Bally Bet Review

Bally Bet Summary

The legal gambling age in Ontario is 19+. Please play responsibly.

Bally Bet is officially live in Ontario, returning from a brief hiatus while the company overhauled and improved its software. Its brings a robust online sportsbook and casino, adding to the already plentiful choices for Ontario bettors. 

Having already been active in the U.S. for a while now, we can give you a glimpse of what to expect from Bally Bet.

Bally Bet Locations

Bally Bet is relatively new in the North American market. It's only available in 11 states so far, (AZ, CO, IN, IA, MD, MA, NJ, NY, OH, TN, VA). It originally launched in Ontario with a license from the AGCO in July 2022. However, it took its betting platform offline earlier in 2024 for a total redesign. 

Despite the small footprint of the online betting platform, the Bally’s Corporation is a legacy brand in the gambling industry. The company has been operating brick-and-mortar casinos in the U.S. for decades now. We expect to see Bally Bet be more aggressive in its expansion efforts going into 2025 and beyond. 

Sports Covered at Bally Bet

Bally Bet has solid coverage for all major sports. You’ll find MLB, NFL, College Football, MMA, Boxing, Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Auto Racing, NBA, NHL, College Basketball, WNBA, CFL, and International Baseball (KBO, NPG).

Major sports like NFL offer alternative lines and a decent amount of props such as first TD scorer, anytime TD scorer, total passing yards, total receiving yards, etc. They also feature futures odds, including weekly highest and lowest-scoring teams.

The props are convenient to navigate, but often hidden inside the game lines. Luckily, most major sports have them available.

Online and Mobile Sports Betting Experience

Both the desktop and mobile app are simple to use at Bally Bet. It’s not inundated with a bunch of featured contests you’re not interested in, like some books. It's a simple interface, but covers the basics well. The new redesign definitely addresses some of our previous concerns, which included a lack of cutting-edge technology and subpar live betting features. Both of these aspects are much better in the new app.

Even the upper-level management of Bally Bet will tell you that the best is yet to come with them. The company was waiting for its $2.7 billion acquisition of UK-focused Gamesys to build out Bally Bet, as mentioned in an early 2021 quarterly earnings call. The deal was finalized in October 2021.

Live Betting

Live betting is available via Bally Bet, along with in-game props for all major sports. However, the live betting functionality was below-average and was surely a topic to address as the platform was revamped.

There is no live streaming, but that could also change as Bally’s recently acquired naming rights in a 10-year deal in March 2021 for all Sinclair Regional Sports Networks previously branded with the FOX Sports Networks name.

Bally Bet Company History

Bally’s Corporation is a gaming, betting, and interactive entertainment company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2020, casino operator Twin River Worldwide Holdings purchased the Bally’s name from Caesars Entertainment for $20 million and rebranded itself as Bally’s.

In March 2021, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Bally’s Corporation announced the official rebrand of their regional sports networks as Bally Sports. Bally’s acquired naming rights in a 10-year deal for all Sinclair RSNs, previously branded with the FOX Sports Networks name as a perk of the partnership

In Oct 2021, Bally’s completed their acquisition of Gamesys Group for $2.7 billion, a UK-based leading global online gaming operator. These two transactions are pivotal in converting Bally’s into a premier global data-driven gaming company.

Conjoining Bally’s and Gamesys’ player databases and technologies provide Bally’s one of the largest portfolios of omnichannel cross-sell opportunities, consisting of in-person gaming, online sports betting, daily fantasy sports, iCasino, poker, bingo, and free-to-play games. These offerings, linked with Bally Interactive and Bally’s media partnership with Sinclair Broadcast Group, position the company to achieve significant growth opportunities in U.S. online entertainment and sports betting.

Bally’s also agreed to acquire Manchester-based iGaming innovation studio Degree 53 in October 2021. As a specialist in software, UX, and app development for iGaming and sports betting operators, Degree 53 is tasked with assisting Bally’s with integrating its portfolio of Monkey Knife Fight, SportCaller, and Gamesys Group into a Bally Bet 2.0 launch in 2022. Degree 53 clients include Penn National Gaming, Betfred, Scientific Games, and FDJ Gaming Solutions.

In November 2021, Bally’s Corporation ($BALY) reported a record-setting $314.8 million in revenue for Q3 2021, surging $198.2 million for a 170% increase year-on-year.

Quality of Odds

Since Bally’s sources their odds in-house, you can occasionally find some mispriced lines with them. In addition, they frequently reduce the juice on local teams based on your location. Overall, their odds are pretty average, and they will limit bettors on a hot streak, so if you’re continually taking advantage of this, you’ll get capped quickly.

Other Gaming Options at Bally Bet

It was an interesting move to see Bally Bet launch in Ontario with initially just a casino platform, as that's not offered in most of its U.S. states. However, they have a full suite of iGaming options for Ontario gamblers. They offer loads of slots with name brands like Wheel of Fortune and Megaways like Monopoly.

Their Live Casino offers multiple options for popular games like Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Poker, and Craps. You'll find even more options under their virtual Table Games tab.

The Bally’s corporation also owns daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform Monkey Knife Fight and SportCaller, a global free-to-play game provider used by FanDuel, CBS Sports, BetMGM, William Hill, and more. The company manages over 12 casinos across eight states, a horse racetrack, and 13 Colorado-authorized OTB licenses. 

Unfortunately, the AGCO isn't sold on DFS in Ontario, so you won't see any Monkey Knife Fights around these parts for now.

Social Betting Community

One of the unique concepts you’ll currently find at Bally Bet is their friend features that integrate a social media aspect with betting. Once you are following your friends, you can use various features. Share and discuss wagers on your social feed, poke fun at your friend’s “lock of the night,” or celebrate a big win with your connected betting community.

On the interactive betting side, you can add your friends’ wagers directly to your bet slip with the click of a button and challenge your friends in custom leagues to earn betting bragging rights. You’ll also find your betting Hall-of-Fame with your biggest payouts, longest winning streaks, most considerable underdogs, and a wealth of other information on your profile.

Customer Service

Bally Bet offers all the basic customer service methods you would expect to see from a major sportsbook. We tested some of these methods posing as new bettors looking to sign up for an account and found them to offer above-average service. They provide live chat and an FAQ section on their state-specific contact pages. You can also contact Bally Bet using the following methods:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 1-877-378-4544
• Twitter: @BallyBetCanada
• 24/7 Live Chat

Responsible Gambling

Bally Bet is regulated in Ontario by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario. The legal age for gambling in Ontario is 19+. Please play responsibly. Here are a few resources to further assist you in playing responsibly.

• ResponsibleGambling.org
• ConnexOntario
• BeGambleAware.org
• Gambling Therapy

Conclusion

The Bally Bet app has seen substantial improvements in 2024 and could become a considerable contender going into 2025 and beyond. For now, we'll have to wait and see how Bally Bet's new platform appeals to bettors in Ontario (and how its expansion plans in the U.S. fare). 

Otherwise, Bally Bet is a great addition to the already jam-packed lineup of Ontario online sportsbooks and casinos.