Kindred has announced plans to launch its Unibet sportsbook in Illinois following a new market access deal with Penn National.
Under the agreement, Kindred will pursue licensing for Illinois online sports betting through Penn’s Argosy Casino Alton.
The deal between the two companies also covers market access for Ohio, through Penn’s Hollywood Casino.
Both agreements span ten years and cover sports betting and online casino, pending relevant legislation.
Unibet is prioritizing Illinois
“Illinois is one of the largest US states and it will be the next state that we are targeting to launch” said Manuel Stan, SVP of Kindred US.
Stan said there was no timeline yet for launch but it would be “as soon as possible.”
Kindred had made solid progress in the US market
The Unibet brand is currently live in three states, most recently launching in Indiana.
Unibet sportsbook made its US debut in New Jersey last September before launching in Pennsylvania in November.
And the US business grew strongly in Q2, according to company reports.
Gross revenue from Pennsylvania and New Jersey reached $7.7 million in the quarter. That was up 131% from Q1.
For reference, Unibet took around 1.7% of sports betting handle in PA in July. Interestingly, despite the Unibet moniker, the brand has arguably made a bigger impact in online casino. It had around 5% share of PA online casino revenues in July.
However, both of the new target markets look likely to sportsbook only.
Optimism for Ohio sports betting
Illinois sports betting of course is already live with new sportsbooks launching rapidly. Meanwhile, Ohio probably has the best chance of any state to legalize sports betting during the second half of 2020.
“Extending our footprint in the US by establishing our brand in two key states like Illinois and Ohio is very exciting for us,” added Stan. “We continue our journey in what we believe will become the largest gambling market in the world.”
Kindred uses Pala for online casino tech and Kambi for its sportsbook.
