Dan Bilzerian-backed BlitzBet banking on low CPA model
BlitzBet MD and former Hills exec Andrew Lee hails “unbelievable engagement rate” as social media influencer promotes brand to over 50 million followers
BlitzBet is expecting to significantly cut its cost-per-acquisition (CPA) average by making part-owner and social media star Dan Bilzerian the face of the soft-launched start-up brand.
Bilzerian owns a 15% stake in the Toronto-listed business, which has also secured financial backing from former William Hill CEO Ralph Topping.
Bilzerian – a muscle-bound playboy and Instagram star famed for his ubiquitous entourage of half-naked women and penchant for guns and fast cars – purportedly earned much of his wealth in private high-stakes poker games.
BlitzBet is financially backed by Dan Bilzerian
The product – powered by London-based sportsbook provider Amelco – will focus primarily on US sports.
BlitzBet MD and former Hills exec Andrew Lee told EGR he expects CPAs to be “a fraction of” average rates as the brand is pushed towards Bilzerian’s 32 million-strong social media following.
In the US, the likes of FanDuel and DraftKings have previously said their average CPA was just shy of $250.
“We think one of the attractions here is that if you’re starting from scratch organically, to try and get a large number of customers will take a lot of time and an awful lot of money, and the reality is that through Dan [Bilzerian] we have access to an enormous database,” Lee said.
“Dan has an unbelievable engagement rate, the amount of impressions he gets on what he posts is extraordinary, around 12 posts last year got over 30 million impressions.”
Never understood how people could watch sports without betting on it
— Dan Bilzerian (@DanBilzerian) May 26, 2019
BlitzBet is taking a somewhat similar approach to Penn National Gaming’s partnership with Barstool Sports in the US, which will see the launch of its Barstool Sportsbook heavily integrated with content from Barstool personalities.
Licensed in Curacao, the operator will target recreational punters and hopes to be available in a number of markets in Europe and the US.
Bilzerian will start to promote the brand via his social channels by offering users the chance to win unique experiences with him.
“It’s a proof of concept at the moment,” Lee said.
“Getting the site up and running, getting some great customer feedback, and doing internal testing is basically what we’re doing right now, and then making sure that we have an absolutely fit-for-purpose site that can deal with the very different approach that we’re going to take to the market via Dan [Bilzerian] and his tone of voice, but also deal with the amount of scale that we believe we’re going to get when he puts his machine into action,” he added.
The operator has secured a team of 18, which includes former staff from The Stars Group, William Hill and MoPlay.
For now, they are all working remotely from around the UK, Ireland, Canada and Gibraltar.