5 Lessons Learned from Integrating an Online Sports Book into a Land-Based Casino Group

As the United States Supreme Court prepares to hear New Jersey's appeal to offer legal sports betting, it appears that if/when sports betting is legalized in the U.S., the prevailing wisdom is that sports betting will likely roll out through existing regulatory infrastructures, which would include casinos, tracks, etc.

We at Chalkline Sports took the opportunity to reflect on our own great experiences as part of a terrific team effort that integrated sports betting into a land-based casino group at Sun International, and see significant opportunity for American gaming operators to learn from these experiences as the Supreme Court decision approaches.

Looking back to 2013:

• Sports betting (online, especially) was growing rapidly in South Africa (a trend that continues today).
• Sun International saw a forward-looking strategic opportunity to roll out new, high-demand products and acquired Powerbet Gaming (Pty) Ltd., which owned and operated Voltbet.com.
• The sports betting site relaunched as Sunbet.co.za in late 2013.

As United States operators consider the opportunity ahead, we respectfully share our take-aways from our experiences working with the leadership at Sun International to build the Sunbet online sports betting product.

Thanks to the team at Sun International--we learned a lot during our time there, and gathered terrific input and insights (and hope we shared some) along the way.

We look forward to continuing this conversation, and will hopefully see many of you at the Sports Betting USA conference in New York this fall.