Bally Bet has launched its online sportsbook in New York, becoming the ninth and final operator to go live with its offering in the Empire State.
The New York online sports betting market has been live since January earlier this year, but Bally’s Corporation delayed its launch in the state due to uncertainty regarding the company’s governance structure.
In January, Bally’s received a preliminary, non-binding acquisition proposal from Standard General, a New York-based investment firm whose founding partner is current Bally’s Chair Soohyung Kim.
The offer included the purchase of the remaining outstanding Bally’s shares that it doesn’t already own for a price of $38 each, totaling $2.07bn. However, in May, this offer was rejected.
There was also speculation that Bally’s was waiting for a better offer to arrive before making a decision on the acquisition proposal, which may have resulted in the delayed online launch in New York.
Bally Bet will now compete against the likes of FanDuel and DraftKings in a New York market place which is highly competitive.
In May, FanDuel continued its dominance in the Empire State, reporting a handle of $552.6m with a revenue of $63.8m, followed by DraftKings ($313.6m handle, $21.5m GGR), Caesars Sportsbook ($192.7m handle, $10.8m GGR), and BetMGM ($123m handle, $7.9m GGR).
Overall, New York online sportsbooks achieved a handle of $1.26bn in May, lower than April’s $1.39bn, with a GGR of $109.8m during the month, down on April’s $104.1m.
To differentiate itself in the market, Bally Bet could go in the direction of deploying Kim’s sports betting 3.0 vision, focusing on viewer interaction through the utilization of Bally’s Sports Regional Networks, possibly for micro-betting purposes.
Including the launch in New York, Bally Bet is currently operational in six US states (Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, and Virginia) with online sportsbook market access to 18 states.
Last month, Bally’s launched a new television advertising campaign to promote its online sportsbook Bally Bet across North America.
