'Taylor Swift effect' attracting women bettors: FanDuel CEO

Super Bowl weekend is here, and $68 million Americans are set to wager $23.1 billion in bets, according to an American Gaming Association survey. Amy Howe, FanDuel CEO, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the nature of the sports-betting environment leading up to the big game.

“There is no doubt we’re going to set some records his year,” notes Howe, who sees “a tremendous amount of excitement” about player propositions.

Howe sees the “Taylor Swift effect,” as having created “a game within a game,” as there is an increase in interest from women, likely connected to this.

Looking ahead, Howe says she is “excited” for growth, following FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter Entertainment (FLUT), going public.

Howe notes that responsible betting and working with states to transfer “black market” bettors to responsible betting is a priority for the company.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Eyek Ntekim

Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: Football fans gearing up to watch Super Bowl 58, while sports bettors place their final wagers. A record 68 million Americans plan to wager approximately $23 billion on the game.

FanDuel expecting this Super Bowl to be its biggest single event in 2024. For more on this, we bring in FanDuel CEO Amy Howe. Amy, great to catch up with you. Look, big weekend here ahead, as we're expecting so much eyeballs, impressions, fanfare, and as well dollar flow around the Super Bowl.

What is the handle that FanDuel is anticipating going into this event?

AMY HOWE: Well, thank you for having me. It's always so fun to be with you guys. Listen, there's no doubt, we're going to set some records this year. Every Super Bowl is a record for us. We're heading into it with phenomenal momentum.

We just came off the NFC Championship, which was the single biggest day we've ever had. In fact, I think at our peak, we had 60,000 bets per minute. But there's something for everyone.

If you go on the FanDuel app, you'll see over 600 pre-live markets, great live betting offerings this year. And as you can imagine, there's a tremendous amount of excitement around the player props. Travis Kelce, of course, Patrick Mahomes, . Christian McCaffrey. But there's really something for everyone.

One of the big player props there the props that has really taken off is the correct score. Took off on a social channel. It's one of the most popular folks thinking that the Chiefs are going to win 31 to-- or sorry. Yeah, 31 to 21, the 49ers.

Go online. And there's lots to look forward to.

SEANA SMITH: Amy, I'm sure you've gotten a lot of questions just about the Taylor Swift effect. But I'm curious if you have seen it draw in more female interest or more women using FanDuel to bet because of the interest that's been generated by Taylor Swift.

AMY HOWE: Yeah. We really have. If you look at our new activations, close to 35% of them are women. There's no doubt it has really attracted a new user to our platform. And it's such a perfect time of the year to do it, right? Women and men get the opportunity to see why people are so excited about sports betting.

It's really created a game within a game. Since Taylor Swift has been on the scene, the player props for Travis Kelce have more than doubled. So it's bringing that excitement. And it's also bringing-- it's brought more women to NFL as well.

So it's had a really positive effect.

BRAD SMITH: We were all watching with great anticipation, the IPO of your parent company, Flutter. When you think about how you look at that moment, and now try to figure out, OK, what is the next growth initiative that we put forward at FanDuel from here to contribute to that larger business? What does that roadmap look like for the year?

AMY HOWE: Yeah. Gosh. That was just last week. We were standing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, ringing the bell. Rob Gronkowski was there. By the way, don't forget to go pick whether Rob's going to make or miss.

But listen, it's a huge moment for us right now. Flutter is the largest global gaming company in the world. And so now, US investors really have an opportunity to buy into the leading, now, most profitable brand in the US. And that is going to just further fuel our competitive advantage.

It allows us to reinvest back into really strengthening our lead on product and innovation. And as more of the US market opens up, 50% of the market still has to open up. California, Florida, and Texas over line-- over time.

It just gives us tremendous runway. And importantly, it also gives us an opportunity to continue to attract and retain the very best talent in the world. So we couldn't be more excited about that inflection point. And there's even more runway ahead.

SEANA SMITH: Amy, when you talk about attracting new and retaining your current users here, what is your marketing spend look like? And how are you trying to budget for that, given the fact that we are expected to get more states to come online over the next couple of years?

AMY HOWE: Well, marketing is such a critical part of what we're doing, right? We're trying to bring consumers over from the black market. And we're trying to do that safely. As new states open up, it's important to make sure that we can create awareness around our brand, but also create awareness around how you bet responsibly.

So it's a critical part of how we bring users onto the platform. And we've had the opportunity to partner with the biggest leagues in the world. We have a great partnership with the NFL, the NBA, all the leagues that you see up on the screen right here. And we're working with some of the biggest media partners to make sure that we can reach the sports betting consumer in the right moment.

And Super Bowl, there's no better time. This is one of the single biggest events to bring new users onto the platform and show why there's so much excitement in sports betting.