There’s a new and notable expansion from Betr into the sports gaming market. That company, co-founded by Jake Paul and Joey Levy, already has online sportsbook operations in Ohio and Massachusetts and plans to soon launch Betr Sportsbook in Virginia. And they have nationwide free-to-play offerings. But they’re now launching a “Betr Picks” real-money fantasy pick’em game in their sportsbook app, and it will be available in 24 U.S. jurisdictions to start, with 30 expected by the end of the year. Levy, Betr’s CEO, spoke to AA about this via e-mail, and said this pregame-focused option will be a key complement to the in-game betting options they already offer.
“Betr’s signature focus on a simple and intuitive product design, along with bespoke integrations with Betr Media, closely aligns with the company’s overall product strategy,” he said. “The pre-match experience associated with Betr Picks complements Betr’s existing real money and free-to-play online sports betting product, which focuses on live in-game markets. The Betr Picks launch marks the first time that sportsbook and fantasy will operate within a single app, further enhancing the user experience and value proposition for the Betr app.”
Many companies split up their gambling and fantasy offerings, but Levy said a single-app approach was the right fit for them.
“Betr’s goal is to have one app that houses all of its gaming verticals—Betr Betting, Betr Picks, and more. Users can open the Betr app, and depending on where they are located, choose among multiple gaming products they want to engage with rather than going through the hassle of having to log into and navigate multiple apps. Having one consolidated app will materially enhance the user experience and reduce friction.”
Levy said the much wider geographic reach of the fantasy product (for the moment) will also enhance what they’re doing with their in-house media approach, which focuses on using self-sufficient media (through advertising and endorsement revenue) to keep customer acquisition costs (CAC) minimal to non-existent.
“Betr Picks represents the first time Betr Gaming is able to more fully capitalize on the nationwide media audience and brand of Betr Media,” he said. “Betr Media is the fastest growing sports betting media brand in the United States that has grown to over 1.5 million followers, 1.5 billion impressions, and 77 million engagements across its social channels since publicly launching in August 2022. Through Betr Media, Betr has a built-in nationwide audience and unique brand affinity that allows Betr Gaming to organically acquire users through a low-to-no CAC marketing strategy. The initial Betr Picks launch will go live in 24 states that collectively cover over 50 percent of the adult U.S. population and allow Betr to capitalize on its existing and growing audience with minimal incremental marketing spend.”
On the media side, the company will also be launching a new @betrpicks subbrand. That will be led by existing Betr talent Derek Sullivan (also known as BetrDerek). It will also feature consistent appearances from others on talent network, including Paul, Marco Piemonte, Haley and Hanna Cavinder, Bo Nickal, Handshake Bets and more. Levy said the subbrand will let them cater more to a fantasy-focused audience, and let them focus more on particular picks.
“@BetrPicks allows us to engage with a more on-the-nose fantasy audience while allowing @Betr to flourish as our national brand centered on sports and pop culture,” he said. “We’re able to build a more focused community around actual users of this product. It also meshes really nicely with one of the pillars of our content strategy which revolves around forward-facing talent giving and reacting to picks. We’ve seen great success in driving engagement around the camaraderie and trash talk that comes with wins and losses, as fantasy sports are inherently communal. With this additional distribution lever, we’re also able to include more faces and talent and continue to find the next generation of star content creators.”
The company is launching Betr Picks Monday, and they’re doing so ahead of Paul’s fight versus Nate Diaz on Aug. 5 (a pay-per-view event on ESPN+ and DAZN). Betr is the official and exclusive sports betting and fantasy partner for that fight, and around that, they’re offering a special free-to-play picks game available until the start of that fight card, with a total prize pool of $1 million available. Levy said it’s vital for them to capitalize on Paul’s fights and the attention around them.
“Jake’s fights are important tentpoles for us. Paul-[Anderson] Silva and Paul-[Tyson] Fury were some of our biggest weeks of the year on social, and in the app store. For Paul-Silva specifically (which we sponsored), we were able to drive a substantial amount of downloads through a bespoke campaign tied to a similar FTP game. Capitalizing on eyeballs around the biggest moments in sports with these bespoke media-to-app campaigns will continue to be a massive part of our strategy moving forward.”
While the fantasy and sports betting markets are both crowded, Levy says he thinks Betr’s strategy helps them stand out. And they have much more planned.
“Betr Picks is highly differentiated from the broader fantasy sports gaming market through higher payout multiples (up to 100x), no pushes, faster payouts, and bespoke media integrations,” he said. “Betr is continuing to expand its OSB business, which already has an established presence with live operations in Ohio and Massachusetts with plans to launch OSB in Virginia in the coming weeks and additional jurisdictions in the months ahead.”
He said it’s also important for them to maintain responsible play standards, and they intend to bring those standards from Betr Betting over to Betr Picks.
“Betr’s proactive industry leadership in safe and responsible play will continue with Betr Picks, which also features the same Responsible Gaming-focused tenets the Company has rolled out for its OSB product, including a 21+ age requirement to play, a ban on credit card deposits for all users, and restrictions on the monthly deposit amounts for young consumers aged 21-25 years old. Betr Picks is backed by legal opinions from both nationwide and state-specific experts in the gaming space and is only available in jurisdictions where fantasy gaming has been legalized by statute or is permitted via case law and/or legal precedent.”
[Screenshots supplied by Betr]
