A Paddy Power move

Irish bookie puts money on the future of American gambling with FanDuel purchase

The Irish online-game bookie Paddy Power Betfair will absorb the $1.2B American fantasy sports site FanDuel -- giving it 61% ownership of the resulting company with an option to buy the whole thing outright, Recode reports.

The FanDuel acquisition is the first big-betting buyout since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting in the US this month.

Gambling odds just got better on this side of the Atlantic

Paddy Power is a betting exchange based in Dublin that operates across Europe, where sports betting laws have traditionally been more relaxed than in the United States.

But with one strike of the gavel, the Supreme Court created a hot new market for sports betting in the US -- one far larger than the UK’s, previously the largest legal market for sports betting.

US gaming companies are playing a winning hand

Now that companies like FanDuel and DraftKings (which have toed the line of legality in the past) don’t have to worry about breaking anti-betting laws, they’re positioned to scoop up the lion’s share of the $150B wagered illegally in American sports betting every year.

In 2017, FanDuel and DraftKings together accounted for 90% of the $2.6B American daily fantasy sports market -- enough to get European companies like Paddy Power to shift their chips over into America.

Euro-bookies are going double or nothing

At the time of the merger, both FanDuel and PPB were unprofitable -- but since when has losing stopped gamblers?

FanDuel accepted PPB’s offer to pay down its $76m in debt and beat DraftKings. In exchange, PPB scoops up Fanduel’s 7m users and its 40% market share. But now that FanDuel has been sold, the big question is -- who is going to buy DraftKings and its 8m users?

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins doesn’t offer any answers. In an interview with CNBC yesterday, the Robins said “it’s really just about finding the right partners now.”

Translation: They have more “hand” than they know what to do with.

Snapchat execs are dropping like flies as Spiegel tries to Snap out of his slump

A VP of engineering at Snap jumped ship earlier this week to work at Tesla -- the 10th executive to ghost the social media company since its IPO last year.

Investors share these executives’ skepticism -- after struggling to recover from a poorly implemented redesign, Snap’s value has plummeted from $20 to just $11 per share in the last 3 months.

Hoping for a hail mary, Spiegel fumbled the Snap

After Snap’s earnings fell $30m short of their Q3 goal in 2017, CEO Evan Spiegel decided to redesign the app from the ground up -- without asking users what they wanted. The changes pissed off everyone from celebrities to your 3rd-grade neighbor, John.

Then, famously famous person, Kylie Jenner, tweeted that the update was “sad” -- and lopped $1.3B off of Snap’s market value. The app tanked to the tune of 83% negative reviews -- and a petition on Change.org to remove the update with more than 1.2m signatures.

Redesigning a redesign... never a good sign

With no choice but to listen to its millions of angry users, Snapchat rolled out a redesign of its redesign at the start of May -- just 5 months after the previous redesign that was supposed to save the company.

Unfortunately for Snapchat, neither redesign was able to stop the financial bleeding -- both revenue and user growth failed to hit quarterly goals.

Death to key cards: Openpath raises $7m so you can unlock your office with your phone

If you’ve ever worked in a secure office, it’s highly likely you’ve lost your key card and been forced to beg the “open-sesame” Gods (AKA, your office manager) to let you in to your office.

A new startup called Openpath wants to save you the office manager stink eye. The Culver City-based office security tech firm launched on Tuesday, helped by a $7m seed round led by the founders’ own personal mattress money.

Did someone say ‘personal funds’?

Turns out Openpath’s co-founders, James Segil and Alex Kazerani got filthy stinkin’ rich after selling EdgeCast Networks (a content delivery network they co-founded in 2006) to Verizon for $350m.

Ahh, nothing like using millions of your own dollars to pursue one’s passions of… creating a new way to open a door?

But these days in tech, “boring” is the new “sexy,” and companies are coming out of the woodwork to create practical smart gadgets like surveillance doorbells for the home.

And, as always, convenience is king

According to TechCrunch, Segil says that employees have “come to expect convenience in the workplace,” and it’s time to take some of the focus off of “smart” homes and move it to the office.

So how does it work? Over the course of the last few years, the team developed -- and patented -- hardware and software that allows employees to open secure doors through the company’s Bluetooth compatible SurePath Mobile technology right from their smartphones.

What’s next? ‘Smart’ employees?

Hawaii governor stresses the rest of the island is ‘open for business’ despite eruption

Unless you’ve been living under a volcanic plug, you know that Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, a popular tourist destination, has been closed on the Big Island since the Kilauea volcano began hawking lava loogies earlier this month.

But, Hawaii governor David Ige wants vacationers to know that they shouldn’t let some molten rock scare them off the Big Island: In an interview with CNBC, he stressed that less than 1% of the land has been impacted, and the rest of the island is “open for business.”

A little toxic gas never hurt nobody

Tourism authorities say summer bookings for hotels and tours on the Big Island have fallen almost 50% for the months of May through July, and according to the National Park Service, the closure of the National Park alone costs the island $166m.

And when you add the 2k jobs indirectly affected by the empty national park, that number balloons to $222m.

2 if by land, none if by sea

According to reports, both Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean have canceled stops at Hilo, the Big Island’s port, so tourists can’t “come seek” adventure there, even if they wanted to.

And, with tourism providing more than 30% of Hawaii’s private sector jobs in 2017, when a volcano disrupts it, it sends shock waves across the island.

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ENJOY: Your neighborhood like a local with Nift, FREE

This ‘neighborhood gift’ (or ‘nift’) company just raised $16.5m to help small businesses reward their best customers with gift card cash to other local shops. Shop local and try new things -- it’s a win-win.

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COOK: gourmet meals in the great outdoors with the Aquaforno II, $239

Pour some out for your friend who has to rent a semi-truck to get his “portable” grill to the tailgate. Oh, and all those sorry people eating “camping” food. This portable grill/oven/rotisserie/smoker is everything you want and more.

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JOIN: WeWork to celebrate its Chicago expansion at summer solstice event, RSVP

Whether you need a touchdown desk at 10 p.m. or a conference room in Hong Kong, your workspace is now just as agile as you are. WeWork has announced its commitment to expand its footprint in Chicago’s River North neighborhood -- they just haven’t announced exactly where yet. Sign up to be the first to know, plus RSVP for their Summer Solstice event, happening on June 21st.

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“I’m going to throw my computer in the toilet”

Don't test me. If I have to come up with one more password or fish my credit card out of my wallet to make an online purchase one more time... I’m going to throw laptop straight into the porcelain throne.

Fine. I’m (probably) not going to do that, but I’m 2 ‘reset password’ emails away from a breakdown.

And don’t you dare suggest I “save my credentials to the browser.” Let me guess, you also keep your passwords on a Post-It. You’re high.

Dashlane: The app that changed the way I internet

Technically, Dashlane is a password manager, but to me, it’s a stress-relieving, time-saving, lil’ bouncer that lives in my computer and protects my precious info.

How? Well, every time I’m surfin’ the web and a form appears: BOOM. Dashlane auto-fills that bad boy. I’m talkin’ name, email, billing address, credit card, username, password -- the works. Plus, it will auto-generate and save hack-proof passwords for you.

Honestly, I could write 1,000 more words about my love for Dashlane, but Copywriter Kolby said I have to keep it under 200. Just download it and let it cleanse you.

Or if you’re trying to get the whole crew onboard, try Dashlane for Business -- there’s a reason it’s a ‘Best App’ in both the Apple and Google Play stores.

-- Katy “My password is my pet’s first name, so sue me” Huff