Does Bally Bet Still Plan MA Launch? Regulators Haven’t Heard Otherwise

MA Gaming Commission Massachusetts sports betting News Sports Betting
Written By Matthew Bain on May 3, 2023
Bally Bet launch plans Massachusetts, from play-ma.com
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Of the Massachusetts sports betting apps that didn’t launch on March 10, we’ve heard from all but one.

Betr is in the process of soft launching, and it will have a hard launch likely this month. Fanatics Sportsbook is planning for a mid-June launch in Massachusetts. And Betway announced long ago it was slated for a January 2024 launch.

But … what about Bally Bet? Like Fanatics Sportsbook, it originally intended for a May launch. However, unlike Fanatics, we haven’t heard a peep from Bally Bet regarding those launch plans.

Bally Bet has its Q1 2023 earnings call on May 9. Chances are we’ll get some clarity then. The company also announced Tuesday it was partnering with Kambi Group PLC and White Hat Gaming to operate its retail and online betting systems.

Until now, Bally Bet had been using an in-house platform for its online sports betting operations.

What the state gaming commission says

Thomas Mills, the spokesperson for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, told Play MA this week that the MGC has not received any word from Bally Bet regarding pulling its Massachusetts application. That indicates the company still intends to launch a Massachusetts sports betting product.

However, logic would suggest Bally Bet is running out of time to make a Massachusetts launch worth the financial effort. That’s especially true when you consider the troubles Bally Bet has faced over the past year.

  • It shuttered its daily fantasy sports product, Monkey Knife Fight, in February.
  • Bally Bet saw significant losses in 2022, thanks in part due to a doomed $125 million purchase of online sports betting platform Bet.Works, which CEO Robeson Reeves later said was a mistake.

Is a MA launch worth it for Bally Bet?

Combine those factors with Bally Bet’s apparent shift in focus toward online casinos, and the fact that MA sportsbooks need to make $32 million per year to be profitable in the Bay State — and the fact that the top of the MA sports betting market is already taking shape — and you’re left wondering: What is there for Bally Bet to gain by launching in Massachusetts?

Bally Bet did not respond to a request for comment from Play MA.

Bally Bet also has an online sports betting license in Ohio, although it hasn’t yet launched there either. Its online partner is the Cleveland Browns, and it will have a Bally Bet sportsbook lounge at the Browns’ stadium, FirstEnergy Stadium.

It is currently legal and operating in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, New York and Virginia.

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Matthew Bain

Matthew Bain started as Content Manager at Play MA in 2022. Before that, he spent six years as a sports reporter and then deputy sports editor for the Des Moines Register, during which time he won nine statewide journalism awards, including the Genevieve Mauck Stoufer Outstanding Young Iowa Journalists Award. As deputy sports editor, Matthew oversaw the Register’s recruiting coverage while also innovating the outlet’s high school sports coverage. Matthew graduated from San Diego State and grew up in California, but he’s somehow a Boston Celtics fan. Long story. Matthew also led coverage of Prop 26 vs. Prop 27 in the California sports betting election battle for Catena Media.

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