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Bank of America: FanDuel Tops US Mobile Sportsbook App Downloads in March
By Jeff Osienya Apr 06, 2021 IndustryThe volume of mobile sportsbook app downloads has soared fivefold year-over-year thanks to the March Madness comeback. FanDuel and DraftKings took centerstage with BetMGM rounding up the top-three in the volume of downloads.While the coronavirus pandemic was a big blow to sports betting in the U.S., the market is getting bigger month after month as states continue to okay legal sports betting. After the return of sports from last year’s forced hiatus, the sports betting industry is quickly recovering particularly thanks to the internet betting vertical. Wildly popular US sports leagues like the NFL and NBA are among the key drivers of growth as sports bettors show up in big numbers to bet events like the Super Bowl and the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
A recent report by Bank of America indicates that the just-concluded March Madness offered the mobile sports betting industry a shot in the arm by boosting sportsbook app downloads. Compared to March last year, sportsbook mobile app downloads for iOS users surged by 559%.
But then analyst Shaun Kelley of Bank of America is quick to caution that the stellar numbers are a result of 2020’s sweeping sports cancellations which of course led to the dwindling of the volume of downloads at that time. The NCAA Tournament made a successful return this year, ending in a historic underdog victory after the undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs were overpowered by the Baylor Bears to nab their first-ever March Madness title.
Comparing March 2021 to February however, there was a 41% decline in the number of downloads. February’s performance can be attributed to strong mobile sports betting debuts in Virginia and Michigan, not forgetting that it was the end of the NFL season which closes with the Big Game – another fan favorite for sports bettors.
FanDuel Leads the Pack with a Lion’s Share of Downloads
FanDuel, Flutter Entertainment’s subsidiary took the crown for the most app downloads last month, making up 36% of the downloads, giving DraftKings a comfortable lead after the latter garnered 28% of the market share to come in at the second place.
Together, FanDuel and DraftKings took 64% of the total number of iOS platform downloads in March, cementing their position as the market leaders in the USA’s burgeoning sports betting industry. The Bank of America report went on to indicate that the monthly active users of the two juggernauts soared by 12% in March, compared to the previous month.
Following FanDuel and DraftKings was the BetMGM sportsbook, the brainchild of a team-up between MGM Resorts International and Entain PLC. BetMGM’s iOS mobile app won 12% of the downloads in March, etching its reputation as the fastest-growing mobile sportsbook brand in the USA’s sports betting market.
Coming in it at the fourth position was Penn National Gaming’s Barstool sportsbook app which got a pretty impressive single-digit market share even though the brand’s digital footprint is much less significant in gambling-legal states compared to its top-three competitors. Analysts however expect Barstool’s sports betting app performance to get better as it continues rolling out its online betting services in more states throughout 2021.
The other factor that speaks volumes of Barstool’s future potential is that its September debut smashed all previous records that had been set by FanDuel and DraftKings, the two largest sports betting companies in the USA. On its first weekend of going live on the iOS App Store, the Barstool sportsbook app set a record of more than 21,000 downloads!
It will be interesting to see how the race between the top four will fare as sports betting goes live in more states this year and in the coming years. As we speak 25 states and the District of Columbia have so far entered the legal sports betting market, and according to some industry insiders, about 20 more states will have okayed the activity by 2025.
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