Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Now, a story I did not have on the bingo card today, Bally Bet, who I thought was pulling
00:08back from a lot of their sports betting entities.
00:11I guess things are so good in Massachusetts, Matthew, is the only thing that I can think
00:14of that they've decided to ramp up their mobile sports betting there.
00:19I did not think that they were a big part of the sports betting landscape in the future.
00:24Yeah, you know what, Craig?
00:26I don't know that anybody actually thought that Bally's was going to launch in Massachusetts.
00:32As you know, the mobile market went live last March there, and Bally's has just been kind
00:38of sitting on their hands.
00:39They have a license, but look, Bally's has had a lot going on, right?
00:43They tried to build up their sports betting product from the bottom, and they failed.
00:48They had to write a lot of it off.
00:49They lost some money because of it, and it was a headache for Bally's.
00:53They had to pull back.
00:54Now they're partnered with Camby.
00:56They're doing things a little bit more simple on their side, but jumping into Massachusetts
01:01is a head-scratcher because, look, Massachusetts is hot, but last month DraftKings did over
01:10half of the business.
01:11They took over half of the dollar's bet, and FanDuel's right there was like another 30%.
01:16You look at Massachusetts, and it's where Better has pulled out.
01:19It's where WinBet has pulled out, and it's where Betway decided against launching.
01:24You have to wonder why is Bally's doing this?
01:27Why do they want to basically pay a million dollars a year to go into Massachusetts and
01:31not get a whole lot of share?
01:33I think what we have to look at, Craig, is this is just a marketing play for them because
01:38right next door in Rhode Island, they opened up online casinos.
01:43What they're able to do is they're going to be able to cross-sell these players that they
01:46get in their database saying, hey, you only live 40 miles from the casino.
01:50Why don't you come down?
01:53It's not like this is something that sports bettors are not used to, Craig, because if
01:58you remember, before Massachusetts went live, if you're in that Boston, South Boston region,
02:04you were going to Rhode Island, and before you were just driving to the state line to
02:09make your account and bet, you had to go to the casino before that and actually physically
02:15make your account, and then you were able to bet online.
02:18Going to Rhode Island to gamble is nothing new to people in Massachusetts.
02:22If you want to gamble, maybe the Rhode Island line is going to be closer than driving to
02:28MGM Springfield, which is in the center of the state, or Encore Boston.
02:35If you don't have to drive through downtown Boston, I would suggest you don't.
02:41It's an interesting play, what they're doing here, but, Craig, I can't see any reason other
02:48than trying to boost the Rhode Island online casino business than why they would go in
02:52to Massachusetts, because Massachusetts is not friendly for any of the big names right
02:58now when you think about the death grip that DraftKings and FanDuel have on the market,
03:05and especially for a smaller company, Bally's goes into markets and may not even get a full
03:10percent of the handle, so it's going to be interesting to see how Bally's does with this.
03:17They keep saying that they're righting their wrongs and they're making better decisions
03:20now and everything, and we'll see if this pays off.