FuboTV has revealed an early look at its upcoming Fubo Sportsbook, which is expected to launch during the last quarter of 2021.
The streaming company released a promotional video featuring its upcoming “Live Sync” functionality, which will be available through the Fubo Sportsbook once it goes live.
Current plans have Fubo Sportsbook launching in three states by the end of the year, with the company currently having access to real money gaming in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Indiana.
The sports betting app will launch using the Vigtory Sportsbook software that Fubo acquired earlier in the year, and will attempt to integrate with the FuboTV live streaming platform.
The first version of Fubo Sportsbook is expected to be a standalone betting app, with the integration with the streaming platform expected at a later date. Some industry experts have called this into question, as such integration with a non-gambling product may raise a number of concerns, primarily related to user registration and current gambling regulations.
The new sportsbook is adding a unique new aspect to live sports betting with its Live Sync functionality, which should allow customers to stream various sports games on their app, while instantly getting access to current betting odds for the game they are watching live.
“This seamless connection between streaming video and our mobile betting app is a feature we believe only FuboTV can bring to market,” said CEO Dave Gandler. “We believe we are in the early innings of a massive opportunity.”
Can Fubo Sportsbook and FuboTV Bet Integrated?
Fubo plans to integrate its betting product with its already existing live streaming platform, giving its users unprecedented functionality in terms of live betting.
However, a similar experiment was conducted earlier by theScore, a company that tried converting its media brand into a sports betting one.
theScore was recently acquired by Penn National in a $2 billion trade deal, but before that it was generating negative revenue and only held 0.03% of the NJ sports betting market.
Experts believe the reason for that was the fact that theScore users already had other sports betting apps like FanDuel and DraftKings on their devices and had too much confidence in these bookies to want a move to a new betting platform.
Wall Street Responds to Fubo News
The second quarter reports filed by FuboTV were positive, showing rising revenue and subscriber numbers, which combined with the news of the upcoming sportsbook launch, has produced positive feedback by Wall Street, with Fubo shares growing by 15%, up to $32.95.
Michael Pachter, analyst for Wedbush, believes the company deserves some praise for outperforming its projections for Q2 of 2021 in both revenue and subscribers.
He said, “Right now the focus is subscriber growth, and the company is showing that it can adeptly expand its base while growing average revenue per user, particularly ad ARPU, while keeping expenses under control”
Analysts from other financial groups such as BMO Capital and Roth Capital agree with this assessment, as they too have complimented the company’s performance in early 2021 and their current roadmap.
