FanDuel Officially Launches in Iowa
Contents
FanDuel‘s mobile sports betting app is available in Iowa. On Thursday, the sports betting operator announced that users could download the app to their smartphones. Boyd Gaming will be the partner with FanDuel as they enter their seventh U.S. state.
🗣 IOWA — WE ARE HERE!
We're officially LIVE in the state of Iowa for mobile sports betting 🤑
Sign up now and get $100 in 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 bets when you register in person at @DiamondJoWorth or @DiamondJoDBQ!
Learn more: https://t.co/zQU2vPZWTk pic.twitter.com/D4iCAaLtk0
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) September 3, 2020
Mobile betting is now available for FanDuel customers. However, in-person registration is still required. FanDuel has retail sportsbooks at Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque or Northwood, Iowa. However, FanDuel is running a promotion for Iowans that register in-person. They are offering customers a $100 sign-up bonus when walking in.
Online registration will not come for a few more months. On January 1, 2021, customers will be able to register online across the state. The law is unfortunate, but the state is four months away from lifting it. FanDuel has mobile betting now, which will help add to the handle in the longterm.
FanDuel to Iowa
The announcement came just a week after FanDuel entered the Illinois market and having similar issues with mobile registration. Both Iowa and Illinois have people registering in-person to create sports betting account.
Illinois, however, wised up and suspended its in-person registration until September 19. Shocking Illinois politics did something smart. Iowans do not have that same pleasure of online registration, but they only have to wait until the end of the year before it goes online. New Year’s Eve will be the last day of in-person registration for Iowans.
However, FanDuel is offering customers a $100 sign-up bonus when registering, so it is not all bad. The sports betting operator is also expanding their Gridiron Pick-em contest this year as a bonus for going mobile betting.
FanDuel Will Help Iowa Sports Betting
Iowa sports betting has been live for 17 months and has seen early success. The COVID-19 pandemic did not help this past spring, but numbers are starting to rebound as U.S. sports return to play.
$22.9 million was wagered on the event in July and should continue to grow in August and through the fall. FanDuel’s online betting platform will only help increase those numbers. Players won’t have to head to the casino to place bets anymore for FanDuel. They will be able to bet right from their couch this fall on the sports being played.
Between the two FanDuel locations, FanDuel saw $1.2 million being wagered in July. Those numbers should increase this fall with football coming back, but also because of mobile betting. Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission should track the percentage of bets made in-person compared to mobile devices this fall.
The FanDuel numbers should almost swing in favor of betting online than in-person. States like New Jersey see nearly 75 percent of their bets being place online now. FanDuel customers in Iowa will most likely do the same thing.
Overall, this is a huge win for Iowans. They get another reputable sportsbook going online and should help the state bring in more revenue. They hit a peak in February when the handle was over $55 million for the month. They could break that this fall with mobile betting coming into play.
