Sports betting in New York has been legal since January 8, 2022. It has constantly broken records in terms of both bets handled and tax revenue generated for the state.
However, not all the major players have been involved since its start. Originally, there were nine licenses offered out to sportsbooks that wanted to operate in the Empire State. There were four who had launched their operations on the first legal day of online sports betting. These were BetRivers, Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel.
Until now, as of July 7, Bally Bet has joined the show and is now offering sports betting via its own website and its mobile betting app as well.
Weeks later, BetMGM, PointsBet, and WynnBET joined the party and get in on the sports betting action, with Resorts WorldBET launching its operations on March 3. But that’s only eight of the nine licenses that were offered out.
We’re in a New York state of mind. Now live!
— Bally Bet (@BallyBet) July 8, 2022
Download our sports betting app for NY at https://t.co/N4tiyGCgYU.#letsplay #ballyverse pic.twitter.com/UsWJ5paIHI
A Good Time to Launch?
It’s a case of yes and no for Bally Bet, they are launching in the middle of the summer slowdown, where fewer sports are being played. Twice in June, two weeks apart, New York recorded all-time lows for bets handled. Although the second time that was recorded, sportsbooks did record increased revenue generated by paying out less to customers.
Bally Bet is also entering a market where many operators have already established customer bases and have been seen in recent weeks, it is dominated by the same three sportsbooks. It will be a tough task to knock FanDuel off their perch, which controls nearly 50% of the sports betting market, with DraftKings and Caesars the two sportsbooks closest to the market leader.
However, it has launched at the beginning of a busy four-game weekend series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, which is likely to generate a lot of betting activity.
There are also some popular international tournaments going on, with the UK hosting Wimbledon right now and the Women’s European Championships happening in soccer, plus the Formula 1 season is still going strong. So there are currently a lot of markets to bet on right now.
It has also come at a good time with the likes of BetMGM cutting back on marketing, allowing Bally Bet to swoop in and steal some customers possibly. With fewer sportsbooks going in heavy on their marketing campaigns and hoping to just hold on to existing customers, it provides an opportunity for Bally Bet to generate a bit of buzz around their brand.
Why Has It Taken So Long?
Well, it’s not entirely known what caused Bally Bet to take six months to launch following the legalization of sports betting in New York. There was originally a date in April given as a target to launch that never materialized, before a suspected date of June 30 was rumored as well, and that date passed with no movement too.
One suggested reason for the delay, though, is to do with the fact that there have been numerous talks regarding takeovers of Bally, and this possibly did cause a delay whilst they tried to tie up business ahead of its launch in New York.
Back in January 2022, Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim, who already owned a large stake in the company, wanted to purchase the remaining shares. The company was valued at $2 billion, and Kim offered $38 a share for all those it did not own. But for whatever reasons, the offer was not expected. It was believed that with the license in New York for sports betting, remaining shareholders believed the offer to be too low and wanted to hold out for a bigger offer.
