but if you are betting, you know, a larger sums of money, it really adds up. And I thought initially that would be a turnoff. And then the mobile app obviously had many of its issues as well.

What do you think the biggest problem DC had initially? Was it the pricing? Was it the fact that the app wasn't very convenient? What would you, how would you rank why it hasn't done that well in DC? Yeah, I think kind of again, go into your point, it depends on which sort of segment of betters you're looking at. So if you're someone who is wagering more money, I think the odds would probably upset you a little bit more in the pricing. If you're somebody who's only wagering a few dollars, you know, the fact that you might have to spend five minutes digging for some sort of bet would be really frustrating, right? It's hard on there to do like a same game parlay or a parlay, whereas if you're using a draftings or a fan duel, they almost build the part.

for you in some cases. So I think if you're not betting a lot, that was kind of an issue. You also had areas that are on federal land where you're not allowed to bet. So the geo-fencing was a nightmare depending on where you were and where you could actually use the app. So there's a number of issues that that were kind of affecting DC sports betting. We're talking to Bennett Conlon. Bennett, again, writes for sports handle, which covers sports betting throughout the country. You can follow Bennett, by the way, on Twitter at Bennett Conlin, which is spelled B-E-N-N-E-T-T-C-O-N-L-I-N. A good Irishman joining us here on the show today.

So, you know, from the jump, when it came to legalizing sports betting, I always felt as a better myself and a long time better. There were going to be two major issues for people like me. Number one was credit. You know, I bet on credit. I've been able to bet on credit for my entire life pretty much. And then number two was, you know, the convenience. And, you know, being able to, you know, log on from wherever I've been,

you know, betting illegally over a long period of time, and make a wager. And then after learning about some of the initial legal sports books and looking at pricing, that was, of course, going to be an issue as well. How many long-time illegal sports betters do you believe have shifted to legal sports betting versus legal sports betting attracting the person that never had access to a legal sports betting? Sure. I think some certainly switch over, right? If you're using an illegal sports book and then Graft Kings,

Fandul, Bet MGM, whatever comes to your state or jurisdiction, there's certainly some injury in trying those out. But if you're like a professional better or a sharp better and you're pretty good at betting and winning a lot of money and wagering a lot of money, the major operators are going to limit your bet. So if you're betting, you know, a Barstool sports book or Grafkings or whatever and you're wagering thousands of dollars and you're hitting at a pretty impressive rate, you know, 55, 60 percent, whatever, they're going to limit your bets and you could go from betting,

you know, $5,000 on a game to only being allowed to bet like $11. So in that case, you're certainly not going over to the legal sports books because it would obviously dramatically reduce the type of money you're able to bring in. So in that situation, I don't think people are looking for the legal sports book, but if you're, you know, wagering 20 bucks and you're hitting it 50 percent, or whatever and losing a little bit of money. I think then you might take advantage of that and certainly use the platforms and the interfaces

that maybe have more promotions or boost or things like that than you might see on an offshore sports. Introduce me to the person that's hitting 60% on the regular, and I'd like to meet that person that's 60% or higher on the regular. But in all seriousness, though, I'm not sure, and I'm not being critical, but I just, I'm not sure you answered the question. I'm curious as to whether or not there's any data out there that sort of reflects who is using legal sports betting in this 30 plus states where it's legal.

Are they brand new betters? Are they former fantasy people that never had the access? Or is it, you know, a mix of those and people who have been betting illegally over the years? Yeah, I think it's a mix. I don't think there's a ton of specific data in terms of each individual better state-by-state in terms of whether they've used illegal sports books or how often they do or things like that. But, yeah, there's certainly a mix. I think there are people probably haven't bet before that are getting into it, especially with the level of promotion and it becoming sort of more widespread. But, yeah, in terms of actual figures and data, I'm not sure how much is actually widely available, at least the public. Do you have any idea what the average bet size, just let's call it a straight bet on a sporting event, is legally? I think it obviously varies depending on the person. In terms of the average bet, I can't imagine it's more than like $20 to $50 range.

