Bally’s Corp. plans to launch its Bally Bet online sportsbook in at least four more states in the coming months, company officials reaffirmed Wednesday.
One of the nation’s smaller sports betting operators by market share, Bally’s still plans to expand its digital sportsbook to complement its iGaming platform, Bally Casino. Though it has only roughly 1% national sports betting market share, the company has seen revenue gains driven by its more lucrative iCasino.
The company’s North American interactive operations generated $49.2 million in second-quarter revenues, per the company’s earnings release, a 94.7% year-over-year increase.
In a statement announcing the results, Bally’s CEO Robeson Reeves attributed the gains largely to “excellent results” for its New Jersey and Pennsylvania iGaming platform.
Rhode Island-based Bally’s also has a monopoly on legal iGaming in its home state where it has seen a “strong performance” since it launched earlier this year, Reeves said.
Online casino states remain likeliest launch targets
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Michigan are the likeliest quartet of future Bally Bet sportsbook states.
Though not specified during Wednesday’s earnings call, company officials indicated the next wave of sports betting states would complement the iCasino. The aforementioned group forms the nation’s only legal competitive market iGaming states, leading all to be top contenders for Bally's.
No formal launch timeline was announced during Wednesday’s call for any potential future market.
Bally’s has not launched its iGaming platform in Michigan or West Virginia. The only other legal online casino states are Connecticut, which has a duopoly with DraftKings and FanDuel, and Delaware, which has a monopoly run by BetRivers.
Bally Bet sportsbook is live in nine states after launching in Maryland and Massachusetts earlier this year. The mobile book is also available in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, New York, Iowa, Ohio, and Virginia.
Without the brand name, marketing, or tech advantages of its better-funded rivals, the Bally Bet mobile book has struggled to capture more than negligible market share in any operating state thus far. After spending hundreds of millions acquiring an in-house tech platform, the company relaunched its betting infrastructure earlier this year through a partnership with third-party tech providers Kambi and White Hat Gaming that began in May.
Bally's reports an online division (iCasino and sportsbook) loss of ($6.76m) in AEBITDAR for Q2 2024, an improvement from ($17.69m) in losses from Q2 2023; revenue improved to $49.2m from $25.3m during that same time
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) July 31, 2024
Company officials Wednesday attributed part of the year-over-year revenue to the improved platform and new providers. The gains can also be attributed partially to downtimes in multiple states for Bally Bet as it transitioned into the new platform.
Tech has been a key driver for all U.S. sportsbooks. Revenues industry-wide have been increasingly driven by lucrative single-game parlays, creating large market share divides between books that can implement (and market) these offerings and those that can’t.
Major brick-and-mortar expansions
The revamped digital expansion comes as Bally’s pursues an ambitious coast-to-coast expansion of its retail operations.
The company reaffirmed early October plans to demolish the remaining free-standing structures of the former Tropicana casino along the Las Vegas Strip. The property is planned to house a future stadium for MLB’s Athletics (now playing in Oakland, California) and will incorporate a Bally’s-run gaming facility.
The company is also pushing ahead with a more than $1 billion casino project in downtown Chicago. Bally’s announced earlier this month it had secured financing to complete the destination resort casino project ahead of a larger corporate merger deal.
Bally’s officials also reiterated Wednesday their bullish position on a downstate New York casino license. The company acquired property in the Bronx it hopes to develop into another destination resort casino. The licenses are expected to be awarded in early 2026.
