On February 19, DraftKings launched its mobile and online betting options in Iowa. Before placing a wager, patrons must register in person at one of the Wild Rose Casinos in Clinton, Jefferson and Emmetsburg.
The online component comes months after sportsbooks opened in the state, according to the Quad-City Times. Since sports betting went live in Iowa, about $270 million has been wagered. That includes some $58 million in January, state records showed.
According to the Des Moines Register, DraftKings faces a disadvantage as 10 other casinos already offer such mobile services in the state, including William Hill, aligned with four properties. But DraftKings co-founder and North American President Matt Kalish isn’t concerned.
“It never hurts to have multiple options,” he said. “We’re all for more competition, and we feel we have the best product in the market. We want to compete for a decent-sized share of the pie.”
Kalish believes the DraftKings app will offer better props and promotions than competitors.
The NFL season presented sportsbooks with more than 100 prop bets, such as individual yardage totals, quarter-by-quarter scores and point spreads, the nature of the first points scored and so on.
DraftKings also offers new accounts up to $1,000 in betting credits, and the amount of the initial wager will be matched for a future bet, up to $500. Another $500 can be earned with an initial deposit of $2,500 into a new account, followed by credits of $1 for every $25 wagered. DraftKings accepts bets as low as 10 cents.
“We’ve noticed leagues, sports teams, media companies rally behind legal and regulated sports gambling to participate in some way,” Kalish said. “On the consumer side, the demand is tremendous, and we’ve seen the same thing as each new market goes live.’
The learning curve for sports wagering is “simple to understand,” he said, “and that has an appeal for customers we’re already serving and a new audience of fans in the U.S. It’s certainly a welcome evolution for our business to help us grow.”
February totals won’t be released until sometime in the first 10 days of March, but state commission administrator Brian Ohorilko said that casinos took in some $6.5 million in wagers on the Super Bowl, with the Chiefs generating most of the action.