I would think it's reasonably low, but I'm not entirely sure on that figure. I think it varies a lot depending on person because you're certainly going to have people who do have larger pay rolls and a wage or higher amount. The average, not entirely sure, because it depends, I guess, bogged on the split of people who are just putting five bucks down and people are consistently wagering hundreds of dollars. Yeah, I always thought that the projected revenues

for a lot of these states would come in under what they were projecting because I thought the bet size would be much smaller than they were projecting. Again, because the attraction was for someone who hadn't had the access, and, by the way, wasn't betting on credit. it, and that limits typically just psychologically how much you're going to wager on a game when you actually have to put the money up. What do you think happens to illegal sports betting? I'm talking about offshore illegal sports betting.

I think it certainly stays around, at least for the near future, because if you're someone, I would imagine it's primarily sort of sharp or professional betters who are hitting over 50% of their bets and want to be able to wager with. without limits or with high-wager limits, whereas at the current situation, the U.S. sports betting landscape, most of the national operators are going to have pretty low limits if you're a sharp. So I think in that capacity certainly stays around. You've got some sports books out there kind of in the Vegas area.

I think like Circus Sports is one that has significantly higher limit. So if they move into more states, maybe professional betters are more willing to use those but I think for the most part if you're a professional better or a shark and you've got the ability to wager as much as you want in the offshore sports book is a pretty good option

yeah the illegal guys will limit you too if you start to win too much but yeah no I understand the point so what do you make of the last few years this incredible push on promotion marketing, advertising, and who will come out the winners? Do you have a feel for that?

And how many big winners will there be? Yeah, I mean, you look at like a fan duel, a draft king, Cesar's bet MGM, you would imagine at a certain point, they'll kind of push out maybe some of the smaller players in the industry, but you've seen a little bit like Twinspires is one that I think they're stopping their online sports betting initiatives. They've sort of been in horse racing in the past and wanted to see if they go into online sports betting and we're realizing probably not a huge place for them in the national

market. So it's going to be a handful of major winners, especially if there are more states that legalize and you can go state to state whether you're traveling or whatever and use your Fandor drafting app pretty much anywhere becomes pretty convenient for a recreational or casual better. So it's probably just going to be a handful, I would think, of major winners. And at a certain point, they're also going to have to cut back on marketing spend, which is seeing a little bit.

I think Cesar's has talked about how they're trying to reduce some of what they've done with marketing spend. At a certain point, it becomes overkill and obviously pretty hard to become profitable if you're spending so much on marketing. Yeah, I mean, I'm curious, do you have any idea, you know, how much, you know, a legal sports book, I mean, take any of the big guys what their customer acquisition costs are, you know what they spend to acquire one customer relationship do you have any idea what that number is i'm just curious i don't know a ton on that one is certainly a good question i think sometimes they

they try to keep some of that to themselves but um it certainly seems maybe a little bit higher than they would like and i imagine there's also some some unnecessary advertising costs at this point there's a little bit of word-of-mouth and things like that with fandal and drafting because they can certainly carry them a bit where it seems like occasionally some of their marketing spend is probably unnecessary. They're getting to customers without maybe the excessive number of ads. I think you've also got customers that have been pretty open in a number of states that they're kind of turned off when they have to watch a football game and they get 12 draft games ads. So I know that can be a little frustrating. I do think the NFL, if I'm not mistaken, has a certain limit to what's allowed in terms of ads for game and things like that.

but if you know you're entering a market and your TV station's blowing up with ads, you've got billboards and everything, it can be overkill for some customers who are not wagering a lot. Yeah, I think that's interesting. Because we've gone, you know, 180 degrees over the last four to five years, you know. I mean, it was only seven, eight years ago where, you know, you had the NFL major networks barely even mentioning point spreads. and now, you know, you've got in-game numbers coming across crawls.

So for people who don't care, and not everybody does care about betting, and there are a lot of NFL fans and a lot of football fans who don't bet, I could see that becoming a little bit overly intrusive. The, you know, the customer acquisition costs right now have to be super high because of, you know, this land grab that's going on. but the lifetime value of a customer relationship, most of them, is pretty valuable, isn't it? Do you know anything about what they, you know, if they grab a customer and that customer makes that first deposit, what the value of that customer is on average?

