Prime Sports executive chair Joe Brennan Jr. announced on Sunday via LinkedIn that he has left the sports betting company.
Brennan told Covers on Monday that he resigned from the online sportsbook’s board to tackle some of the gaming industry’s most pertinent issues, like operator taxation, the battle against unregulated markets, and responsible gaming.
“I’m not going away from this industry,” Brennan said. “If anything, I’m getting in deeper, and leaving Prime gives me the opportunity to go in deeper and to places that I would not have been able to or would’ve gotten the cooperation to do if I was still at Prime.”
Brennan wants to “go out and listen to a lot of really smart people in the industry” without being their competitor or combatant. In what he called a “tough decision,” Brennan contemplated this move for more than a year.
He has a good idea of how he’ll advocate for change but wasn’t ready to publicly discuss those next steps.
“I just kind of felt in some ways compelled to do this and because I have the time and the space and the means to do it, I’m just gonna do it,” Brennan said.
Regulated vs. unregulated
Brennan has long been outspoken about issues he’s seen in the sports betting industry, even when Prime was just getting off the ground. He built the company to take a very open approach with sharp bettors and not limit winning players.
Brennan will carry that torch in his next venture because it’s tied to the use of the unregulated sportsbook. He’s said for years that for every dollar wagered legally, another dollar is being bet illegally.
He says it's not realistic to think legal U.S. sports betting operators are going to suddenly open the doors to all bettors to keep them from going elsewhere or that the Department of Justice is going to shut down access to offshore sportsbooks, but he’s looking for new thinking and ideas on how to combat a rising issue.
“It’s really easy to just sit back and be critical,” Brennan said. “We can all scold each other until the sun goes down, but it’s not going to solve the problem.
“It’s unsustainable to have that big of a black market or gray market existing right next to a regulated market.”
Symbiotic relationship
The amount sports betting operators are being taxed is also a great concern. Brennan knows it’s not something that bettors necessarily think about, but tax rates like New York’s 51% and hikes in other states are pricing out some sportsbooks and creating less competition.
He argues that can be ultimately felt throughout the entire sports betting industry, and there’s a symbiotic relationship between the effects of high tax rates and bettors. He also wants to show legislators how it’s “bad in the long-term” and to stop it from reaching new states that legalize sports betting.
“It’s all being done without any kind of real thought of sustainability to the industry,” Brennan said. “They’re proposing taxing sports betting at a rate nothing else gets taxed at. If you want to confine it to the world of the vice taxes, tobacco, booze, weed, things like that, they’re not taxed anywhere near that rate and they have a much higher consumption.”
Personal cause
Brennan said he has seen the effects of gambling addictions on friends and extended family members, so responsible gaming is very personal to him. At the same time, he advocated for gaming legalization in New Jersey after PASPA was overturned in 2018.
“Maybe I’m nuts. Maybe I’m arrogant. Maybe I’m overconfident,” Brennan said. “I’m probably all three, but in some ways, I feel a sense of responsibility on this one because I wasn’t the only person, but I led that effort in New Jersey for the legalization of sports betting and iGaming and there are some things that are unfinished business.”
Brennan said there are companies, advocacy groups, and solutions he’s seen that he believes will help push responsible gaming without being overly costly for operators.
“The industry was so intent on rapid growth that it got a little crazy,” Brennan said. “I don’t think we’re the next opioid epidemic like some folks waving the bloody shirt on the other side of the ball are trying to say. It’s nowhere close to that, but we have to take it seriously and I think it involves doing something a little bit more than just having 1-800-GAMBLER on your website.”
Prime’s future
Brennan walks away from Prime Sports “so proud of being able to open that sportsbook and what we stand for.”
Behind partner Plannatech’s technology and platform, Prime Sports has been operating in Ohio since September 2023 and launched in New Jersey in April 2024 with an old-school approach and less marketing than the competition. That has made profitability difficult for the operator at times.
Prime is down more than $748,000 all-time in Ohio on a handle of $97.4 million, and the company lost more than $979,000 in 2024 alone. In New Jersey, which doesn’t release handle figures, Prime hauled in $490,000 in 2024 revenue, but just two sportsbooks that are still operating in the Garden State made less.
Brennan said Prime, which is set to launch in Kentucky this year, is turning its attention to broaden its audience behind a more contemporary interface and user experience that can help bring in more recreational and parlay bettors that can close the gap with competitors.
“Four years ago, when the opportunity arose to launch a ‘sharp sportsbook’ in the regulated U.S. market in New Jersey, I jumped at it,” Brennan said in his LinkedIn post. “NJ is where it all began for me, starting with our legalization efforts back in 2008. So, getting Prime across the finish line and live – both in New Jersey and Ohio – was outstanding.
“Having done that, it’s time to hand over the reins to the team and let them build on the strong foundation we created.”
