Sports betting startup company, Wagr has announced that they have taken on major new investment bringing a new kind of sports betting tech to player’s devices. The investment comes in the form of $4 million dollars of seed-funding and the investor is none other than Alexis Ohanian, who is most notably known for being the co-founder of social news aggregator, Reddit Inc.
Who is Wagr?
Wagr is a sports betting company that started up in April 2020. Wagr started up a gambling app with a different concept than most others – you actually wager money against friends instead of trying to beat the bookmaker! The application has been set up with the intention of being something that is used for social purposes, and so, the bets you can place are quite simple.Â
Why is Ohanian Interested?
As one of the founders of Reddit, Ohanian has a wealth of knowledge in the social market. He became interested in this idea because he immediately recognised that the functions of the app is something that we would do in a face-to-face environment anyway, so why not digitilise it! The world we live in today relies heavily on digital gadgets and we are trying to have the ability to do everyday tasks without the need to even leave home.
What does the app let us do?
When launching the application, the user will be offered some of the main sports from across the world and the user will be able to take a spread bet with somebody they know, like a friend or member of the family provided that they are willing to take the bet too, but, if there is nobody available, then the app will try to link you to somebody within your state that will have a bet with you. The betting options are currently limited to just points spread betting, but in the future, it is expected that there will be more options available, according to Mario Malave, the founder of Wagr. There is also a plan to have a $500 single-bet maximum bet limit, and users will have the option to limit the time they spend gambling, which encourages responsible gambling.
What About Bonuses & Free Bets?
There should be free bet action on the app. When companies design new sports betting apps, they should always have some kind of free bets bonus because this is part and parcel of the online sports book market. Having bonus offers and free bets like those offered on website such as https://www.freebets.com/ gives new apps a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, any app that tried to start offering online or mobile betting services not offering these types of free bets is unlikely to pique the interest of sports betting fans, simply because they can get free bets from other apps!
How will the Market React?
It is hard to say how the market will react, but it will certainly cause at least some disruption within the industry. The app is essentially designed to keep money out of the bookmakers’ pockets and recycled among friends while also keeping bettors informed with sports bet facts. People who have been gambling on sports for a long time, will have at some point, felt a little annoyed at losing money to a bookmaker. It is thought that losing money to a friend is not as bad because you have a strong emotional connection with that person and you want to see them win. Alexis Ohanian, who is investing through his business, has described the concept as a healthier form of gambling because the community will be benefitting.
It is expected that the users will have to pay a kind of platform fee that we see with casinos.