Last year’s invalidation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), has led to the rapid expansion of legal, regulated sports gambling across the U.S. and has led to what appears to be a business opportunity for a Madison, Wisconsin company.

Launched in 1997, RotoWire is one of the country’s most popular sports companies. The premium fantasy sports resource founded by Peter Schoenke, Jeff Erickson and Herb Ilk, has reportedly announced that it plans to launch CoverWire, a free service that provides sports enthusiasts with information such as stats, injury reports, trends, trades and other insight to gamblers.

“There’s a lot of consumer demand.”

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, RotoWire President, Peter Schoenke, said…

“We’re going to try and do the same thing for sports betting that we’ve done for fantasy sports. It’ll be all the things that impact the outlook for a sports bettor.”

Info only:

The site [CoverWire] will not take bets, said Schoenke, rather it will provide information only.

Hope to resemble success:

Over the last year, more than 100,000 people purchased products from RotoWire for fantasy sports leagues. Schoenke reportedly believes that a market similar to that exists for sports betting information.

Thousands of fantasy sports leagues are hosted by the company and include a broad range of sports including football, tennis, hockey, golf, baseball, basketball and others.

Consumer demand:

Both RotoWire, and now CoverWire, call Madison, Wisconsin home where they employ 30 people.

Schoenke, a lobbyist for the gambling and fantasy sports industries, testified in favor of sports gambling in Iowa and is hopeful Wisconsin also votes to legalize the practice, but admits the presence of Tribal Nation casinos will likely slow the process.

“There’s a lot of consumer demand,” Schoenke said of legalized sports gambling. “At some point I think (sports gambling in nearby states) is going to impact casino revenues in Wisconsin.”

AGA survey:

According to a recent American Gaming Association (AGA) survey, 38,000,000 American adults, 15% of the adult population in the U.S., plan to wager on National Football League (NFL) games in this season. The survey, conducted by Washington, D.C. based market research company, Morning Consult, found that nearly 24%, or one-in-four, American adults say that they would wager on the NFL if it were legal to do so in their state.

American sports bettors have legally wagered more than $10 billion since the repeal of the PASPA, which had largely limited sports wagering to land-based casinos in Nevada. The speed at which legal sports betting has grown has provided greater opportunity for millions of Americans to place bets safely with a sportsbook that is licensed and regulated.