A new sports betting app is now available, as Bally Bet New York has joined the biggest market in the United States. The app is available for download now from Google Play and the App Store for the iPhone.
New York marks the fifth state where Bally Bet is available, joining Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, and Virginia. Bally Bet is owned by Bally’s Corporation, which also operates several casino/resort properties across the U.S., a racetrack, as well as Bally’s Interactive, which is responsible for the online gaming products.
In May, New York reported a total sports betting handle of more than $1.2 billion — the highest figure in the country. Online sports betting has been operational in the state since January, but New York has quickly vaulted into the top position in wagers placed.
A promo code is coming soon for the Bally Bet mobile app in New York. We’ll have an exclusive offer code here at New York Sports Day in the coming days.
Why Bally Bet is Joining the NY Sports Betting Party Late
When New York launched online sports betting on Jan. 8, 2022, the floodgates opened in a state ready for the market. In the first partial month of operation, New York took in more than $1.6 billion in total sports betting handle, spurred by Super Bowl wagering. In every month since the state has topped $1 billion in total handle, and the Empire State is the fifth state to go over $8 billion in all-time handle, reaching that mark before the first year of legal online sports betting is complete.
Such heavy betting action has led to New York receiving nearly $300 million in tax revenue.
Yet, on Jan. 8, Bally Bet was not part of the coming out party in New York. The reasons are murky. It may have been a strategic decision by Bally’s to time its launch so as to let the dust clear a bit from the frenzied first few months of activity. Sportsbooks have been spending large sums to acquire customers in New York. The licensing fee of $25 million was a significant investment and much larger than in other states.
Competition has been so fierce and expensive, that last month the CEO of BetMGM called the cost of doing business in the state with a 51% tax rate “unsustainable.” In May, BetMGM revealed it has suspended spending on promotions and bonuses to acquire new customers. The market may be a matter of survival by attrition. A story from February in the New York Post claims that sportsbooks lost $200 million in the first six weeks of operation in New York.
Bally’s decision to enter New York nearly six months after the market launched may be due to technical delays, or it could have been to save the company the cost of competing in a furious burst of activity in the early going.
FanDuel is the market leader in New York, with Caesars, DraftKings, BetMGM, PointsBet, and BetRivers also in the field of sportsbooks. With so many bettors and so much revenue at stake, it will be interesting to see how the competition fleshes out in the state that now is now the most lucrative in the nation.
How Bally Bet Compares to Other New York Sports Betting Apps
Bally Bet has been deliberate while entering new markets with its sportsbook app. So far that strategy has led to a smaller market share, but it’s also given the company time to massage its application and service offerings.
The Bally Bet sportsbook is connected to the popular Bally Rewards program and offers a “trophy system” that gives account holders free bets for recording consecutive betting wins. Bally Bet can also be used via a web browser.
Bally Bet has a 2.4-star rating (out of 5) on iOS, and 3.7 out of 5 on Google Play Store.
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