California First Online Sports Betting App is Here? The Chickens Come Home to Roost
Just as PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy are seen as running a FOWL of regulators in both Florida and Massachusetts, California seems to be embracing one of its own.
No feathers being ruffled in Cali....at least not yet.
PlayBawk has just unveiled its a Class II bingo-based, sports-themed betting app that offers users an opportunity to place bets on how individual athletes will perform in a particular game. In that regard it is similar to the wide option of player propositions found on popular real money sports betting apps like BetUS.
First off, the KFC concept will be applied here. Know Your F***ing Customers.
The mobile app can only be used on Chicken Ranch’s reservation in northern California near Yosemite National Park.
Instead of giving the bird to state regulators as some believe PrizePicks has done, the Chicken Ranch tribe wishes to spread the love.
“This allows people of California to get their sports itch out of their system, while at the same time allowing it to be with each tribe itself,” Chicken Ranch Tribal Chairman Lloyd Mathiesen said. “It’s a way for us to be able to have sports betting.”
But you might be thinking to yourself "didn't two voter referendums pertaining to legalization of sports betting fail in the state a few years back?"
They sure did.
The emphasis here is on the "bingo" element.
Per Matthew Kredell of PlayUSA:
First, people need to pick who will have the highest performance score in nine matchups between athletes in the same sport. Then the bettor places those matchups in the nine spots around a tic-tac-toe board. They will want to put the pick in which they are most confident in the center square.
On a tic-tac-toe board, it is possible to get three in a row in eight areas. To win, bettors have to get matchups correct and put them in the right spots on the board.
Kredell outlines the various payout potentials with a few hundred dollars winnable by completing the board.
Yeah, it's a twist on sports betting all right.
We here at Gambling911 applaud innovation to be certain as well as creative ways to get around the system.
The Chicken Ranch Tribe is hopeful their concept will catch on with other tribes.
Meanwhile, the PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy beef with regulators in Florida and Massachusetts has come down to a March 1 departure, at least in Florida. That's the deadline given by state regulators there for the two DFS sites to fly the coop.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
