Online sportsbook Betr originally planned to launch in Massachusetts in April. After obtaining a certificate of operations from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission this week, that is still possible, but the more likely reality is the site will launch in its second state in early May.
When it does launch, Betr will be the seventh online sportsbook in Massachusetts. Betr is already live in Ohio, where it soft-launched on Jan 1. The first weeks of activity in Ohio did not include real-money wagering.
Betr only holds a small share of the marketplace in Ohio but it is also a state with significantly more competitors. However, Betr co-founder Joey Levy has publicly said that handle is not a metric the company is particularly interested in. He Tweeted in March:
“We at Betr are deliberately not playing the market share game at this time, and are instead focused on accomplishing best-in-class unit economics in our category, which will be determined by our ability to validate our model of 1) low-to-no CAC, 2) strong user engagement and retention, and 3) community-driven vitality to inform best-in-class brand affinity.”
The latest move by Betr was to sign the college basketball and social media stars the Cavinder twins, however, their role will be more on the media side of the brand than the sportsbook.
Hot on Betr’s heels in Massachusetts should be Fanatics, which is currently in beta testing in Tennessee and Ohio. Sports Business Journal reported that Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin has scaled back some of the expectations, revising it down to 12-15 states the sportsbook is live in by football season.
The MGC approved the Fanatics Sportsbook house rules this week, but it still needs to complete the final step of obtaining a certificate of operations before it can launch.
