Top Trending: Will Fox Exercise Right to Buy 18.6 Percent of FanDuel?

It turns out that Rupert Murdoch’s family reaching a deal on who will control his vast media empire after death will not only have an impact on Fox News and other company-owned media assets, but also on the USA's largest regulated mobile sports betting business.  Scroll down for all the latest gambling headlines from around the world and the top trending articles here at Gambling911.

Ryan Butler of Covers.com tweeted Tuesday: 

Lachlan Murdoch, who will take control of FOX & News Corps, said last year the company will exercise its right to buy 18.6% of FanDuel; the company must be licensed in the 20+ jurisdictions FanDuel operates before the acquisition is completed; FOX has until 2030 to exercise option.

The deal announced over the weekend creates a trust establishing control of the Fox Corp. for Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s chosen heir who has been running Fox in recent years, along with his younger sisters, Grace and Chloe.

Lachlan Murdoch’s three older siblings, Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch, give up any claims to control of Fox in exchange for stock currently valued at $3.3 billion, according to The New York Times, which first reported news of the deal.

It ends a drama that has been like a real-life version of HBO’s “Succession,” only with huge financial implications and an impact on U.S. politics. Fox and its conservative opinion dominates news ratings, at points this summer more popular than the general broadcast networks, and is the go-to network for Trump and his team to spread news.

The court fight began when Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan sought to change terms of an established trust that gave the mogul’s four oldest children equal say in control of his media holdings after his death. Prudence, Elisabeth and James are known not to be as conservative as their father, and the arrangement led to worries that they could force Lachlan out and change Fox’s direction after the patriarch’s death.

As for Fox's foray into the US regulated sports betting space, that began in 2019....and sort of ended in 2023...well, not quite. 

Fox Corporation (through its Fox Sports unit) partnered with The Stars Group (TSG) to launch Fox Bet. Fox acquired a 4.99% ownership stake in The Stars Group as part of the arrangement and granted TSG exclusive licensing rights to use Fox Sports trademarks and integration across its media platforms. 

In October 2019, FanDuel parent company, Flutter Entertainment, announced its acquisition of The Stars Group for about $6.95 billion Flutter took over operations of Fox Bet and Fox received approximately a 2.5–2.6% minority stake in Flutter and retained an option to acquire an 18.5–18.6% stake in the U.S. betting giant FanDuel.

On July 31, 2023, Fox Corporation and Flutter announced the phased shutdown of Fox Bet, concluding its operations by August 31, 2023 .Flutter retained the customer database and licensing, while Fox retained the brand and rights to use “Fox Bet” in products like “Fox Super 6”. Fox Bet had mostly been treated as an afterthought by Flutter, which focused much of its attention to the highly successful FanDuel brand in the United States market. 

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More Headlines Gambling911 is Following

Gambling 

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• Officials Put a Stop to Phoenix Dream Home Sweepstakes - Officials Put a Stop to Phoenix Dream Home Sweepstakes - State gaming officials are putting an end to an online Phoenix home raffle, saying it’s an illegal gambling scheme. The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) announced on Tuesday that it has issued a cease-and-desist order to a UK-based company called Raffall and a Valley man who are running the sweepstakes. John Smith said he is raffling off a $1.3 million mountainside home in north Phoenix with tickets starting at $10. If the minimum number of ticket sales is reached, the home would be awarded. If not, the winner gets 50% of the cash from the ticket sales. However, raffles can only be put on by charitable, tax-exempt organizations and personal profit is banned, officials said. The way this home sweepstakes is set up, Smith and Raffall look to profit from the other half of the ticket sales, so it’s an illegal gambling operation, the ADG said.
   
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Crypto 

• (Rueters) - Bitcoin Buyers Plunge as Investors' Crypto Euphoria Fades  - Companies that accumulate and hoard bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have suffered sharp drops in their share prices as the crypto euphoria that has gripped investors recedes.
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Sports Betting 

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Poker

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Crime

• Cruise Ship Passenger in Puerto Rico Jumps Overboard Allegedly to Avoid $16,000 Gambling Debt - A man who jumped off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship near the Port of San Juan over the weekend did so allegedly to avoid having to pay a $16,000 gambling debt to the cruise line. He has been charged with a federal crime, authorities said. Jey Gonzalez-Diaz embarked on the Rhapsody of the Seas at the Port of San Juan on Aug. 31, according to a criminal complaint filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. The cruise ship returned from Barbados on Sunday — when Gonzalez-Diaz jumped into the water as the ship disembarked around 9:15 a.m. local time, during U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection, the criminal complaint said. Gonzalez-Diaz was then brought to shore by someone passing by on a jet ski, investigators said. The moment was captured on surveillance video. Diaz was later found carrying $14,600 in cash, two phones and five IDs.

Entertainment 

• ‘It was Bananas’: Colin Farrell Shoots New Movie in Macau Casinos - Colin Farrell plunges into an intoxicating fever dream among the high-stakes baccarat tables of Macau casinos with “Ballad of a Small Player,” a rare major Western film shot on location in Asia’s gambling capital. The surreal, dark and twisty drama co-stars Tilda Swinton as an investigator in pursuit of Farrell’s velvet-suited conman and gambling addict. It was filmed over 33 days in various Macau casinos, including scenes shot on live gaming floors while surrounded by real-life high rollers. Farrell told AFP he had spent a crazy eight weeks living in hotels “in the middle of the gambling strip…which I can’t imagine I would ever do” otherwise. “It was all-hands-on-deck. It was a bananas shoot,” he said at the Netflix film’s Toronto film festival premiere Tuesday. (read more from Gambling911)

Sweepstakes Casinos

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Gambling Markets 

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- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher