Here’s some real movie villain stuff: Interlune, a secretive startup planning to harvest resources from the moon and put them to use back on Earth, closed $15.5m in new funding. Few details have been publicly released because, we can only assume, they’re waiting to reveal all while a tied-up protagonist uses a shard of glass to cut through binding ropes.
In today’s email:
Betting apps: Very popular with young people, unfortunately.
Weird patents: Yes, the Crunchwrap Supreme is patented.
Why, though?: The company that tried to rent love dolls.
Around the web: Play with elements, find free fruit, and more.
👇 Listen: How sports betting went so mainstream so quickly.
The Big Idea
Sports betting apps are exploding, and experts worry about young users
Social sports betting apps can be an entry point to gambling for underage users.
2024-02-07T00:00:00Z
Sara Friedman
Want to see a really big number?
Here: Americans wagered $106B+ on sports between January and November 2023.
That was made possible by a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that ended a federal ban on sports betting. Today, it’s legal in 38 states.
In most of those states, the minimum age to bet is 21; in the rest, it’s 18. But now, more underage Americans are making wagers through unregulated apps.
There are no restrictionsto download apps, making it hard for states to control, perThe Washington Post. And sports betting apps are gaining steam:
PrizePicks is Apple’s most downloaded free sports app.
Underdog Fantasy ranks No. 5 in Apple’s App store.
Sports betting app Fliff saw 101% YoY growth with 1.4m downloads in 2023. It has 100k+ downloads in the Google Play store and is No. 12 in Apple’s App Store sports app rankings.
In total, eight of the top 10 App Store sports apps are centered around gambling.
A bad bet
While apps like Fliff use “virtual currency,” not real money, they do allow for in-app purchases and wagers where underage users can swipe very real credit cards.
Some states, though, have pushed back.
Big Fish Games agreed to pay users $155m after a federal court ruled it violated Washington state law, Maine fined Underdog Fantasy $392k for unlicensed sports betting, and Michigan hit PredictionStrike with a cease-and-desist order.
But even with fake coins…
… experts warn that there’s real damage. Social casino games prime underage users, who are more susceptible to addiction, for gambling.
The issue is no accident: TV ad spend for betting sites hit $305m between January and November 2023, up from $197m total in 2021.
And one out of 10 college students is a pathological gambler, compared to 2%-5% of the general population.
Plus, casino-style betting for purchases within video games is yet another opportunity for young people to get hooked.
Free Resource
How brands win fans on the ‘gram
Think about it: babies born in the same year as Instagram are now teens…
… And yet, an estimated 2B+ people are still scrolling through their feeds each month for old friends, fast trends, and celebrity nonsense.
If you’re one of them, that would make applying the strategies in this Instagram for Business kit very easy. Inside, you’ll find a full guide on growing a brand and nailing the content, plus 22 post and story templates.
Fasten the hashtags. Tackle the algorithms. We know you’ve got the chops.
Adam Neumann, WeWork’s co-founder famously ousted as the company’s CEO in 2019, is trying to buy it out of bankruptcy. Details on his bid are scant, but one thing’s for certain: Neumann’s got some real “college grad going to their high school’s homecoming game” energy going on right now.
SNIPPETS
Meta is rolling out labels on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads to identify images generated using third-party AI tools, and will start penalizing users who don’t disclose it.
Forgot your password? Users report that if you forget the password for your $3.5k Apple Vision Pro, you have to go to an Apple store to reset it.
Come on in: Bluesky is scrapping its waitlist, opening the decentralized platform to everyone. It currently has 3m+ users.
Sucks to be a Boeing exec: Daily drama over the safety of its 737 Max jets isn’t the only mess on the company’s horizon — Boeing’s contract with its mechanics and aerospace workers union expires in September, and union leaders announced they’ll be demanding 40% pay raises.
Yikes: Credit-card delinquencies increased 50%+ in the US last year, and total consumer debt reached a shudder-inducing $17.5T. That’s probably totally fine and nothing to worry about at all.
Dartmouth’s men’s basketball team could be the first NCAA team to unionize after a National Labor Relations Board official ruled that players are employees of the school.
