Australian social betting start-up Dabble has set out its plans to expand across US daily fantasy sports markets in 2024.
Australian social betting start-up Dabble has set out its plans to expand across US markets in 2024.
Dabble background
Dabble is a sports betting platform founded in Australia in 2020. The brand offers users a raft of social features including the ability to follow other users and copy their bets, chat with friends and comment on their activity.
In October 2023, the brand launched in the US, with a modified version of its Australian app offering daily fantasy sports games instead of traditional online sports betting.
The company had been “discussing the US opportunity since the first days of Dabble back in 2020, waiting for the right time both from Dabble’s perspective and the market,” according to co-founder and chief strategy officer Jon Robin.
Daily fantasy
Dabble opted to enter the US market with a DFS offering, while still maintaining the key social features that differentiate its online sports betting offering in Australia.
The app delivers an activity feed to users, showing the DFS activity of accounts followed by each user. It allows users to easily copy entries made by others and communicate with one another.
In addition to its social features, Dabble also offers “faster transaction acceptance, quicker resulting, and far fewer bugs/glitches” than its competitors, Robin said in an update sent to company shareholders.
Dabble’s DFS app is currently live in 20 US states, which together boast a population of 165 million residents.
As of January, the app has 450,000 registered accounts in the US. It has been ranked among the top 10 sports apps in the US App Store, alongside brands including DraftKings, FanDuel and ESPN.
By download numbers, the app outperformed sports betting competitors including MGM, Caesars, Fanatics and bet365 in December.
2024 outlook
Dabble plans “to invest as much as possible in our growth over the next few months while maintaining sufficient reserves,” Robin said in the update, and expects to have more than 1 million registered customers by the end of June.
In order to reach its expansion targets, the company is exploring various options, including seeking DFS licensure in additional states. There are an additional five to 10 states where it could apply for further licences, it said.
The company is also considering seeking full sports betting licences in certain states, but noted that this route would be significantly more expensive and difficult than seeking additional DFS licences.
Further, Dabble wants to introduce alternative game types such as free-to-play, peer-to-peer and sweepstakes, while also adding more sports to the platform.
At present, users can make player predictions on NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, as well as college American football and basketball.
Other sports in Dabble’s pipeline include soccer, tennis, cricket, Formula One, Nascar, MMA and esports, Robin said.
To support its expansion in US markets, the company also intends to add more payment options to its platform and “double down on social features” by adding improved functionalities.
Its first priority in this area is to convert features already rolled out in its Australian app onto its US app, starting with ‘share entry’, ‘discover profiles’ and a ‘for you feed’.
Dabble counts Australian wagering giant Tabcorp and venture capital fund Yolo Investments as major investors in the business.