DraftKings
Jamie Shea Urges United States Betting Brands to Embrace Player Education
Strive Gaming Chief Marketing Officer tells Xtremepush podcast Experts in the Room in-play betting has the potential to take off as it has in Europe
Sportsbooks in the United States must focus on educating bettors about the availability and benefits of in-play betting for a profitable future, according to Strive Gaming’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jamie Shea (pictured).
Speaking as a guest on a forthcoming edition of Xtremepush’s podcast series Experts in the Room, the industry leader and former VP of Sportsbook at DraftKings stressed that live betting has so far only reached a fraction of its potential in the country.
That’s despite it being more than five years since the first legal online bets in the United States outside of Nevada were placed with DraftKings in New Jersey.
Also key to profitability is a concerted push to retain expensively acquired players, Shea argues, with increased personalisation favored above expensive blanket bonusing.
“The education of the player is the best retention tool as it teaches them how to play,” said Shea, speaking to Xtremepush’s New Business Account Executive and podcast host, Will Hansen. “A lot of the time, customers just don’t even realize that certain bets exist. One of the things that’s driving me crazy right now in the United States industry is in-play. Why is that not bigger? Seventy per cent of bets should be in-play, as they are in Europe, because it’s fun and provides instant gratification.
“I would love to see that happen in the United States. We need to educate the players on how it works and where they can find it in an app and that’s where push notifications come in. Brands should be doing all they can to let the customer know that hey, there is this wager available and it’s a lot of fun. Every time that I’ve sat down with people and taught them how it works, they love it and it becomes their go-to.”
Shea also stressed that United States operators’ acquisition budgets need to be more in line with player lifetime values, a trend which is already in motion.
“After the first bet on August 1st, 2018, in New Jersey, it was a free-for-all,” she added. “Nobody knew what should be done or how it should be done, just that they wanted as many active customers as possible. And so it was a bonus here, a bonus there.
“Unfortunately, as everybody came to realize, this set the customer up with an expectation that isn’t realistic, because those offers can’t last forever. It also created a lot of promiscuity within the different brands through ‘promo hunters’ and it started to become a race to the bottom. Nobody was profitable.
“Having Strive Gaming and Xtremepush in the United States market allows for so much more targeted marketing, so that bonuses aren’t just thrown at everyone. It allows us to look at what resonates with certain player types as a targeted and measured approach.”
In line with the data-led approach to personalized offerings, Shea also stressed that detecting problematic player behavior is of paramount importance for United States-focused platform provider Strive Gaming.
“For me, it’s a very personal topic,” she said. “I grew up with my dad losing his business and that’s because gaming was not regulated. Nobody was texting him and asking him how he was doing back in 1984. One of the great things about having all of this data available is you can look to see, has someone changed their behavior dramatically?
“I’m very cognizant of player interactions with us. Our customer service team is extremely well-trained to notice when certain trigger words, for example, suggest a person might be having a problem. We can’t be their therapist. We can’t know everything they are thinking. But what we can do is provide the right tools to enable people to keep enjoying sports betting and iGaming, in a very responsible manner that isn’t going to affect their lives.”
Compliance
DraftKings renews multi-year geolocation deal with GeoComply
DraftKings has renewed a multi-year agreement with GeoComply to continue providing real-time geolocation and compliance services, the companies said.
The extension comes after DraftKings’ Super App launch, a unified platform approach that lets customers access either sportsbook or sports predictions depending on their location. The press release positions the renewal as supporting scale, fraud controls, geolocation and compliance requirements tied to that rollout.
GeoComply said its geolocation signals are embedded into DraftKings’ internal risk workflows, including step-up authentication and automated decisioning. The vendor said it processes 2.5 billion checks a month across its platform.
Under the extended agreement, the companies said GeoComply will continue to support DraftKings with dedicated forward-deployed engineering support.
“The operators winning this next cycle are treating geolocation intelligence as critical trust infrastructure,” said Kip Levin, CEO of GeoComply. “DraftKings has done that for years. This extension reflects how seriously they take the architecture behind player trust—and it’s what lets them keep moving fast on everything else.”
The post DraftKings renews multi-year geolocation deal with GeoComply appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
DraftKings
DraftKings renews multi-year agreement with GeoComply
DraftKings and GeoComply have been working together for more than a decade, throughout some of the most technically demanding moments in modern gaming.
Today, we’re proud to announce that DraftKings has extended its multi-year agreement with GeoComply. Our collaboration, which dates back to the early days of Daily Fantasy Sports, goes beyond compliance, founded upon a shared track record under real pressure.
Part announcement, part celebration, read on to learn about the history we’ve walked and what we’re looking forward to next.
