Numlock News: May 24, 2018
FanDuel, which made $124 million in 2017 and claims to control about a 40 percent share of the daily fantasy sports market, is being acquired by Paddy Power Betfair, a U.K. and Ireland gambling company. The move comes a mere week after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized sports betting nationwide.
Janko Roettgers,Variety
Stop the Bleed is a campaign that began in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre to train non-medical professionals on how to properly perform first aid on gunshot victims. In the absence of any serious government attempts to stymie gun violence in America, it's a pragmatic program designed to save lives when the seemingly inevitable happens. Stop the Bleed went to Las Vegas last spring and offered its course to casinos and night clubs, and there was no interest. Following the October 1 mass shooting that killed 58 and injured 851 people, interest perked up, and they have taught 130 classes and trained over 4,300 people in Vegas since the worst mass shooting in American history.
Amanda Fortini, California Sunday Magazine
A report from a Zillow Group site estimated that members of the millennial generation will spend an average of $202,000 (adjusted for inflation) on rent prior to owning a home, considerably higher than the $148,900 (also inflation-adjusted) that baby boomers spent on rent before becoming homeowners. And in case you were wondering if the great American tradition of pulling-the-ladder-up-behind-you will continue, the following generation is expected to spend even more on rent before home ownership.
Matthew Michaels, Business Insider
A new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects monthly premiums for a mid-range plan in the Affordable Care Act will rise 15 percent by 2019, with average premiums rising 7 percent annually through 2028. Insurers raised their premiums by 34 percent in 2018 compared to 2017, in part because of tweaks to the ACA made by the president last year. For the many non-American readers of this newsletter, you read this correctly, our health care system did find a way to get even worse!
Emma Ockerman, Bloomberg
When it comes to religion, nonwhite Democrats look far more like Republicans of all races than white Democrats. For instance, 61 percent of nonwhite Democrats believe in God as described in the Bible, on par with the 72 percent of white Republicans and 60 percent of nonwhite Republicans, but far higher than the 32 percent of white Democrats. Indeed, only 35 percent of white Democrats believe in an "all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving" higher power, compared to 64 percent of nonwhite Democrats, and about 66-67 percent of Republicans.
Jeff Diamant and Gregory A. Smith, Pew Research Center
The market value of Victoria's Secret's parent company is down 65 percent since 2015. In that time retail has taken a hammering but the lingerie business in particular has seen a number of online brands surge to prominence.
Lindsey Rupp, Bloomberg
Once a waste by-product of the production of coffee beans, cascara — the husks of the bean — are now a trendy ingredient for new beverages. As a result, one coffee grower in El Salvador said cascara's per-pound price is fetching a 480 percent premium over the bean, with a pound of cascara fetching $7 and the average price for beans hanging around $1.20. Now I hope someone invents a trendy beverage made from empty Diet Coke cans so that I can become an extremely wealthy man.
Marvin G Perez and Leslie Patton, Bloomberg