Online sports wagering has officially begun in Maryland. Surprisingly, the Jake Paul-owned brand betr sportsbook has yet to receive a license to operate in The Old Line State.
PlayMaryland has all the updates on when bettors can expect betr to appear in the state.
Betr not one of first 10 Maryland licenses
After what seemed like an eternity, Maryland online sports betting kicked off on Nov. 23. While seven operators have already answered the call to offer online wagering to Marylanders, betr is not one of them.
Five other sportsbooks have also been approved for licenses, but they’ve not launched yet.
Betr, however, is not licensed yet. Moreover, it’s uncertain exactly where in the process the company currently sits.
Betr going all-in on micro-betting
According to its website, the priority of the betr brand is centered around offering micro-betting to its customers. Otherwise known as live betting, micro-betting allows punters to bet in real-time on everything from which play will be called next to whether a certain player will touch the ball.
“[We are] launching the world’s first micro-betting-focused app, unbundling the micro-betting UX by making it the core product experience and delivering it in simple, intuitive UI layer that anyone can understand. Our objective is to become the consumer company, product and brand synonymous with micro-betting – and ultimately the category defining real money gaming consumer business in the U.S.”
Betr believes micro-betting will become the most popular way for people to bet on sports.
Innovation joins forces with sports influencer
The betr sportsbook was founded by betting industry innovator Joey Levy in conjunction with popular athlete-influencer Jake Paul.
Levy originally entered the betting field with his company Simplebet and was searching for better solutions for wagering on micro-moments during sporting events. Such moments could include pitches and at-bats during baseball games or drives during football games. He found, however, that none existed.
That’s where Jake Paul and the betr partnership come in. Betr’s platform offers the technology to bring such an idea to fruition, while Paul’s popularity will help propel the business into a national brand.
The betr website touts Paul’s accomplishments:
“Jake has quickly become the world’s most disruptive athlete-influencer, single-handedly driving interest in boxing through his 70 million followers on social media, where he gained fame as a top-five global creator and YouTuber. Jake has become one of the world’s most searched public figures on Google and is now one of the world’s highest-paid athletes. And, he is probably the smartest marketing mind I have ever met. I can’t think of a better partner to build betr with as we capture not just the brand awareness, but brand affinity – and bring betr to the next generation of sports fans.”
Position in Maryland licensing process unknown
As of now, there’s no clear indication as to where betr is in the process of being awarded a license from the Maryland Sports Wagering Application Review Commission. The company could be waiting to apply until it’s ready for a controlled demonstration of its app. Or perhaps the brand has already applied and is waiting on initial review and subsequent approval from regulators.
The limit of online sportsbooks in Maryland is 60. Thirty retail sportsbook licenses are available. So far, there are seven online sportsbooks currently operating in Maryland.
Along with launching nationwide in Australia earlier in 2022, Betr intends to launch its sportsbook app in Ohio and beyond in 2023.
