FanDuel has for years been offering its New Jersey sportsbook customers a chance to switch over to its online casino games as well.
But on Tuesday, the daily fantasy sports giant announced the launch of a standalone online casino gaming product on iOS, Android, and desktops.
The expansion gives FanDuel an opportunity to reach a wide audience of consumers who are interested in playing online casino games but not necessarily interested in betting on sports.
The standalone FanDuel Casino NJ app will feature table game staples like blackjack, roulette, and video poker, in addition to slots. The company promises that “players will receive the same customer support, convenience, safety, and security that customers have come to expect from FanDuel, while making it secure and simple for customers to cash out winnings.”
Of course, FanDuel Casino will still be available also within the FanDuel Sportsbook app, and new casino players can either sign up for a casino account or use their existing FanDuel Fantasy or Sportsbook account to log in and play.
New FanDuel casino players also can play their first day risk-free up to $1,000.
Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia are other states where FanDuel also has standalone online casino offerings.
Online casino: where the money is
While sports betting tends to draw more media attention — with about 90% of it taking place online and the rest occurring at the state’s three racetracks or nine Atlantic City casinos — online casino gaming is more lucrative for operators. Among the reasons is that sports betting is more vulnerable to the occasional “bad beat” for the house, when a large amount of action on one side of a wager goes in the consumers’ favor.
In June, New Jersey operators won $107.1 million from online casino games, compared to $71.3 million from sports betting. For the year, online casino revenue has been $634.2 million, compared to $368.3 million from sports betting.
The two sources combined have accounted for nearly half of the gaming industry’s total revenue in 2021, with brick-and-mortar casinos accounting for $1.1 billion in that span.
Online poker accounts for $14.9 million of the 2021 revenue. The rest of the online casino gaming numbers are not broken down by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, but on the retail casino side, $805.3 million came from slot machines and $305.1 million came from table games.
Not the only game in town
FanDuel’s announcement comes just days after Australian-based PointsBet unveiled its own standalone casino product.
PointsBet launched online casino games in Michigan in May, and it is expected to add Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the coming months as well.
Unlike FanDuel, PointsBet until now had not offered online casino gaming at all in New Jersey. With its announcement of its plan last summer, it became the 34th “player” in the state.
Last summer, a PointsBet executive told NJ Online Gambling: “Our focus will be on ‘cross sell,’ looking at people who play casino elsewhere but bet [sports] with us. Those customers won’t have to pause to do both. Our core strength is sports betting, but online casino can fill a gap of down time for the customer. Long term, there is marketing to do, and ultimately we want people to share their experience with friends.”
Photo: Shutterstock
