Betway Casino (Spin Palace Casino) and Jackpot City Online Casino will remain in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as Super Group’s sportsbooks leave the US. The US online casino brands generate revenue for Super Group, while there’s no “long-term path to profitability for the sportsbook product,” company CEO Neal Menashe said on July 10. This approach of concentrating on online casino brands sometimes works well for online gambling operators, but not always.
The Guernsey-based online gambling site holding company Super Group (SGHC) has chosen to jettison its nine-state Betway Sports sites and concentrate on iGaming. In a July 10 announcement, the company said detailed plans to shut down US sports betting would be disclosed in early August, during the next quarterly earnings call.
Menashe said:
The vast majority of Super Group’s revenue is generated in iGaming and, in line with that strategy, we will continue to offer our leading casino product in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We are open to expanding our US footprint if the right investment or strategic opportunities arise.
Betway Sports operates in the following states:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- New Jersey
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
Super Group’s May 8 earnings report illustrates Menashe’s point.
Worldwide, Super Group’s online casino sites generated 79% of its online gambling revenue in Q1 2024. In that same earnings report released on May 8, the data showed online sports betting accounted for 21% of that quarter’s revenue.
The report’s revenue “charts exclude US operations.” That means US revenue results from Betway Casino and the Spin brand, Jackpot City, are also excluded from the report.
However, there’s a lot of money to be made in the iGaming states where Super Group chose to keep operating Betway Casino and Jackpot City. Online casino and poker rooms in Pennsylvania generated $216.5 million in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in May 2024, while New Jersey iGaming brought in $192.1 million.
Betway Has Served the US Since 2021
Betway is a well-known sports betting brand in Europe that never really took hold in the US.
It doesn’t appear that failure was due to a lack of effort. For instance, when Betway entered the US in 2021, its brand recognition efforts included partnering with the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and New York Islanders.
In that announcement on March 24, 2021, Betway CEO Anthony Werkman said:
Our branding will be seen courtside and rinkside in some of the biggest arenas in North America.
Indeed, Bonus noticed “Betway” at center-ice on May 26, 2024, during the Florida Panthers vs. New York Rangers NHL matchup.
On June 10, 2024, Super Group announced the US Betway Sports exit.
Conversely, Betway’s brand recognition efforts seem to be working in Canada. Brand traction there accounted for 38% of Super Group’s global gaming revenue in Q1 2024.
The earnings report noted:
- Strong casino growth in Canada overall
- Positive signs in Ontario, with a growing customer base and strong customer values
Ontario allowed private iGaming operators to launch on April 4, 2022. Prior to that date, Betway had been one of that province’s unregulated online gambling operators.
Some US iGaming Focuses Win, Some Lose
Super Group isn’t the first company with iGaming brands to say it would concentrate on its US online casinos.
However, the operators that seem to succeed with those strategies were often born in the USA. Or they’re only online casinos, like PlayStar.
For example:
- In November 2023, Boston-based DraftKings (DraftKings 35,60 +1,66%) showed its online casino focus had resulted in achieving the No. 1 US market share for DraftKings Casino. (Notably, DraftKings acquired online casino brand Golden Nugget in 2022 and brought the site to Pennsylvania in August 2023.)
- Leaders from Providence-headquartered Bally’s Corporation (Bally’s Corporation 10,00 +0,40%) decided in February 2023 to focus on online casino, shutting down the daily fantasy sports (DFS) site Monkey Knife Fight and selling off sports betting software provider Bet.Works. In June 2023, Bally Casino’s Pennsylvania debut doubled the Bally’s iGaming portfolio, which included the New Jersey app that began taking bets in February 2022. In March 2024, Bally Casino joined Bally Bet in the online and offline Rhode Island gambling monopoly.
Other operators attempting to jettison sports but keep online casino sites operating ultimately exit the US, like Gibraltar-incorporated Evoke (formerly 888 Holdings).
In December 2022, company leaders announced the iGaming focus due to the inability to compete against the top US sports betting brands. In June 2024, Evoke’s 888casino and 888poker left New Jersey. SI Casino in Michigan is slated to shut down by Q4 2024. Online gamblers are being directed to Hard Rock Bet. The Hollywood, Fla.-based brand is taking online casino bets in New Jersey but hasn’t yet been confirmed as the replacement for SI Casino in Michigan.
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