FanDuel and William Hill Sports Betting Apps Go Live in New Jersey as the Field Starts to Get Crowded

Posted on: September 3, 2018, 01:00h. 

Last updated on: September 3, 2018, 04:59h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

The New Jersey mobile sport betting market swelled over the weekend, as two new entrants, FanDuel and William Hill, launched their wagering apps.

New Jersey sports betting
Both William Hill and FanDuel’s New Jersey sports betting apps are expected to be offering full-scale operations when the Eagles face the Falcons for the start of the NFL season on Thursday night. (Image: NFL

There are now five players in the mobile market since DraftKings earned first-mover kudos just under a month ago.

And it may not end there. With the NFL season just days away, gambling companies are lining up to be approved by regulators, before the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons get things underway on Thursday night.

But since New Jersey gambling law requires a five-day beta-testing period, all but the five that have already launched will miss the very start of the new season. With the five-day soft launch for FanDuel and William Hill beginning on Saturday, both should be ready with full-scale operations come Thursday night, regulators permitting.

Where’s BetStars?

Notably absent, however, is PokerStars’ parent the Stars Group, which announced in August that it would launch its BetStars sports betting platform in New Jersey this month, in partnership with Resorts Casino, to target the start of the football season.

Other big players in the New Jersey market such as Caesars Interactive Entertainment, whose parent Caesars Entertainment owns three casinos in New Jersey, have announced their intention to offer online sports betting but have not provided a timeline.

FanDuel has partnered with the Meadowlands racetrack to offer sports betting, and William Hill with Monmouth Park racetrack. Both companies have already launched on-site betting at the racetracks.

William Hill took the first legal bets in New Jersey at Monmouth Park on June 14, just days after the US Supreme Court rejected PASPA, the federal law that prohibited state-sanctioned sports wagering.

Continuity with DFS Site

FanDuel was acquired by the British-Irish betting giant Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) in May, which merged the company with its US operations, Betfair US, to form the FanDuel Group. But the FanDuel sports betting app is not simply the Paddy Power platform repackaged for the US market.

It’s a joint effort, with contributions from GAN and IGT, that combines Betfair’s pricing, trading and risk management technology with a user interface designed specifically for the US customer by FanDuel so that it mimics the DFS client.

It’s believed Americans bet close to $100 billion per year on the NFL and college football illegally — and a lot of it online, through offshore sports betting sites. This season, in New Jersey at least, they can at last do so legally.