New Jersey’s sports betting runaway leader is now live in Pennsylvania. After a successful test period overseen by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, FanDuel has been able to officially launch its online sportsbook in the state.
The sports betting and daily fantasy sports operator has partnered with Valley Forge Casino Resort to bring online betting to the state.
FanDuel Sportsbook, the operator’s sports betting brand, went live with online and mobile wagering in New Jersey shortly after last May’s strikedown of the federal PASPA ban. The operator quickly became the leader in the local market and has, over the past few months, further extended its lead.
FanDuel expects similar results in the Keystone State. The company said in a statement issued Monday that to mark its going live in Pennsylvania, it would launch an omni-channel marketing campaign that would involve sports talk radio partnerships, influencer marketing, social media promotions, outdoor advertising, and a new TV spot featuring a 900lb. pig.
Commenting on their expansion in Pennsylvania, Mike Raffensperger, CMO of FanDuel Group said Monday that they are “leveraging our expertise in creating world-class fantasy and sports betting experiences to build the best online sports betting platform in the state of Pennsylvania.”
The official further pointed out that FanDuel became the sports betting leader in New Jersey by focusing on customer experience and that they plan to deploy a similar strategy to take the lead in the Pennsylvania betting market.
Dedicated iOS App
Pennsylvania’s first physical sportsbook went live last fall. However, it was not until late May that first digital sports betting operations went live in the state.
FanDuel became the latest provider of online sports betting on the territory of Pennsylvania. And it is the only one to offer a dedicated iOS app for Apple users.
Earlier this year, Apple implemented certain changes in its App Store guidelines for gambling apps, under which HTML5 games “distributed in apps may not provide access to real money gaming, lotteries, or charitable donations.” The revamped guidelines further read that “this functionality is only appropriate for code that’s embedded in the binary and can be reviewed by Apple.”
In other words, gambling operators will only be able to provide mobile products and services via native iOS apps. While native apps offer better performance, personalization, and faster loading, among other benefits, they certainly take longer and are costlier to develop.
SugarHouse Casino Found a Way Around
FanDuel might currently be the only operator with an iOS-dedicated sports betting app in Pennsylvania, but it is not the only one to be offering mobile betting to local iOS users. Earlier this month, Rush Street Interactive announced that it has found a way around Apple’s revised guidelines and has made it possible to provide its product to Pennsylvania gamblers without developing a native app.
Rush Street Interactive manages PlaySugarHouse, the online gambling brand of Philadelphia-based SugarHouse Casino. The property was the state’s first casino to go live with desktop and mobile betting in late May. However, up until recently it was only able to service Android users.
To include iOS users to the Pennsylvania sports betting frenzy, the casino found a solution to the App Store issue. In order to be able to place mobile bets, Apple mobile device owners need to register with the PlaySugarHouse website via their devices. T
They will then be directed to download the GeoGuard Location Validator from the App Store. The app helps the gambling operator confirm that the registered gamblers are placing bets from within Pennsylvania. Once they download the geolocation app, bettors will be able to place bets on the PlaySugarHouse website using their Apple devices.
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