A different kind of proof
The extension comes on the heels of DraftKings’ Super App launch, a unified platform strategy, that allows customers to access either sportsbook or sports predictions depending on their location. Along with a high-calibre player experience, this demands higher scale, and a higher bar across fraud, geolocation, and compliance.
GeoComply has supported DraftKings through record traffic, major sporting events, and industry-wide disruptions. That track record forms the foundation of this collaboration.
What makes the signals different
This relationship has been built on a foundation that can’t be easily replicated: signal intelligence at scale. GeoComply processes 2.5 billion checks a month, generating a living picture of user behaviour, device integrity, and location authenticity that gets sharper with every transaction.
For DraftKings, those signals aren’t a standalone verification step bolted onto the side of their stack. They’re embedded directly into internal risk workflows, informing step-up authentication, powering automated decisioning, and enabling proactive threat detection before bad actors get a foothold.
That’s the difference between geolocation as a compliance checkbox and geolocation as trust infrastructure. DraftKings has been running the latter for years.
What comes next
Under the extended agreement, DraftKings and GeoComply will continue to deliver real-time geolocation and compliance services, supported by dedicated forward-deployed engineering support.
“The operators winning this next cycle are treating geolocation intelligence as critical trust infrastructure,” said Kip Levin, CEO of GeoComply. “DraftKings has done that for years. This extension reflects how seriously they take the architecture behind player trust—and it’s what lets them keep moving fast on everything else.”
The goal: stay ahead of what’s next, together.
The post DraftKings renews multi-year agreement with GeoComply appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
2026 FIFA World Cup
Americans Expected to Bet More Than $3B on the 2026 FIFA World Cup
A new report by Sweeps Pulse estimates American bettors will place total bets amounting to about $3.1 billion on the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This represents the most extensive single sport betting event ever conducted inside the US. The estimate also exceeds the $1.8 billion projected amount for wagers placed on the Super Bowl in 2024. Both amounts represent growth in the legal sports betting market. The 2026 football competition will be held in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Projected Betting Breakdown (2026 FIFA World Cup)
• $1.6 billion via licensed U.S. sportsbook apps
• $920 million via offshore and unlicensed platforms
• $380 million via retail sportsbook locations
• $200 million via sweepstakes and social sports formats
Why This Tournament is Different
There have been no previous World Cups where there is serious U.S. betting volume. This is due to the mobile sports betting being non existent in the U.S. for a large part of the time leading up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. There is now a huge difference when it comes to how mature (and big) the market is in 2026; all major players in the space are already established; they each have their own significant budgets to promote their brand(s); and users have developed four years worth of habits using the NFL, NBA, and College Sports to bet on games.
Another fact is that many of the 2026 World Cup games will be held in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Miami will generate much more local involvement.
The Mobile Factor
In terms of placement (mobile apps) it is estimated that 68% of all World Cup bets will be made using mobile apps. This is compared to an estimate of 41% of all bets taken in the 2018 World Cup. The sportsbooks have committed to spending an estimated $400 million on promotions related to the World Cup. These promotions include but are not limited to; Deposit Matches, Odds Boosts, Free-Bets, and other promotions targeting new soccer bettors.
Key mobile betting statistics:
• Average user session time per game is 23 minutes during major soccer events. Major soccer events average 38% longer than NFL regular season games.
• There is an expectation that live in-game betting will make up 44% of the total World Cup wagered amount.
• FanDuel and DraftKings are expected to take approximately 58% of the licensed app volumes.
The Soccer Audience is Younger and Growing
There are many factors that contribute to an increase in betting at this time. One major factor contributing to the surge in bets at this time is demographics. The data collected from surveys shows that 61% of Gen Z sports bettors have soccer as one of their top 3 wagering sports, while only 29% of bettors who are over 50 years old identify soccer as one of their top 3 wagering sports. This trend demonstrates how the demographics of the sports-betting population are changing.
The post Americans Expected to Bet More Than $3B on the 2026 FIFA World Cup appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
-
Genius Sports7 days agoLIGA MX and Polymarket Announce Sponsorship Agreement for the US Territory with Official Data and Integrity Collaboration from Genius Sports
-
ELA Games7 days agoELA Games Releases Pinatas Festival World Cup
-
Asia7 days agoEsports Foundation opens 2026 co-streaming Creator Program with $2m rewards pool
-
2026 World Cup6 days agoSuperbet launches ‘As Odds do Penta’ hub tracking Brazil 2026 title odds
-
3 Oaks Gaming7 days agoWeekend Reels | Week 24: Slot Drops & Trends
-
Compliance Updates7 days agoEuropean Standard on Markers of Harm Now Published – EGBA Members Commit to Alignment
-
Latest News7 days agoQTech adds Phantom content to its aggregation platform
-
Arnold7 days agoArnold Ash sponsors Arthurian League’s 2026 US Tour



