Cesars, Fanatics partner to stream NFL games on BetVision
Caesars Entertainment (CZR) and Fanatics Sportsbook are partnering to present BetVision, an NFL streaming service through Genius Sports (GENI). The offer allows customers to watch NFL games after they've placed a bet. In addition, customers can also place a bet while in the live player within the app.
Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer, Rick Newman, and Pras Subramanian break down the new services and features of the app, as well as commenting on the state of U.S. sports betting.
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Video Transcript
JOSH SCHAFER: Let's talk about a little sports, right, little sports betting story that caught my eye today. You're going to be able to watch some NFL games now on some of these new sports betting apps that are out there. So Caesars Sportsbook and Fanatic Sports Book, which is new this year.
Fanatics, of course, the e-commerce company run by Michael Rubin just started a sports book this year. They teamed up with Genius Sports, so you're going to be able to stream some NFL games on the app. The catch is, you have to bet. So if you bet on the app and the game is available in your local network, so that is the key part here. The game has to be available in your local network. So we're talking about--
RICK NEWMAN: In other words, you'd be able to watch it on TV for free anyway.
JOSH SCHAFER: You'd normally be able to watch it on TV.
RICK NEWMAN: So, you're not getting a sneak RedZone.
JOSH SCHAFER: Right. You're not getting some backdoor deal where you can watch an out-of-market game or something. But it does have a very interesting viewing experience, as you can see here. Not all of this is currently in the app yet.
But essentially, the picture is going to be, you can watch your bets or place bets while also watching the game. This is something that a lot of these companies have been talking about for a little while now. As a sports fan, I get it. People are into betting. I don't know if I want to watch a football game that way though.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: That's key. Let's go, Rick, you're a guest today.
RICK NEWMAN: Oh, I'm the special guest?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Go for it.
RICK NEWMAN: I mean, obviously, it's to get you to bet more, right?
JOSH SCHAFER: Right.
RICK NEWMAN: I mean, not just to watch the game, but can you bet while the game is on? I don't bet on--
JOSH SCHAFER: Yes, yes.
RICK NEWMAN: --I don't bet on live sports.
JOSH SCHAFER: So you can bet while the game is on, and so then more--
- --and find parlays and things like this.
JOSH SCHAFER: More bets will pop up as you watch.
RICK NEWMAN: So there you are, you're watching, and you're like, oh this just happened. Or how about this? I just lost $50 bucks, I got to get that back.
JOSH SCHAFER: Right.
RICK NEWMAN: So I'm going to make another bet.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Right. So, I think we talked about this before and I think this is the holy grail in terms of, remember ESPN'S deal with, who do they sign the deal with? ESPN?
JOSH SCHAFER: Penn.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Penn.
JOSH SCHAFER: Penn Enterprises, yep.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: So I think the holy grail is, you're watching real TV, not some app. I watch my TV. The overlay comes up, I can start betting now on the TV. I know it's not an ideal viewing experience, but I think it can get you more into it if I can just click on a button say, I can click this real time over right now or whatever, Kansas City.
RICK NEWMAN: I think they should I think they should be doing this at bars. So you're drinking while you're watching the game, and deciding to bet more. When are-- when is this-- when are we going to have, like when is everybody going to run out of money because they gambled it all away?
JOSH SCHAFER: They gambled it all away.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I think it's already happening.
JOSH SCHAFER: Right, it might be.
RICK NEWMAN: Is that why millennials can't afford a down payment on a house, because they gambled it all away on sports?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Rick, we have legalized marijuana. We have legalized betting in New York. What else do you need? I mean everything is basically, the sins are all becoming like virtues.
RICK NEWMAN: You need a guaranteed minimum income, so everybody has money, and doesn't even have to have a job. They just have money to bet.
JOSH SCHAFER: Right.
RICK NEWMAN: And buy weed.
[LAUGHS]
Bernie Sanders. This is a built-in endorsement deal for Bernie Sanders.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I think he'd be very happy.
JOSH SCHAFER: I think there's another version of this stream, too, that would be interesting to see if some of these books eventually get to, which would be more of a RedZone, as you were talking about, Rick. Of course, RedZone shows you teams that are in the RedZone that are about to score a touchdown, and it's really helped with fantasy football and made fantasy football even more popular than it was.
What if it only showed me my bets, is an interesting part of where I think this could head too. So you bet on certain things, you bet on Justin fields to score a touchdown, which as Pras knows, he never will. But if you do bet on that, then it goes to Justin Fields when he's near the end zone. And it sort of gets more interactive. I think that would be very interesting personalization.
RICK NEWMAN: OK, I think we need to be able to draw other factors in, such as where is Taylor Swift going to show up next?
JOSH SCHAFER: Right?
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
RICK NEWMAN: Who will she be sitting with?
JOSH SCHAFER: How many times will she appear?
RICK NEWMAN: Yeah. We have to be able to bet on this, right?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, no, I think-- I think you're-- Rick, you're onto something. I really think you are.
RICK NEWMAN: They're Wall Street guys trying to collateralize this right now and securitize it.