NFL just a week away
With the start of the 2021-22 National Football League (NFL) season just a week away, gaming authorities in Wyoming, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C. have awarded multiple operators sports betting licenses to roll out their sportsbooks.
The Wyoming Gaming Commission (WGC) approved DraftKings Sportsbook and BetMGM on September 1, the same day the District of Columbia’s Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG) gave Elys Game Technology, Corp. and its partner Grand Central LLC sports betting licenses in Washington, D.C. The Tennessee Education Lottery (TEL), meanwhile, gave the nod to Penn National‘s Barstool Sportsbook and Wagr on August 31.
DraftKings took to Twitter to announce its Wyoming launch, which notches up the 13th US state for its sportsbook app:
During a special meeting on Wednesday, WGC special project manager David Carpenter said: “As soon as I send out these emails with digital licenses and license numbers, they are approved and prepared for launch”. He added that, by the end of the meeting, the licensed operators were “ready and able to launch.”
Not sitting on its laurels either, shortly afterwards BetMGM announced its Wyoming touchdown, marking its 14th active sportsbook state. Chief operating officer Ryan Spoon also got onto Twitter to share the news, adding that the sportsbook was also open for pre-registration in Arizona:
CEOs ecstatic and thrilled
BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said his brand was “ecstatic [to be] one of the first mobile sports betting platforms to launch in Wyoming” just ahead of the September 9 NFL kickoff.
DraftKings co-founder and president Matt Kalish was also over the moon. He said his outfit was “thrilled” to give Wyoming sports bettors an opportunity to sample the wares offered to “millions of skin-in-the-game sports fans.”
Elys DC entry a first
Also announcing a fresh sports betting license on September 1 over in Washington, D.C. was global interactive gaming and sports betting technology company Elys Game Technology. The wagering services provider tweeted about its DC sports betting license in partnership with Grand Central LLC:
The OLG’s approval handed Grand Central a Class B operator license to run a retail and an Elys-powered mobile sportsbook. The operations will run out of the Grand Central Restaurant & Bar in DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood.
According to Elys, the Grand Central wagering venue is “believed to be the first sportsbook of its kind to be operated within an independently owned business establishment in the US.”
Elys expects the go-live date for retail sports wagering at Grand Central to be “in or around October 2021.” It anticipates that the on-site mobile app will launch from Grand Central in 2022.
Two get Tennessee approval
Over in the South on August 31, the TEL awarded licenses to Penn National’s Barstool Sportsbook and Wagr, a startup social sports betting app founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
The TEL’s nod will give Penn National its fifth Barstool Sportsbook market in the US when it launches. This follows the sportsbook’s May launch in Indiana, which was preceded by rollouts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois.
The TEL also handed out a supplier’s license to White Hat Gaming.