{"id":724,"date":"2026-03-06T21:03:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=724"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:28:11","slug":"underdog-hinders-2025-performance-of-blackrock-closed-end-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/underdog-hinders-2025-performance-of-blackrock-closed-end-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Underdog Hinders 2025 Performance of BlackRock Closed-End Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Asset manager says a stake in the sports wagering company detracted from a closed-end fund\u2019s 2025 performance<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Staffers recently reported significant layoffs at the gaming company<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The operator is shifting its emphasis to prediction markets<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world\u2019s largest asset manager, said a position in Underdog was a detractor to the 2025 performance of one of its closed-end funds.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_369489\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-369489\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-369489 size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Underdog Sports Missouri sports betting\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gz5E6iEW4AApYQp-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>The Underdog logo. Shares of the privately held company hurt a BlackRock closed-end fund last year. (Image: Underdog Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>In the recently issued annual report for a slew of closed-end funds, BlackRock noted Underdog dinged the 2025 showing of the BlackRock Technology and Private Equity Term Trust (BTX). That fund has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackrock.com\/us\/individual\/products\/317597\/blackrock-technology-and-private-equity-term-trust\">$895.5 million<\/a> in assets under management, according to issuer data.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Finally, an overweight position in private company Underdog Sports Inc. detracted from relative performance. The stock dipped as regulatory challenges and increased scrutiny around Underdog\u2019s shift into prediction market products pressured its valuation,\u201d according to a BlackRock filing with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sec-could-regulate-some-prediction-markets-but-not-sports\/\">Securities and Exchange Commission<\/a> (SEC).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The gaming company doesn\u2019t rank among BTX\u2019s top 10 holdings.<\/p>\n<h2>Inside the Underdog Scrutiny BlackRock References<\/h2>\n<p>Though it\u2019s likely of little solace to BTX investors, BlackRock\u2019s commentary around Underdog has merit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>In partnership with Crypto.com,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/underdog-already-garnering-prediction-market-perks\/\">Underdog launched<\/a>\u00a0its prediction market offering last September, becoming the first licensed daily fantasy sports (DFS) or sportsbook operator to make such a move. Underdog\u2019s prediction market push resulted in the company abandoning plans to operate an online sportsbook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/underdog-sports-folds-on-missouri-sports-betting\/\">in Missouri<\/a> and the loss of its DFS license in Arizona.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>That decision by Arizona regulators stoked speculation the state will pull licenses of other DFS and sportsbook operators that also venture into prediction markets.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As BlackRock notes, Underdog is a privately held company, but shares of larger closely held firms do trade on secondary markets, giving shareholders and institutional investors avenues for valuing their stakes. Following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/underdog-valued-at-1-23-billion-following-latest-funding-round\/\">a $70 million funding round<\/a> in March 2025, the gaming company was valued at $1.23 billion, putting it in \u201cunicorn\u201d territory.<\/p>\n<h2>More Underdog Controversy<\/h2>\n<p>Though not mentioned in the BlackRock SEC filing, there are other sources of controversy at Underdog. Reports <a href=\"https:\/\/frontofficesports.com\/inside-underdogs-layoffs-ai-push-and-prediction-markets\/\">surfaced<\/a> last week that terminated more than 20% of its staff across multiple departments, including some DFS games, fraud detection, and marketing, citing artificial intelligence (AI) and the prediction markets push as the reasons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>At least 125 now former staffers were let go by Underdog, including some that were among the company\u2019s first employees. Those are bad optic considering the company isn\u2019t a year removed from being valued at $1.23 billion.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some ex-Underdog workers said media outlets they believe the headcount reduction is more attributable to the operator\u2019s increasing embrace of AI than it is the result of its focus on prediction markets.<\/p>\n<p>The news emerged just days after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-lowers-headcount-could-save-30m-estimates-analyst\/\">DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG)<\/a> said it\u2019s reducing its staff by 5% in a bid to save $30 million annually. That announcement also stoked plenty of AI-related chatter.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/underdog-hinders-2025-performance-of-blackrock-fund\/\">Underdog Hinders 2025 Performance of BlackRock Closed-End Fund<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asset manager says a stake in the sports wagering company detracted from a closed-end fund\u2019s 2025 performance Staffers recently reported significant layoffs at the gaming company The operator is shifting its emphasis to prediction markets BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world\u2019s largest asset manager, said a position in Underdog was a detractor to the 2025 performance&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":727,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions\/727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}