As we head into the first weekend with legal online sports betting in North Carolina, FanDuel leads the way as the most downloaded sportsbook app, with DraftKings coming in a distant second.
That’s according to app download data from analysts at JMP, whose reporting was shared in Friday’s Earnings+More newsletter.
After the first three days of betting, FanDuel NC accounted for 35% of the market. DraftKings NC had 24%. BetMGM NC, at least so far, has held off ESPN Bet NC for third place in the market, with 11% of the state’s app downloads, compared to ESPN Bet’s 8%.
The battle for third place in North Carolina
FanDuel taking the early lead in market share should come as no surprise. It tops DraftKings in most statewide markets, and, perhaps of all the online sportsbooks coming to NC, it may have done the most to advertise itself in the Tar Heel State leading up to the March launch.
The more interesting takeaway is from the battle for third place among NC online sportsbooks.
North Carolina marked the first launch where ESPN Bet began on equal footing with its competition. In all its other states, it rebranded existing Barstool Sportsbook apps (after PENN Entertainment separated from Barstool and partnered with ESPN). But, in North Carolina, it launched its full-fledged product at the exact same time as everyone else.
So the fact that BetMGM, at least so far, has been able to stay 3% ahead of ESPN Bet — per JMP analyst numbers reported by Earnings+More — is noteworthy.
Biggest ‘losers’ so far? (Yes, we know it’s early)
There are four other apps available in North Carolina:
The biggest “losers” so far would have to be Bet365 and Caesars. Bet365 has been on a tear in the US over the past year, owning top-three market positions in states such as Ohio and Kentucky. However, ESPN Bet has recently unseated Bet365 for third place in Ohio. And it, along with BetMGM, has kept Bet365 out of the top four in North Carolina — which so far is living up to its expectations as a potential $1 billion market.
In the first 48 hours of online sports betting, GeoComply reported nearly 370,000 NC bettor accounts conducted 5.36 million geolocation checks — more than double the activity during the same time period in northern neighbor Virginia.
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