’Scuse me? South Korean construction company Booyoung Group said it will pay employees $75k if they have a baby — an incentive to boost the country’s birth rate. It’s also retroactively paying $5.25m to employees who’ve had babies since 2021.
Don't miss this...
Restaurants are taking better care of their employees, from tuition support to 401(k) matching. See how you can cash in on the industry shift in this week’sTrends.
Weird Patents
The printing press. The automobile. The lightbulb. Some inventions change the trajectory of humankind forever. Among them, undoubtedly: Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme. And when genius strikes, inventors must move quickly to cement their legacy — which is why Taco Bell Corp. filed a patent for its “comestible wrap product” in 2007. Truly one for the history books.
FIT THE BILL
There are thousands of companies valued at $1B+. How many clues do you need to identify today’s billion-dollar brand?
Clue 1: This company is fracking huge: it operates in 70+ countries and registered $23B in total revenue in 2023.
Clue 2: Another sign of its staggering size, it has 40k+ employees — ~2x the current population of Duncan, Oklahoma, where, in 1919, it was founded as New Method Oil Well Cementing Co. One of the company’s two global HQs is now in a neighboring state.
Clue 3: Its most famous CEO is more famous for other things: his high-ranking US government jobs and unsuccessful wildlife outings with his friends.
👇 Scroll to the bottom for the answer 👇
Why, Though?
Why, though? Rentable sex dolls that irked the Chinese government
Rentable sex dolls failed as a business concept, but not for the reason you’d expect.
2024-02-07T00:00:00Z
Juliet Bennett Rylah
Given that New York Magazine recently featured a cover story on polyamory depicting four cuddly cats, the concept of a “shared girlfriend” may not sound that odd.
But when Chinese startup Taqu (“Touch” in English) attempted to market its Shared Girlfriend doll rental service in 2017 — well, it was a bit odd.
Shared what now?
Taqu sells a variety of adult products, including sex dolls. Recognizing that the price of a high-quality silicone doll could be prohibitive, Taqu announced a service that allowed customers to rent one of five dolls — including one that looked like Wonder Woman — for a mere $46/day.
You might think that, given the nature of the product, Shared Girlfriend failed because people were unwilling to share something they did you-know-what with — though the modular lower half of each doll was to be removed and cleaned in between rentals.
But actually…
… Shared Girlfriend failed because the Chinese government did not like it. A Taqu spokesperson toldMotherboard that the police had contacted them, calling the scheme “vulgar.” They’d also been fined ~$340.
Ultimately, Taqu shuttered the service before renting a single doll, but vowed to find other ways to normalize and discuss sexuality.
Today…
… companies are pioneering AI sex dolls, because of course they are. There’s also a burgeoning market for AI chatbots that act as companions and engage in spicy conversation.
Those are simpler and cheaper than dolls, too, and you don’t even have to share.
AROUND THE WEB
🖊️ On this day: In 1992, the Maastricht Treaty of European Union was signed, uniting Western Europe and paving the way for the euro, which debuted in 2002.
🍎 Useful: Find a farm where you can score some fruit.
🎧 Marketing Against The Grain: What does it take to be a top marketer in 2024? Kipp and Kieran lay out 10 things you need to learn to be a better marketer and grow your business.
🔥 Chill out: by combining various elements and crafting to your heart’s content.
Yesterday, we asked how much you care — or don’t — about AI.
Just over 28% said they care a lot and think about AI all day, every day. But most (34.3%) said that while AI is cool, they’re getting sick of hearing about it.
A smaller crowd is on the fence (20.6%), only cares if AI comes for their job (12.6%), or promises they’ve never cared and never will (4.4%).
But those who are using AI in their day-to-day shared their favorite use cases, which included summarizing research, writing cover letters, studying for college, and, uh, “texting significant others.”
SHARE THE HUSTLE
Hey. Don’t keep us a secret.
Refer just 3 people and we'll send Hustle essentials as a thank you.
Today’s Fit The Bill answer is Halliburton Co. (market cap: $31.28B)
Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Sara Friedman. Editing by: Ben “Should’ve listened to Neil Young’s warning about the moon getting harvested” Berkley.