I don't know the average specific there, but yes, I do know that. That's an important point for some of the major operators. there's a genuine belief that if they're able to grab a customer right when they enter a market, that they could have them for the course of their betting lifetime, which could be decades. So that's sort of the reason for the heavy marketing push is if you can become one of the three to five major players in the U.S. I could have some pretty significant value for a long time. You also see sort of the percentages and the revenue that companies are able to bring in with the online casino, know, which is only in a handful of states right now, but that brings in a whole lot more money

than sports betting does. So I think there's certainly a push there, and you've got, you know, major players that are involved with that as well. And if you can get a sports better to then use your online casino platform, right? It's obviously just adding to your potential revenue. I'm actually curious about that. So online casino betting, you know, playing online blackjack, online poker, online craps, etc., is a much. much more profitable venture for an online casino than sports books, I would guess that that's true, right? Yeah, yes, it's much harder to win if you're a customer playing those games.

And obviously some edges you can get with sports betting that you can't get on online casino. That's right. And then on top of that, I would guess there's more interest that the potential volume is higher. Yeah, I mean, there's certainly a lot of interest in that. and I think it's a reason why you've got, you know, certain platforms that are companies that are trying to be involved in both because you can take advantage of the customers that are doing both. So that's one.

It kind of depends a little bit on the state, obviously, which ones are able to have both. But like Michigan, one that supports betting an online casino, and the majority of sort of the tax revenue going back to Michigan comes from online casino as well. Yeah. Interesting. And, you know, a lot of these places, I'm sure,

want online race books as well. I don't know what that generates in terms of revenue, but I'm sure the profits are pretty high. We're talking to Bennett Conlin. Bennett writes for sports handle, an online magazine essentially that covers the sports betting industry. And you wrote extensively, you guys wrote extensively this morning about what happened this morning with Dan Snyder appearing before the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission to get a license to put a sports book into FedEx Field. So I played the audio of it. Dan was not available by Zoom.

He called in to this, and we heard his voice for the first time, really, I think probably since the debut of the new name in early February of this year. But tell everybody, explain to everybody, what FedEx Field, if you will, qualified for today? Sure, yeah. So Maryland has kind of a clunky process for getting approved for sports betting licenses.

They don't have mobile licenses out yet. There's sort of a hope that at some point soon they'll launch mobile sports betting bed. So basically, Dan Snyder, the commander's FedEx Field, they have applied for a retail facility license at FedEx Field. So they were speaking in front of the lottery today, and they were approved. So it's initial approval from the lottery, which is sort of the first step in the three-step process, I guess. So they've got that initial approval from the lottery to have a sports book at FedEx Field. I would think next week when there's a – it's a SWARC meeting, so it's the sports wagering application review commission in Maryland. they're the next step in the process.

You need approval from them, and they are then able to technically award your retail facility license, and then you go back to the lottery for some final checks once you sort of have your setup and your location up and running, and the lottery comes and observes like a day or two of a soft launch to make sure that everything's in order and that you're doing everything legally, whatever. So there's still a couple steps there left, But yeah, sort of paving the way for a sports book at FedEx Field,

although commanders are not given a ton of information on their sort of official plans with that. Well, I was going to ask you what the actual calendar on that would be. Like what is the earliest an actual sports book could be up and operating at FedEx Field? Yeah, so the Swark meeting is scheduled for August 17th, which is, you know, a week from today when we're talking. From there, typically, I mean, I haven't yet with any of the retail facilities. If you make it to the Swark meeting and you get through the lottery approval, it would be pretty shocking if the Swark didn't award the license. So you should get the license at that point.

That's August 17th. And then from there, it's really up to the facility and how fast the facility can move and how fast that people do that. So there have been some smaller sports betting facilities in Maryland that have gotten licenses and it's taken them months to launch the sports book. but that's because they're looking for a sports betting partner and operator, right? So most of these places don't have expertise in running a sports betting operation, but they can get the license for their facility, and then they partner with like a draft game or someone like that, and they'll handle the operational part of getting everything up and running there.

