Add “co-founder of sports betting company” to Jake Paul’s interesting resume, which includes varied career endeavors such as Vine star, YouTuber, rapper and boxer.
With over 70 million social media followers, Paul wants to “disrupt gambling and legacy media” through the creation of Betraccording to a company press release. Paul will partner with Joey Levy, co-founder of single betto create an application suitable for micro-betting, which consists of betting on individual actions – such as what will happen on the next field of a baseball game or the next game of a football game – within the framework of a given sports competition.
I turned down $40 million for it. @betr pic.twitter.com/r6BGQq7EfJ
—Jake Paul (@jakepaul) August 8, 2022
“I wasn’t into sports betting until I was introduced to micro betting,” Paul, who will be co-founder and chairman of Betr, said in the press release. “Micro betting is the TikTok-ification of sports betting and I’m excited to bring it to the masses through Betr.”
Betr plans to “disrupt” the sports betting industry with its micro-betting app, and the company also plans to build a sports media company that caters to the “next generation of sports fans.” Betr, which will be headquartered in Miami, raised $50 million in funding from numerous sources, including NFL players Ezekiel Elliott and Richard Sherman.
The app
Betr uses Simplebet’s technology to offer users a micro betting platform, and the Betr app will be released in “the next few weeks”. Initially, a free version will be available in the United States, while a “real money betting experience” will be unveiled at the end of 2022.
According to the release, Betr has market access in multiple states through “equity-based partnerships.” More details on these partnerships are expected to be disclosed at a later date.
Levy and Paul expect micro betting to play a significant role in the future of sports betting, and Levy has deepened his experience and beliefs about micro betting in a blog post published Monday.
I’m so excited to publicly announce @betr with @jakepaul today. This company feels like the culmination of my life’s work so far – and the start of an amazing journey with amazing people. I wrote about it here. LFG!!!https://t.co/75AWZqyr4X
— Joey Levy (@joeyslevy) August 8, 2022
“Betr will unbundle micro betting by building an entire business around it and delivering the experience in a simple and intuitive user interface layer,” said Levy, who will serve as co-founder and CEO of Betr, in the Press release. “We believe that micro-betting will eventually become the predominant way for consumers to bet on American sports, given (1) the stop-and-go cadence of American sports lending itself perfectly to this style of betting, and (2) in the same way as everyday fantasy sports. Innovated on top of the fantasy of the season, micro-betting introduces a level of instant gratification an order of magnitude greater than the current sports betting user experience.
Levy reflected on high expectations for the company, saying Betr could become “the most capital-efficient and culturally relevant gambling company in the United States.” , and Mark Zuckerberg.
Meanwhile, Alex Ursa, who previously worked with FanDuel as senior product manager, will join Betr as the company’s product manager.
The media company
Betr is not the first sports betting company to venture into sports media, as BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel are all mobile sports betting operators that have dedicated sites offering written content, live broadcasts and podcasts. Additionally, Barstool Sportsbook operator PENN Entertainment is a co-owner of Barstool Sports, combining sports betting with a well-known sports media brand.
While Betr isn’t the first sports betting company to hook up with a sports media company, Levy believes the media side of the company offers a way to provide “billions of dollars in free marketing” to the app. This logic revolves around Paul’s internet reach, as the press release names him as one of the “world’s most famous Gen-Z personalities.”
So far, Betr has launched BS with Jake Paula weekly program that Paul will seek to differentiate from a typical sports studio show by having real conversations with athletes, which he says is lacking in traditional sports media. This general concept is not radically different from Sport bar stoolwhich promotes the Barstool Sportsbook while providing sports content that differs significantly from traditional sports coverage.
Betr’s media side will “generate revenue independently,” with several shows attempting to secure major sponsorship deals. Mike Denevi will serve as the company’s head of media. Denevi most recently worked for Bleacher Report, serving as on-air talent and director of brand strategy for BR Betting.
“We want to be the category-defining consumer company in sports betting and sports media by the end of the decade and are confident that we will achieve that goal,” said Paul.
Photo: Shutterstock
