- Betr has announced plans to expand their wagering menu beyond microbetting.
- The company is adding more ‘traditional’ betting markets such as pointspread, moneyline and totals.
- Betr is now operational in Ohio and in the process of launching in Massachusetts and Virginia.
Betr is best known for the involvement of social media influencer turned surprisingly capable boxer Jake Paul in their ownership group but they’re starting to build momentum as a legitimate gaming brand. They’re now live in Ohio with Virginia and Massachusetts in the works. They’ve recently announced plans to expand their offerings beyond their original microbetting focused niche by launching for lack of a better term ‘more traditional’ sports betting markets like pointspreads, totals and money lines.
Betr has shaken off a horrible hatchet job produced by an HBO show that no one watches called Game Theory with Bomani Jones. The less said about the show the better, but it ranked among the least informed ‘exposes’ on sports betting I’ve seen in the decades that I’ve been involved with the industry. It got even worse when Jones co-opted the role as a ‘gatekeeper’ of boxing integrity, calling into question Paul’s involvement in the fight game. As a longtime boxing writer and observer of the ‘Sweet Science’, I welcome Paul’s involvement in the sport. To paraphrase the great Larry Merchant–back when HBO *was* the ‘Heart and Soul of Boxing’–before the George Foreman/Michael Moore fight while explaining why ‘Big George’ was fighting for a title despite a less than stellar resume during his comeback:
“There are many fighters. There are very few stars. George Foreman is a star. And stardom, like youth, has its privileges.”
I didn’t do it justice, but it’s included in the HBO Legendary Nights episode about the Foreman/Moorer fight. It’s worth watching just to appreciate how excellent HBO Sports once was and how horrible they are now. The quote I’m trying to recall starts around the 14:00 mark but the whole thing is great viewing, as is the entire run of Legendary Nights.
Replace ‘George Foreman’ with ‘Jake Paul’ and you get the general idea where I stand.
Here’s the official word from a Betr press release:
Betr, the first microbetting-focused consumer gaming company, today announced their expansion beyond microbetting with the launch of core markets allowing for pre-match and in-play betting for team to win, team to win and by how much, and over/under on total points. The rollout of core markets will begin just in time for March Madness with 0% margin on pre-match core markets for all NCAA tournament games, providing bettors with industry-best payouts for their bets on Betr.
Joey Levy, Founder and CEO of Betr, had these quotes about the expansion of his company’s product offering:
“We deliberately launched with only microbetting to 1) launch as soon as possible, enabling us to learn from and iterate our product experience according to real user data and feedback, and to 2) establish ourselves as the company, product, and brand synonymous not just with instant gratification betting, which we believe will be the future of this industry, but to also be synonymous with doing things differently and being the first direct-to-consumer operator in the category to actually differentiate its product experience in an industry dominated by commoditized product experiences. Now that we have done this successfully, we are putting Betr on a path to establishing betting market coverage product parity with incumbent operators, which will include the gradual and methodical integrations and launches of core markets, parlays, props, and many of the other betting experiences consumers can find elsewhere.”
“I am also happy to share that this initial set of core markets will be powered by Simplebet, who has been a key technology partner to Betr to date. The core markets on Betr will be the first launch of Simplebet-powered core markets on any platform, so we are excited to be at the forefront of their innovation efforts as they continue expanding their suite of product offerings.”
I don’t know if there are any records to validate the claim in the following press release quote, but Betr did a hell of a job getting from the drawing board to actually taking bets:
The launch of core markets comes on the heels of Betr’s Ohio launch and the upcoming expansion into Massachusetts and Virginia, where Betr’s real-money betting app will soon be available for both iOS and Android users. The company’s launch on January 1st in Ohio marked the fastest launch from company founding to a fully licensed and regulated real-money online sports betting product in U.S. history.
The gaming regulatory cabal in the US has done their best to ’tilt the playing field’ toward the usual suspects in the legacy casino business. Props to Betr and best wishes for their continued success despite the prevailing environment.