So if you have that in place, you can go pretty fast from when the sworek gives you a license. I mean, like as short as like a week or two weeks, it can go really fast from, when the score gives you a license to when you can launch the sportsbook, you just have to have everything in place and ready, because the lottery is just waiting for you at that point to be ready to go. Who will be Washington's sportsbook partner? Is there an NFL sportsbook partner that they have to use? No, so they haven't announced anything officialism,

but I believe the Washington Business Journal had reported at some point maybe a month or so ago. They had seen some work orders for a fanatic sports book at FedEx Field, So that's sort of the rumored one at this point. Nothing's official on that. But that seems like that could potentially be the partner for the commanders in FedEx field. Tell me about fanatics as a sportsbook operator. Yeah, so they're getting into sports betting. They don't really have a whole lot of experience in that realm.

They're kind of known for selling gear and all that stuff. But they've gone into a lot of different areas in sort of the sports industry. now they're looking to get into sports betting. So there's not a ton to know at this point about them and what they're doing. Obviously, it's a massive company and one that's trying to grow. So I think interesting to see if that is the partner, what it could lead to and what it would look like. And I guess how quickly they'd be able to turn it around from getting the license from this work and then launching and then also having, you know, an operation that pleases fans and makes sense and it's good.

It works. Yeah, I mean, we know. here and you're from here, right? You live in this area, don't you? Yeah. And so we know how much this organization has botched things over the years. And this is a pretty important thing in terms of the introduction and the rollout of it, not to botch it. You know, we saw what happened in D.C. When it rolled out. And I know mobile betting's not available and that's going to be my next question, but, you know, going with essentially a brand new startup sportsbook, you know, partner seems a bit risky. I mean, you don't have, you know, this is going to be for them, I would think, another way to draw people to their stadium because their team hasn't done that in recent years.

Would you consider going with kind of a startup sportsbook to be high risk? Or would they get some sort of preferential deal? That's kind of an interesting point of it. Yeah. So typically you'll have, right, the facility or whatever is going to negotiate with the operator for whatever revenue split they want. So I wonder maybe if you can have the commanders in FedExville, they're able to get one that sort of benefits for them that maybe they wouldn't have had in terms of a revenue split

with a larger operator. I think Fanatics has a pretty big operation. So I do think that once they enter the space, I wouldn't expect them to necessarily have a ton of struggle. So I don't think it's not like you're working like a, a mom and pop startup or anything that's that risky, but there's certainly some risk involved, especially depending on how fast they're trying to move, which I'm not sure, but like if you're trying to get it up early in the NFL season or something like that, like what is the plan for that,

what does it look like, how much has already, you know, been worked on or whatever, gotten planned out, and what's that all going to look like in the future? So maybe more risk than using someone who's already, you know, a proven brand in the space, but certainly one that I think could possibly still work out for him. I mean, would you see, let's just say they get this license. You expect them to get this, right? I mean, the lottery investigated Snyder and all of the toxic workplace stuff, and they came back, you know, from a financial standpoint, approving him to get to this next step.

You're expecting that they get this license and that they're going to open up a sports book at FedEx Field, right? There's yet to be a facility that's gone to this work at this stage and not gotten through. Okay. So I'm just curious, do you, would you think it would look like what it looks like at Capital One, which is an actual sports book slash, you know, restaurant, et cetera, in the stadium somewhere, attached to the stadium somehow, or would it be a bunch of kiosks set up, you know, throughout the stadium? Because unlike Capital One, which is a downtown location, a Chinatown location, where you see people in there betting on not. non-game nights, you know, this is an eight, you know, an eight to nine date a year sports facility

and Landover. I can't imagine, well, I shouldn't say that. I guess people will come there on a Tuesday afternoon to bed if it's open, but, you know, how do you see it just envisioning it looking? Because it's different than a Capital One that has all of those dates for the caps and wizards and then has all of the foot traffic of a downtown location. Sure. I mean, I would, it expected to be more of that sports book type thing as opposed to just just kiosk. I think some of the reason that some locations do it, and obviously it's certainly not the same type of location, but is the idea that the facility then gets a little more use here around.

