×
Home Sportsbook Bonuses Avoid Scams Payments Reviews Casino VIPs Esports News Odds
X

Odds & Lines

Fubo announces closure of US sportsbook operations

October 17, 2022

Today, American streaming TV service, Fubo, through its lawyers, contacted its affiliate marketing partners to notify them of the dissolution of Fubo Gaming Inc. This was the company in charge of operating and marketing the online sportsbook and that belonged to the TV service.  In anticipation of its sportsbook launch in the state of New Jersey, in September of 2021, Fubo struck a multi-year marketing partnership with the New York Jets.  Their launch in NJ would see significant delays.  Fubo Gaming Inc. launched legal online sports betting in Arizona and Iowa in November of 2021.  In only September of 2022, little more than a month ago, Fubo Gaming finally launched its sportsbook product in New Jersey.

However, in early August, Fubo released a statement to shareholders that it was going to conduct a strategic review of its sportsbook business in order to determine the best path forward. 

"We have concluded that we will no longer pursue this opportunity on our own. Accordingly, our interactive wagering business is under strategic review."

Clearly, by the time the company had gotten around to launching in New Jersey, the decision had been largely made to cease the sportsbook operations. 

 

Analysis: Why did Fubo Sportsbook fail?

Although its streaming service is available across the United States, Fubo Sportsbook was not available in the legal online sports betting markets of New York, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia, among others.  With such minimal market access, any marketing campaign on their national streaming platform, or elsewhere would surely struggle. 

In the states where they did operate, although Fubo Sportsbook offered lucrative Iowa and Arizona sports betting bonuses worth up to $1,000 in order to attract new customers, the reality is that these two US states are among those markets that have the most competition between operators.  Some US states only have a handful of operators, but Iowa and Arizona have all the major US brands like FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars and BetMGM, but also have numerous secondary and tertiary operators.  Given the competition in these two markets, where the combined population is just 10.5 million people, Fubo Sportsbook was always going to struggle to acquire players, as they were not able to compete on brand recognition, or product quality against these much larger industry players.

In the end, it is unsurprising that Fubo took the decision to 'stop the bleeding' from their gaming arm, and focus on the profitability of their streaming service.  In the coming months and years, we will certainly see more tertiary US sportsbook operations go the way of the dodo.

 

Retern to SNBET's sports betting news page.