G2E Sports Betting Event: Hard Rock's Partnership Prospects

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00:00All right, so G2E, of course, a fantastic event, SportsGrid out there covering it for

00:08us as well and partnerships, and I just think it's a phenomenal event.

00:12The Hard Rock CEO speaking out there, of course, this affects Florida and affects a lot of

00:17other places as well.

00:19And for those people who are unfamiliar with the setup in Florida is that Hard Rock has

00:23exclusive rights to sports wagering in the state of Florida.

00:28We had heard a report that potentially they'd be at least open to the idea of having another

00:34company step in, but it was really unclear as to how and what and where, and maybe you

00:42can sort of clear up some of this complicated story for me, Matt.

00:46Well, I can't clear up that much of it, Craig, but the story here is that the door is still

00:53open for potentially DraftKings, FanDuel, maybe other, a quote, marquee brand is what

01:01Jim Allen called the DraftKings and FanDuel.

01:06Look, they do have exclusivity.

01:09Hard Rock is owned by the Seminole Indians, and Craig, you know about this as a Florida

01:13resident, but a few years back, there was an amendment that passed that said voters

01:18would have to agree on any expansion of gambling.

01:22That didn't happen with sports betting because it came through a compact agreement with the

01:27Seminole Indians.

01:28DraftKings, FanDuel, and a whole bunch of people tried to fight back on that pushback,

01:33and eventually they failed, and now we have exclusivity through 2051 for Hard Rock in

01:40Florida.

01:41But Jim Allen is a fantastic businessman, and he knows that having good brands means

01:48something.

01:50We do recognize that long-term, some type of strategic relationship with some of the

01:55brands that really have marquee value could be helpful to both of us.

01:59We're receptive to those conversations, and he noted that he had already had conversations

02:04with both DraftKings and FanDuel this week at G2E.

02:08So don't know where that leaves us.

02:11He said a couple months ago that it would be premature to even start thinking about

02:16what a revenue share could look like before knowing if that would be a possibility moving

02:20forward with the court case still in flux.

02:23There is a revenue share program.

02:26If any of the parimutuals in Florida wanted to get on board with Hard Rock Bet, Craig,

02:31they could promote the app.

02:32And then any revenue that came through customers that they signed up through their

02:37promotions, they would actually keep 60 percent of that, while Hard Rock would get 40

02:41percent of that.

02:43Don't know that that would be a similar kind of breakdown for DraftKings and FanDuel.

02:48Don't know how low they would be willing to go in order to get into Florida.

02:54But Florida is a great market that sportsbooks want to be in just for the cachet of it alone,

03:00huh?

03:01You know, somebody's going on vacation, and they can bet with DraftKings or FanDuel and

03:04not just Hard Rock Bet.

03:06And on the other side of that, Jim Allen knows that there are just some people out there

03:10that want to bet with sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel.

03:14They're just names that they know.

03:16It's what they feel comfortable with.

03:17So it seems like it could be a win-win.

03:19And it's great that the door is still open, but we just don't know when any kind of deal

03:23may actually happen.

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