Bally’s Jumps Into Mobile Sports Betting with Colorado App Debut

Posted on: May 25, 2021, 01:37h. 

Last updated on: July 26, 2022, 10:09h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Bally’s (NYSE:BALY) finally has a mobile sportsbook app to go along with its growing list sports wagering assets after the company launched Bally Bet in Colorado.

Bally's Bet
Bally’s Mardi Gras Casino in Colorado. The company launched its mobile sportsbook app in the state. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

For over a year, the Rhode Island-based gaming company Bally’s has been cobbling together sports betting pieces via acquisitions and inking deals with professional leagues aimed at increasing the visibility of the rejuvenated brand. Through an agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group, the Bally’s name is on approximately 20 regional sports networks (RSNs), marking one of the most overt arrangements between a gaming company and a media enterprise to date.

In Colorado, Bally’s is leveraging its control of three casinos there to test the Bally Bet app.

Bally Bet users will be able to earn points betting on sports that they can redeem for gaming, dining, retail and other amenities at Bally’s Golden Gates, Golden Gulch and Mardi Gras casinos located in Black Hawk, Colo.,” according to a statement issued by the company.

The operator adds the Colorado debut is a “beta launch” that will emphasize “deployment, testing, and refinement,” and it will be accompanied by limited marketing. The company is looking to roll out the app in another three states before the end of the year, though it didn’t mention which states.

Bally’s owns its eponymous venue on the Atlantic City Boardwalk and New Jersey is the sports betting hub of the US. Some of the company’s pending acquisitions will enable it to enter other fast-growing sports wagering markets, including Illinois and Indiana.

Big Test for Bet.Works Buy

The debut of Bally’s Bet in Colorado is also the first consumer-facing test for the operator’s $125 million cash and equity acquisition of sports betting platform provider Bet.Works, which was announced last November.

That transaction was almost universally applauded by analysts and is viewed as an essential piece of Bally’s designs on becoming an omnichannel, vertically integrated gaming outfit. In a bid to boost margins and lower costs, more sportsbook operators are looking to bring technology in-house — exactly what Bally’s is doing with Bet.Works.

Bet.Works’ clients include gaming operators in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, and New Jersey.

Why Colorado Makes Sense

In addition to the operator controlling three casinos there, launching Bally’s Bet in Colorado is sensible for other reasons.

Those include the state’s status as a fast-growing, operator-friendly environment. Since going live in May 2020, sports wagering in the state generated a handle of $2 billion as of March 31, the most recent period for which data is available.

Additionally, Colorado is a practical place to launch a mobile sportsbook app, because online wagering has been part of the state’s sports betting lexicon since the beginning, and bettors there are taking advantage. In any given month, 97 percent or more of sports bets placed in the state are done so via computers or mobile devices.