PokerStars’ parent company, The Stars Group, has been a major driver in the poker world for more than a decade now. But they’re not happy with staying in that industry, instead looking to branch out into other areas of the gaming world. This has been shown by the opening of their latest product, FOX Bet, which opened their doors in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the past week.
Tapping into a New Market
On Wednesday, FOX Bet announced their first foray into what is being called a “national media and sport wagering partnership” between The Stars Group and FOX Sports in New Jersey. Not only will the new company give Garden State residents the opportunity to bet on sports, the unique partnership with FOX Sports will allow their stable of experts to give advice and commentary to bettors on the sports that they wager on – football, baseball, hockey, basketball and the other major sports. Along with this expertise, up-to-the-second statistical information will be at the fingertips of bettors, helping them to make the most accurate wagers possible.
Two days later, The Stars Group and FOX Sports made their next move. FOX Bet opened for action in the state of Pennsylvania with their newly born sports betting industry. All of the bells and whistles that are available to those in New Jersey are now available in Pennsylvania, both on Android and iOS mobile systems and online. Also, like New Jersey, the new Pennsylvania offering is only available to people who are physically located within the state.
Excitement Regarding the Launches
“New Jersey and Pennsylvania (now) have access to one of the world’s premier regulated sports wagering experiences,” said Robin Chhabra, Chief Executive Officer of FOX Bet, during the announcement of the new endeavors. “Together with FOX Sports, an icon in sports programing, we’ve built a platform that is like nothing the United States has ever seen. We’re bringing fans closer to the games they love by making our platform more fun and engaging than any other out there.”
Part of that closeness will be the plethora of personalities that are going to offer punters their opinions. FOX NFL Kickoff host Charissa Thompson, host of FOX Sports’ “The Herd,” Colin Cowherd, “First Things First” hosts Cris Carter and Nick Wright and betting experts from “LOCK IT IN” including “Cousin” Sal, Todd Fuhrman, Clay Travis and Rachel Bonnetta and many others will be available on FOX Bet. As other seasons begin, such as basketball and hockey, other analysts and former professional players will be sure to weigh in on the action.
No Poker In PA…Yet…
The downside of the announcements from The Stars Group is that they have yet to open up for online poker in Pennsylvania. Already one of the major players in the New Jersey online arena, The Stars Group has been reluctant to step into the Pennsylvania online gaming market with their signature online poker product. The reason for The Stars Group’s lack of movement may be twofold.
First, The Stars Group has stated that they are moving towards online casino gaming and sports betting and away from what made their name. The reason they are doing that is the second reason for their lack of action in Pennsylvania: online poker just isn’t a money-making endeavor. As demonstrated by their efforts in New Jersey, PokerStars (through their partnership with Resorts) only pulled in $626,272 in revenues in July 2019. Contrast that with their online casino “take” of $6,242,540 (and that’s not counting sports betting revenues) and it is easy to see that, even though the Pennsylvania market is larger than that of New Jersey, there is no reason to expect that the statistics would be different and, thusly, not a rush to get to poker in the Keystone State.
The new FOX Bet endeavor from The Stars Group and FOX Sports will be a boon to the sports bettors in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Will it be the thing that pushes them into the lead in those two new markets? Only time and the customers will prove if they are successful.
