PointsBet.com went live in New York on Tuesday, giving bettors in the Empire State gambling options that were previously a bridge or tunnel away.
OK, Knicks fans. You are already certain that your team is going to turn things around and come out of the Eastern Conference to compete for the franchise’s first championship since 1973. Forget what happened last night in Miami.
You are so sure of it, you can almost taste it. But can you bet on it?
Until Tuesday, the answer for New Yorkers was no.
But that’s when PointsBet.com went live in New York, and the bookmaker with roots in Australia and both feet in the US. sports gambling market is offering gamblers choices that other sportsbooks are not.
Never mind that they went into Wednesday night’s loss against Miami sitting in 11th place in the East, which is not even enough to make the play-in tournament. With a little less than half of the regular season in front of us and the NBA trade deadline still more than two weeks away, there is plenty of time for the Knickerbockers to replicate what they did a year ago when they closed the season strong to reach the playoffs.
This season, the Knicks have regressed in large part because Julius Randle has fallen back to Earth after having a Most Improved Player-worthy season in 2020-21. But they recently picked up Cam Reddish from Atlanta and figure to be active right up until the deadline because expectations were so high coming into this season.
Making it all the way to the NBA Finals seems impossible, but maybe it’s merely improbable. And where there is a probability, there are odds — if you know where to find them. That’s where PointsBet comes in.
PointsBet is the only book in the legalized U.S. market currently offering odds on “Exact NBA Finals matchup.”
So if that voice inside your head, Knicks fan, tells you that LeBron James and the Lakers will have to go through Madison Square Garden to bring a title back to Los Angeles, you can go to PointsBet.com and place a wager on Knicks vs. Lakers at odds of +50000. If you think Knicks-Suns is more likely, that bet is on the board, too, at odds of +30000. (Nets-Warriors has the lowest odds, +600).
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“That is a byproduct of owning our own tech,” PointsBet spokesman Patrick Eichner said. “We control all of the markets on site, which allows us to control our own destiny.”
Eichner noted that is why PointsBet led the world in different kinds of bet types for the last two Super Bowls. Compare this to most other sportsbooks, which subscribe to services such as Kambi that provide gambling lines.
PointsBet is currently offering “exact Super Bowl matchup” odds, too. But the one feature that sets PointsBet completely apart is the “Name a Bet” offering. If a customer does not see a particular wager that he/she wants to make, that proposed wager can be submitted to PointsBet, where a human trader located in the United States, Australia, or Ireland will consider it and then post a line.
Today, PointBet is introducing another new type of wager: Same-game, in-game parlay options for NFL and NBA contests as a part of its OddsFactory proprietary technology integration.
“At PointsBet, we’re focused on refining our technology to ensure we’re aligning with the type of online sports betting experience our customers seek, and based on the trends we’re tracking, sports fans and bettors not only want to bet live, but they also want the ability to build a same game parlay live,” said Mark Hughes, Group Chief Operating Officer at PointsBet. “We’re thrilled to now be able to offer live same game betting opportunities to our
customers, and to be the first sportsbook to do so is a testament to our team’s commitment to providing the best product and enhancing the user experience.”
In addition to in-game, same-game parlays, users will also have access to boost those odds with PointsBet’s daily Parlay Booster. For the best user experience, customers can place a live same-game parlay bet during timeouts and breaks in play.
The parlay booster is another feature that only PointsBet is offering, and it is for seasoned gamblers who are familiar with what the offshore sportsbooks used to call a “lightning bet.” This wager allows a user to multiply the risk/reward factor by up to 40 times that wagered amount.
“That market is high risk and high reward and takes a lot of brain power to figure out, which other books just don’t want to do. It is another example of having control of our own tech stack,” said Eichner, noting that PointsBet is owned by an Australian company that came about serving Australia with the highest per capita gambling volume worldwide.
“We are profitable in Australia, and our focus at the moment is the burgeoning New York market,” Eichner said.
For the moment, that means offering more Super Bowl wagers than any other U.S. sportsbook.
“Two years ago, we had a wager on exactly what type of hat Andy Reid was going to wear in the Super Bowl, and the year Kyle Shanahan was in the Super Bowl we had a prop bet up on whether he would blow another 28-3 lead the way he did when he had the Falcons in the Super Bowl,” Eichner said.
There are roughly 25 sports gambling companies operating in the United States as different states come online at different times.
It is a competitive industry, with many of the books focusing on content creation in order to draw in new customers. But at PointsBet, the strategy is offering types of wagers available nowhere else. In other businesses, it is a tried and true success strategy. In the sports gambling world, where everything in the U.S. is trial and error, it is a differentiation strategy that PointsBet wants folks to know about. The experienced gamblers do; the folks who are becoming experienced gamblers are finding out.
PointsBet recently broke ground in becoming the first U.S. sports betting provider to offer clients live, in-game betting opportunities with zero suspensions across the core markets of spread and moneyline. This was part of a test run during the NFL Wild Card Playoff game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals.
PointsBet currently operates its sports betting product in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia, with online casinos in Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia.
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