With how quickly the industry has grown, pundits have raised questions about its negative side effects and whether it may be spreading too fast for its own good and the good of its participants. A perfect example of sports betting’s over-reach and its repercussions came in New Jersey’s East Coast Gaming Congress earlier this May.
Bally Chairman Soo Kim admits Bally Bet’s shortcomings
At the conference, Bally Chairman Soo Kim admitted that his company had made its mistakes when it came to its ventures into sports betting. Mirroring the rapid and unfettered growth of the sports betting industry overall, Kim stated that Bally may have spread itself too thin with its approach:
“Years ago, we tried to say, ‘Ok, let’s try to own everything. Soup to nuts. Build everything ourselves. Buy a little bit, and build on top of that.’ That was a mistake. And that cost us real money.”
Kim is alluding to Bally Bet, Bally’s Corporation’s very own sportsbook, which they launched in a few markets across the U.S. While sports betting in New Jersey has been a booming industry overall, Bally Bet turned out to be a disappointment for the company, as Kim admitted to. Now, they’ll shift to a new strategy built around a partnership with Kambi, a business-to-business sportsbook operations company with proven success.
“[N]ow we have a product in the market that actually makes money, and doesn’t cost us a whole lot. So from that perspective, we feel like now we are actually able to relaunch and add markets. Really, in the beginning, we launched under the old Bally Bet in four or five markets, and we didn’t like what we were seeing. It cost too much to build, and we didn’t like the way it operated.”
With the help of a third-party operator, Bally Bet has been able to expand its operations into eight states, with more growth in sight according to Kim.
Bally: a reflection of sports betting over-reach?
Bally’s Corporation was originally a gaming group that owned and operated several different casinos. In 2021, the company made a massive move when it partnered with the Sinclair Broadcasting Group to take over for Fox Sports’ regional networks. With that merger, Bally quickly became a household name with their coverage of several professional sports teams including the Atlanta Braves, Dallas Mavericks, and Los Angeles Rams.
Unsatisfied with just running several casinos and covering a significant chunk of America’s favorite sports franchises, Bally’s latest venture has been into sports betting. This move could seem like a natural progression to some, but, for those opposed to gambling, it could be perceived as a perversion of sports media.
