Bally Bet enters Ontario online market with no sportsbook offering

Its sportsbook is live in multiple states, but Ontario seems a different prospect for now.

IGaming Ontario announced that Bally Bet has joined the province’s internet gambling market as a regulated operator. However, Bally’s latest arrival is offering only blackjack, roulette and slots – with no lines on any sporting event.

This may come as a surprise considering Bally’s operates primarily as a sportsbook and sports betting is highly popular within the province. The Bally Bet sportsbook is live in New York, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana and Virginia.

However, Bally Bet is just one of several online sportsbooks in these states; it does not offer internet casino gambling there because it remains illegal. The interactive arm of Bally’s does offer online casino gambling in New Jersey, where it’s legal, but is branded as Bally’s Casino rather than Bally Bet.

Ontario offers a different prospect for Bally’s, however, as the province’s iGaming market allows for both online sports betting and internet casino gaming. For now, Bally’s is only offering the latter and seems in no rush to implement the former.

Bally’s Director of Public Relations David Sandler says, “The sportsbook arm of the site is currently in development, there is no scheduled launch for the Bally Bet sportsbook currently.”

Bally’s could be waiting for the sportsbook landscape to change, so it looks more like that of the slot machine industry. Bally’s Chairman of the board of directors Soo Kim envisions a future in which sports betting is easier to grasp for casual fans.

He commented: “It’s going to be more luck-based, less skill-based. It’s going to be a much wider funnel because everyone will take a shot.” Whatever the reason, Ontarians will not have access to Bally’s sportsbook for the time being.

Robert Collins

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