Betfred confirms exit in Virginia for October

Betfred has confirmed that it will be withdrawing from Virginia, shuttering its sportsbook operations in the Old Dominion State. An update on the sportsbook’s official website said that the shutdown is due on October 21, 2024.

Once enacted, this will be the fourth state that the company has withdrawn from, with Colorado, Ohio and Maryland already wound down. Another shutdown is due on November 4, 2024, when Betfred will also exit from Arizona, but the company has been mulling to pull out of the United States altogether for a while now.

Market pressure forces Betfred out of another state in the US

What this means is that after only several weeks, Betfred will remain operational in only a handful of places in the United States. Those would include the company’s land-based sportsbooks in Nevada, Washington State, and Louisiana, although the company will still retain control over mobile operations in Iowa and Pennsylvania, allowing it some leeway and variety.

The reasons for the company’s withdrawal are not exactly unfathomable. Essentially, Betfred is running a huge bill to try and stay competitive, while eking out a small profit at the expense of mammoth marketing spending, which has forced the company to ask itself the same questions many peers have – is this worth it?

For companies such as Betway, PointsBet, Sports Illustrated, and many others, the answer has been a flat no. Losing ground in the market in the United States would mean that there may be no coming back, but the quasi-duopoly shared by FanDuel and DraftKings, paired with the high costs of doing business in the country, has put many companies on the back foot.

Overseas betting firms have withdrawn almost entirely from the market, but there are exceptions, too. Bet365, a privately owned company from the United Kingdom, has been making strides in the local market despite all.

Betting firms that buck the trend and succeed

Bet365 has adopted a multi-pronged approach which goes down to investing in the right segments. The company has maintained a healthy share of the market and has hardly complained about marketing spend.

Being a privately owned company with growing revenue, bet365 has also allowed it the luxury of not having to answer shareholders or listen to demands for a better return on shares.

The company announced last week that it would be beefing up its operations in Denver, Colorado, with its new office spaces set to host 1,000 jobs, that will further spearhead the company’s forays into the North American market.

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