Caesars Digital Head Talks About the Challenges the Company Currently Faces

Last week, Eric Hession, the president of Caesars Digital, spoke before the Nevada Society of Certified Public Accountants about the risks for gambling operators related to higher tax rates on the sports betting industry and the growth of prediction markets.

Hession Talks About Current Worries Caesars Has 

Hession said he feared that once the government recognized the potential for increased tax revenue, it would continue raising taxes, and he questioned how that trend could be stopped. He added that the industry is highly competitive, with established competitors continually innovating and investing while new entrants, such as sweepstakes casinos and prediction markets, rapidly introduce new products.

Sports betting prediction markets have expanded across the country over the past year, with analysts noting that they are attracting customers in states such as California and Texas, where sports betting remains illegal. Hession said his company entered the market well behind competitors like FanDuel and DraftKings and is unable to participate in prediction markets, giving rivals an early advantage. 

Despite that, Caesars has been watching prediction markets closely for many months now, and has even considered entering them, should the right opportunity pops up. However, he added that he was not convinced prediction markets would ultimately displace traditional operators.

Meanwhile, Caesars Is Looking at Other Directions for Expansion

Although the expansion of iGaming has slowed, Hession said Caesars still sees growth opportunities ahead. He pointed to Alberta’s planned July launch of sports betting and online casinos, as well as Maine’s July rollout of iGaming, with Caesars and DraftKings serving as license holders. He also noted that Washington, D.C., included iGaming in its 2027 budget last week.

Hession added that as states begin seeing revenue shift toward untaxed prediction markets, pressure is likely to grow to either legalize and tax those markets or expand access for casinos in states where sports betting is already legal.

The president of Caesars Digital also discussed the possibility of entering the DFS-Plus market. This is a regulatory category for fantasy sports contests in which payouts are determined by fixed odds rather than competition among players. He said rulemaking frameworks are currently well established in roughly 20 states, with some jurisdictions already issuing licenses. 

However, because Caesars already offers parlays, he noted that integrating DFS-Plus in a way that aligns with the company’s existing platform and user experience would take time. According to him, the company’s schedule is already filled for the rest of the year. He said adding another offering would require taking on additional risk and expanding the team, which would either increase costs or force the company to shift focus away from other priorities.

In other news regarding Caesars, analysts say that if the company merges with Tilman Fertitta, a proposition that has recently once again entered discussion, it could create a dominant operator in the US.