So there are some stadiums that like it just because it generates some people coming in and out or whatever to use the sports book during the year. Obviously, it's not in downtown D.C. So that's certainly a difference there that is certainly worth noting. But the other thing, too, that I'm interested to see is, like, Capital One Arena, you can't, like, see the arena from the sportsbook. So it's not like if you're going for, like, a game day experience, I wouldn't go to the Capital One Arena Sportsbook.

Or, like, Nass Park, you don't have field access from that MGM sportsbook. So there's kind of a weird spot there. But then the one at Audi Field, with Sandool, that one's actually pretty cool. it's smaller, but it's directly on the field. You need a specific ticket on game day to go in. But they have like soccer balls that are going out of play that are bouncing into the sports book. So it's like an actual game day experience that's cool.

So I think, are you doing that? I think that would be something that would probably be a little more interesting if you can watch the game and also be at the sports book. Otherwise, it's somewhat interesting in place that or whatever. But I don't know, once you get mobile in Maryland, you'd have mobile options and DC, Maryland, and Virginia. So if you're going to the game, is it really worth going in a sports book? You can't see the field?

Probably not at that point. All right. Two more questions for you. This has been great. And we'll finish with mobile betting, but I want to ask you real quickly. I told you, for someone like me over the years and doing it the way I've done it, you know, legal sports betting, I understand the attraction, and I understand, by the way, the overall benefit for all of the major sports.

It actually reminds me. Like I laughed, and I bet you did too, when the leagues wanted some sort of an integrity fee early on, you know, from sports books. And the sports books just laughed and said, what are you talking about? We're the ones that have been keeping these games, the integrity of these games. We're the ones that have been letting you know about some of the, you know, odd gambling and odd betting on various games. but do you envision people being able to bet legally on credit? I mean, it's something, I guess, maybe it depends on sportsbook to sportsbook, but it's, I don't know, there's certainly, you know,

each state also has certain rules in terms of what's allowed and what isn't allowed. I know some are more strict than others. So I'm not entirely sure that that's something that, you know, would necessarily be allowed. it's something that I think would be interesting, and it's sort of the industry evolves and changes and things like that. Maybe there are some small iterations there, but it depends on what's going on. And you say credit, you don't mean credit cards, I'm assuming? Well, I mean, that would be one way to do it.

I mean, to offer credit cards, obviously, with an APR, you know, with an interest rate, but allowing them to, you know, to essentially use, you know, credit. Yeah, I mean, it'd be the same thing. You establish some sort of credit line, and then you can use that credit line to wager without having, you know. Got it. Okay. Yeah. There are some states that allow you to use, like, your own credit card to wager and things like that. I have a hard time depending on the state, especially at this point, that would let you maybe get, you know, make a credit card or whatever with a sports book or something like that just because of the concern of potential problem gambling and gambling addiction.

I think there was like a smaller sports book in Tennessee that did something with like loans. You could take out loans. And I think the regulators were pretty pissed in Tennessee and kind of fired up about that when you were able to sort of take out loans to place that. So I think your own credit card, sure, but I think it'll certainly be a while until you could have like a sports book. Okay. So let's finish up with mobile betting. Maryland doesn't have it yet.

this has to be one of the real keys because you don't want to have to physically go to a sportsbook to place a wager, especially on non-game days, but even on game days. So where is Maryland with mobile betting? And what, you know, how can anybody get a license to do that? Go ahead. Yeah, so Maryland's got sort of a weirder set of rules than most states. They have up to 60 mobile licenses, which is kind of absurd, and I don't think anyone, I don't know that's actually going to go up to 60. Virginia is, I think, right around like 15. So 60 is kind of wild.

