With a handful of sportsbooks closing up shop in the U.S., one is taking advantage of two key areas to boost its presence: the upcoming NFL season and the sweepstakes market.
On Wednesday, ProphetX announced its sports exchange is now available in a majority of U.S. states.
You waited.
— ProphetX (@PlayProphetX) September 4, 2024
We are READY!
Links below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gfkOYPNd9J
The struggle in the sports betting market
Prophet Exchange originally launched with a unique idea. Instead of a bettor-versus-the house model, it would pair opposite wagers and take a smaller portion of the winnings, an idea quite similar to stock purchases and found across Europe. But only New Jersey passed regulation allowing for that type of sports betting. The other states Prophet Exchange operated in forced the company to run a traditional sportsbook instead.
Then, in June, the company decided to cease operations and pivot away from the sportsbook model.
Prophet Exchange pulled off its switch in the summer when betting handle hits yearly lows. And now it's launched just in time for Week 1 of the NFL season, when bettors wake up from hibernation and start throwing cash around. Other operators this year pushed through the past few months only to close before football returned.
Sweepstakes save the day
Newly formed ProphetX is no longer a sportsbook, like its predecessor, instead it's pivoting (slightly) to a sweepstakes. The differences are not too obvious, to the annoyance of the sportsbooks who must stress over state-based regulations and high taxes.
The user interface looks like a sportsbook, but as a sweepstakes, the company must also offer ways to play for free. Like most sweepstakes in this particular space, there are coins that can be turned into cash, but the purchase of coins comes with Prophet Cash that can be wagered and then withdrawn as cash.
“Pivoting from the regulated gaming space to a sweepstakes model, we wanted to move forward with a brand that represented our new venture,” ProphetX co-founder and COO Jake Benzaquen told Covers in July.
ProphetX isn’t the only company to catch on to the benefits of the sweepstakes market. Novig is another sportsbook that chose to opt into the sweepstakes model and just like ProphetX launched on the eve of the NFL season.
