Netflix’s stock price is on the rise again in pre-market trading on Thursday after spiking to $547.95 at market close yesterday.

The reason: a revelation that Netflix is completely serious about expanding into video games.

The streaming titan has hired former Electronic Arts and Facebook executive, Mike Verdu, as vice president of game development, Bloomberg reported. It’s a major step in what’s ultimately a massive effort for the company.

• Netflix plans to offer video games on its platform by 2022.
• It will be the first time the streamer ventures into content beyond film and TV.
• Right now, it doesn’t intend to charge an additional fee to access games.

Netflix has expressed its admiration for the video game industry for some time now. In a letter to its shareholders in 2019, the company wrote: “We compete with (and lose to) ‘Fortnite’ more than HBO.”

“There’s no doubt that games are going to be an important form of entertainment and important modality to deepen that fan experience, so we’re going to keep going,” COO and Chief Product Officer Greg Peters said when discussing expansion on Netflix’s earnings call in April.

It won’t necessarily be an easy transition.

Amazon Game Studios has been unable to make any headway into gaming, despite spending $500 million annually on myriad gaming projects since 2014.

SmartFit, one of Latin America’s biggest gym chains, is set to raise $445 million in an IPO.

The Brazilian chain operates more than 900 gyms and counts Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and Canada’s largest pension fund as backers. 

SmartFit announced intentions to go public in May after a string of acquisitions.

Last year, the company bought a controlling stake in Queima Diária, a video-on-demand training platform. In March, it announced a deal to acquire gym network Just Fit.

SmartFit is also reportedly in merger negotiations with Mexican Sports World. It’s one of many gyms eyeing a public listing.

• Equinox, SoulCycle’s parent company, was in talks to go public via a merger with SPAC Social Capital. This week, reports revealed that the deal is now off due to disagreements about how to value the combined company.
• Crescent Acquisition is acquiring Mark Wahlberg’s F45 Gym and taking it public — the combined company will be worth $845 million.
• Xponential Fitness announced its revived plans to go public in April after purchasing Rumble for $300 million. Bloomberg estimated the brand could be valued at $1.3 billion.

In Q1, SmartFit stood at 2.4 million clients — a decrease from the 2.8 million it had pre-pandemic.

Sports betting shows no signs of slowing down in the States.

Ark Invest estimates the U.S. sports betting market will hit $37 billion by 2025 — a significant jump from the current $9.5 billion value. 

Eleven states have already passed the $1 billion wager mark. So far, Virginia has reached the milestone fastest, in just four months. In the first three months of this year, sports betting revenue reached $961.1 million in the U.S., according to the American Gaming Association.

Roughly half of all states have legalized betting in some capacity, and sportsbooks are doing what they can to cover the rest of the country. DraftKings and FanDuel contributed $20 million to legalize sports betting in Florida.

Fans and betting operators aren’t the only ones raking it in:

• Nielsen reported that the online gambling industry, primarily sports betting, spent $154 million on local TV advertisements in the first quarter of 2021.
• BIA Advisory Services estimates that more than $587 million will be spent on online gambling in the local-spot TV market by 2024.
• $11.5 million was spent on out-of-home sports betting advertising in 2020.

In line with the U.S., Technavio expects the global sports betting market to grow by $134 billion from 2020-2024. The betting market can improve once it cracks down on illegal gambling.

The NFL knows it needs a seat at the table with the decision-makers in Washington, D.C. — and for good reason. 

Many of the issues that confront the league are of interest to lawmakers, whether it be player safety, steroid use, or negotiating television broadcasting rights. 

Under the direction of commissioner Roger Goodell, the NFL pushes some efforts through its own political action committee, dubbed the “Gridiron PAC,” which launched in 2008.

The PAC’s purpose is to strengthen the NFL’s political influence through lobbying. 

The NFL generated $12 billion in revenue in 2020 and through the PAC — and political contributions — the league can use its money to facilitate access to key members of Congress, in both the House and Senate.

The NFL increased its expenditures in politics to more than $1 million for the first time in 2007 and is on pace to do so again this year.

During the 2019-20 congressional campaign cycle, the NFL spent $2.44 million on lobbying, according to Senate reports. The league also disbursed $480,000 in contributions to campaigns, parties, and other PACs, according to ESPN.