But there's a meeting with the Swark, which we talked about earlier on the 17th. I would expect them to address the retail license for FedEx Field. I would also expect them to address the mobile timeline and when a mobile launch could occur. So there have been some regulations that this work has sort of put together. for mobile betting. I think the public comment period on that goes pretty much for the end of August. So they've

still got to wait for that, but they're expecting once they can get some of that stuff in, then you set the regulations. And then you can sort of have your applications out there and published, and then from there you can move rather quickly. So Governor Larry Hogan was kind of fired up because they've taken a

really long time to get mobile going. There was a ballot measure in 2020 that legalized sports betting in Maryland. So it's been a while and probably the slowest launch in the country to actually get mobile betting out there. So Hogan wanted them to have it by the start of the football season, NFL season, which is September 8th. That feels a little optimistic to me.

I think that's probably a little aggressive, but I would think at some point during the NFL season, so whether that's fall of 2022 or bleeding into early 2023. So at some point soon it's coming, which is kind of what they've said for a while, but it feels like they're actually making a little progress. I just don't know if it's enough progress to be up and running by the start of the NFL. So they're offering 60 mobile licenses. So I'm assuming that that means that, you know, the big guys, you know, bet MGM and Fandul and Draft Kings and Caesars, et cetera,

get some of those mobile licenses. And then, you know, who else gets them? Do the physical, you know, brick and mortar sports books also get, get sort of preferential, are they at the top of the list of those that would be given licenses for that? I mean, do they go hand in hand of getting a license for a physical sports book? And that also comes with a mobile license as well when it becomes legal. How does that part work? Yeah, so separate application.

So if you're a big player, it's not really much of an issue. It's a supply, right? You'll get the mobile only license or whatever, but it's a $500,000. application fee. So I think originally when they wrote some of the legislation, the idea was they wanted small businesses, both minority-owned and female-owned, to have a stake in sports betting in Maryland.

So I think for some of those locations, you've seen some already, like Longshod's as a woman-owned business that's going to have BetTredis or Sportsbook and they'll have a retail location, which is great, and they're obviously entering the industry and all that stuff. But they're probably not filling out $500,000, to then be a very, very small fish in, right, this pond that's going to have Fandual, draftings, but MGM, these are all these sports books.

So they're taking a long time trying to come up with different rules and regulations to make sure that there's sort of a diverse base of ownership within the industry, but then they've also set up regulations and application fees that all the guarantee that, like, some of those small businesses can't enter the market. So I think there are people who are frustrated with how long it's taking, for that reason. But yeah, I mean, I don't think they're awarding up to 60 because if you're a small business, then you're going to spend, you know, half a million dollars to get a mobile license. Realistically, no one's going to use their sportsbook over a major operator that they're familiar with

that's already in the market before them. So I don't think they'll actually get close to awarding 60. Yeah, because to go ahead and apply for one of the 60 and shell out $500,000 for what did you call it the application fee? Yes. Yeah. So what are the other costs involved? Do you have any idea? Is that a... Yes. I mean, you've, you've obviously, it's the fee is a big one, but then there's, I forget if it's three or five years. It might be five, but then there's like a renewal fee, right? So you're also getting tax on all the revenue you create. And most of the small businesses, understandably, don't have any expertise in this. So then you would also have to partner with an operator and the operator is a significant cost. How much of the revenue are you going to

split? The operator really is going to be okay with you getting more than like 50%? Probably not of the revenue that's generated from the mobile sports book. So it's kind of a really challenging position to be a pure. And doesn't the state take a tax out of it as well? 15% revenue tax, yeah. So I mean, like, there's really no situation when you're a small business in Maryland that it would probably make sense. I don't know how you would make money off it. I think you might lose money. And then you add in the fact that, you know,

what if the public has a good month betting, right? Because sometimes that happens. Yeah. And you don't have a fun that. High enough hold. Yeah, and you could be losing money. So it's one that I think some, you know, Maryland residents have kind of caught on that, you know,

maybe it didn't need to take this long because some of the stuff they're doing to help small businesses is pretty much negated by some of the fees that they have as well. Yeah, not to mention what you just said is you're putting them into a potential high-risk business. Now, you'd much rather be on that side of the betting equation than on the side that many who are listening are on. But the truth of the matter is, is sports books do have bad months where the public, where their consumers win money. And you've got to be able to, you know, you've got to be able to fund. And you've got to do it from the beginning because who knows, maybe it's the first month that ends up being your worst month.

And you've got to be able to absorb those losses and pay out those losses to eventually they will, you know, they're not going to beat you. But it can happen every once in a while. Well, interesting stuff for sure. By the way, D.C. has mobile betting, obviously, and Virginia does as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead.

Sorry. Yeah, no, they both have mobile betting. and Virginia is certainly a little better, where they've got, you know, the national operators there, whereas DC, it's just Gambit, D.C. for most of D.C., except for the sports books, and then a two-block radius around the sports books, where you can use that mobile app, which isn't particularly convenient, really, unless you're, you know, go into a game or happen to be from around that area. Look, for all of you listening, I would continue to urge you to use the partner for this podcast, my bookie at mybookie.com or my bookie.ag. They have fair lines. They have fair pricing. And these are the

kinds of things that you need to look out for in, you know, a lot of the legal sports betting spots. You know, they're trying to cover all of these costs that Bennett just went through. And, you know, the margins aren't what you think they are in some of these legal sports books. So they've got to charge more in some cases. My bookie has fair pricing, fair lines, and you get paid. And all the promotions, all of the sign-up promotions that you're going to get in a lot of these places, including, by the way, right now, doubling of your first deposit all the way up to $1,000. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C.

You see how I worked that in what we call in-content Reed Bennett? as we've been talking about the business of sports betting. It is an interesting one. I really appreciate the time. And I've read some of your stuff, and you're doing a great job covering this business, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens here in the coming years. Appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. Yeah, of course. Of course. Pros, pro, and the ad re. You could work there. I don't know how many of you found that interesting, and I'm guessing not everybody. and I understand that.

But I think the sports betting world right now, as the states over the last several years, have been legalizing sports betting, I think it's very interesting because I think that one of the early gut fields that I had is that many places that thought this was going to be a major cash windfall for states. I predicted, if you remember in conversations with Tommy early on,

that I go, I didn't think that that was going to be the case necessarily. It is much better to be the house than the better. There's no doubt about it. But you want to be discerning when you bet, you know, especially if you're betting, you know, healthy amounts. You know, if you're betting 20, 30, 40, 50 bucks a game, it doesn't matter as much. But if you've been a better and your unit size is, you know, larger than that, and in some cases, much larger than that. You want to make sure that you're not paying exorbitant, you know,

Vigs. You know, you shouldn't be paying any more than minus 110 on a straight bet loss. You know, that means you lose 110 bucks on a $100 bet. Now, there will be some where you've got, you know, in football, a line like three or seven where you've got a number where you're perhaps going to pay minus 115 at times. And there are obvious prop bets where you're going to pay more. But those are the things to, you know, to pay attention to as a better. But anyway, I enjoyed that. I just kind of found him on Twitter this morning because all of this news related to, you know, the commanders and Snyder and getting the license for FedEx Field was starting to break.

And he was writing extensively about it. You know, by the way, I mean, FedEx Field with a sports book, like I said in the open, is going to be one of those things that they hope, I would imagine, will draw more people to the stadium, paying for tickets, especially if that sports book is inside the stadium. But, you know, for a football team, you know, it's harder to make one of those things work when you've only got eight to nine home dates a year.

And again, Audi Field and Capital One Arena and Nats Park are in high density, high foot traffic areas that, you know, for a lot of reasons with restaurants nearby, etc., are more attractive for people to make a day or a night of it than perhaps FedEx Field is. We'll see. I think that's one of the things they were thinking about with respect to the Virginia locations for a stadium

is having full-fledged sports book with all of the, you know, restaurants and in bars and retail around it. And eventually you're going to get that in Landover. We know that from the expenditures that are being made in some of the building projects that are going on. I would imagine they're going to try to get this thing up and running at some point during this season. Anyway, all right, that's it for the day. I'll be back tomorrow with Tommy.