Written In the Stars – ‘Racing is a global game’ – Dubbs Anderson on becoming the face of FanDuel

A couple of years ago, Kyrie Irving, the prominent NBA player, expressed the growing unease about the relationship between gambling and sport in the United States, where online sports betting has exploded over the past seven years.

“Gambling and sports betting have completely taken the purity and the fun away from the game,” he said, being “honest with y’all. There’s a difference between being a diehard fan, and supporting your team and loving your team, versus somebody that’s betting on a parlay.”

Irving, at the time, was taking aim at what he considered a community of gamblers coming to the court-floor of basketball. He felt it was changing the way people were relating to his sport.

It’s an opinion that resonates in Australia and America, where online sports betting has grown precipitously since a landmark court decision cleared the way for state-by-state legalisation in 2018.

In the US, the landscape of betting is complicated. From state to state there is huge variation when it comes to the laws and regulations. In California, for instance, racetrack and sports betting are legal, but online betting isn’t as yet.

Thirty of America’s 50 states allow online gambling, which now generates over $170 billion in wagering turnover each year.  

In the thick of this complicated picture is Andrew ‘Dubbs’ Anderson, who, like Irving is Australian-born. A California-based Sydney ex-pat, his star has risen as a sports betting host and racing analyst on FanDuel TV (FDTV).

He is 37, modish with a set of good teeth and biddable hair. It’s almost like he was made for American television.

“Here in the States, you can have a bit of personality,” he says, speaking to The Straight from Los Angeles. “You can dress however you want, you can be a little flashy. Back in Australia, in my eyes, it’s not to say things are strict, but there’s a certain way we’re expected to see things.”

‘Dubbs’ is a nickname that has stuck with Anderson professionally. It harks back to his initials, like double-A batteries. Hosting on FDTV, Dubbs can be in chinos rolled to the ankles, or combats and factory-white sneakers. He smiles a lot, carries on a bit, which is all part of the show.

“It’s so competitive here, as is it in Australia, but it’s a much bigger pool that you’re swimming in in the States,” he says.

“You’ve got to be good at your craft, you’ve got to have the knowledge and you’ve got to have the presentation, but you’ve also got to look the part. The fashion side of things, what I wear, is a good way to express myself. I like to have a bit of fun with it and bring a lot of energy, and I think the way I dress matches that.”

Dubbs is Sydney-born and bred, from a Canterbury Bulldogs family with roots through the game. He studied economics at the University of Western Sydney and landed a role in the Australian series Packed To The Rafters, which got him to the US and a part in General Hospital.

He wasn’t a showman, but he grew to be one with a little bit of American mentoring.

“A guy once said to me to be an individual, not like someone who’s just reading the weather,” Dubbs says.

“Anyone can do that. I took it on board and found it’s a lot easier trying to be myself than just falling in line. It opened a lot of doors for me.”

FanDuel began in the US in 2009 as a daily fantasy sports provider. As soon as it became clear that online sports betting would become legal in 2018, Paddy Power, the Irish-based bookie, took a majority share.

Now 100 per cent owned by Flutter, which also owns Australia’s biggest bookmaker Sportsbet, FanDuel offers sports betting and racing among its repertoire of betting services and mas around 40 per cent of the US market share.  

For Dubbs, his involvement began about six or seven years ago, when he had a program called Talk Golfing To Me on the Sports Grid Network, a FanDuel partner. He had replaced Steve Elkington, another Aussie and a Major winner, as its host, which to this day remains his big break.

“FanDuel, at that point, was getting bigger and better and when it launched its own sports network, that’s when I jumped ship and came across,” he said.

Dubbs carries the holiday in his eye. He’s about to marry Meghan Payton, the daughter of NFL coach Sean Payton, but there is a serious work ethic behind him.

He does the morning show on FDTV, 9am to 11am Monday to Friday, and is still a contributor to Sports Grid. He is also doing a fair bit of work with the Sky Racing and TAB teams back in Australia.

“Aussies do well in the US, whether they come across to play sport or work in TV, because it’s blue collar in Australia,” he says.

“If you bring that work ethic and you’re given an opportunity, you’re going to make the most of it because you’ve come that far.  No one has left their family, their upbringing, to be just mediocre and go with the flow.

“Hard work gets rewarded here, and the Aussies are really likeable. We’ve got a good sense of humour and it’s appreciated by the American culture.”

In an industry on a major growth curve, Dubbs is a sports-betting star but he stops short of saying he’s a big name in America. On air, he is breezy and friendly, but he knows his stuff.

He understands the wagering landscape across a wide pitch of disciplines, from the NBA and NFL leagues to horse racing.

Of the latter, he covers the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup meetings, as well as weekly meetings across America, and he has covered The Championships and The Everest these last three years.

“The best thing about Aussie racing is that it’s in the culture,” he says. “I always considered it to be in my top five sports. Growing up, we had someone in the family married to a very well-known jockey who won Melbourne Cups and Golden Slippers, so I was exposed to getting out to racedays as a young fella.

“I would call myself a bettor and handicapper first and foremost, but racing is very different over here in the States where it’s pari-mutuel and we’re playing against each other more so than taking on the fixed odds in Australia.

“But I actually like that more because you can get a little more creative and you’re looking for edges and angles against other bettors, and, if you can put the puzzle together, you can have an even bigger score and payout.

“For anyone who likes sports and betting, I think racing is the pinnacle of it.”

In that sense, Dubbs isn’t a purist. Wagering excites him and he would disagree with Kyrie Irving that wagering is bulldozing the sporting theatre.

A big chunk of his job detail is educating new and younger bettors about how to bet, when to play and what it’s all about, especially with pari-mutuel horse racing. And he does so with as much showmanship as he can muster.

However, he would sympathise with Irving on one aspect.

“Certainly in the States, wagering is almost overtaking the storylines of the athletes and talent,” he admits.

Back in October, Dubbs breezed into Sydney about the same time as Ka Ying Rising. It wasn’t the first time FDTV had covered The Everest for its own sports broadcast, but interest from the US this time was unprecedented.

And, it was exactly the result an international audience wanted, the Hong Kong sprinter schooling the field with jockey Zac Purton for a win that was much better than it looked.

“It was a great sell for us,” Dubbs says. “Those big international storylines are what gets the viewers intrigued and entertained, and Ka Ying Rising showed us why he’s a superstar. It had massive appeal.

“And if you look at the numbers behind Australian racing – over a hundred million-dollar races, jockeys and connections with household names, João Moreira coming across for the Kentucky Derby.

“Racing is a global game, and you want to see the best of the best meeting at the same races on the same tracks, whether it’s down there at Royal Randwick or over here at Del Mar.”

Inevitably, sports broadcasting demands a respect for wagering.

One doesn’t exist without the other, and companies like FanDuel are leading the world in putting the right people in front of the betting product. They are people who engage, hosts who entertain, not just read the numbers.

“It’s a blast working for these guys,” Dubbs says. “You’re walking down the hallways here in the studio at Culver City with NBA players and NFL players. Sometimes I walk out of work and can’t believe I’m getting paid to talk about sports and betting, giving out a couple of winners while I’m at it.”