Nearly a year after its founding, Betr is expanding in a big way by launching a real-money fantasy product.

The gaming company founded by Joey Levy and Jake Paul announced the creation of Betr Picks, a fantasy pick ‘em game now available in nearly half of the U.S.

Like other US mobile sports betting operators in the field, Betr Picks will allow users to choose whether a player will exceed a particular statistical projection. When a user creates their entry, they must pick at least two and up to eight players and decide whether each player will go over or stay under a certain stat.

If the user is correct on all eight selections, they would win up to 100 times their entry fee.

To promote the new product, Betr is sponsoring a free-play pick ‘em game for Saturday’s fight between Paul and Nate Diaz, with up to $1 million in prizes up for grabs.

Betr Seeks To Capitalize On Broader Engagement

Last August, Levy and Paul unveiled their new enterprise. Backed with $50 million in investor funds, they developed Betr to serve as the first microbetting-focused online sports betting operation.

Betr said it would focus its customer acquisition strategy on developing unique content through its own media operation, leveraging Paul’s social media presence to attract users, particularly adults in the 21-35 demographic. In the past year, Betr has signed others to content development deals. That includes Haley and Hanna Cavinder, former college basketball players who became social media influencers. The company says its social media sites have a combined audience of 1.5 million followers, generating 1.5 billion impressions over the past year.

“Betr Picks allows us to acquire and engage real money gaming users across the United States, enabling Betr Gaming to more fully capitalize on the nationwide presence of Betr Media for the first time, all while providing a complimentary pre-match experience to our in-play focused OSB product,” said Levy, who serves as CEO as well as a founder.

Betr Picks will be available in places like California, Texas and Georgia – states with large populations but have yet to legalize sports betting. However, it will also be available in some states where sports betting is legal.

Levy, also a founder in microbetting platform Simplebet, added Betr has plans to add additional sports, game modes and deposit/withdrawal methods in the near future.

Similar to Betr’s sports betting operations, Betr Picks will be limited to adults 21 and older, will ban deposits by credit card and automatically enforce deposit limits on users 25 and younger.

Differences Between Pick ‘Ems and Parlays

Betr Picks’ entire payout structure was not immediately available. Fantasy pick’ ems can be an alternative for users in states where sports betting is not yet legal or available. However, pick ’em game payouts may vary differently from odds available at sportsbooks.

For example, Betr Picks indicated an eight-selection entry would pay out up to 100 times their fee to play. So, a $100 eight-leg winner could return $10,000.

An eight-leg parlay at a sportsbook with all legs having -110 odds would return $17,644.

Real-money pick ’em contests also elicit pretty strong opinions from some in the gaming industry. Some see them as competitors infringing on their turf, and others have questioned whether they are legal.

In its release, Betr said its fantasy game “is backed by legal opinions from both nationwide and state-specific experts in the gaming space and is only available in jurisdictions where fantasy gaming has been legalized by statute or is permitted via case law and/or legal precedent.”

In addition to the states mentioned above, Betr Picks is also available in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Utah, Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Washington D.C., Vermont and Wyoming.

While Betr touts that its app will be the first to offer both sports betting and fantasy on one app, Betr is not approved for both gaming options in any state.

Betr Picks is available for Apple devices, with an Android app in the works.

Changes Coming To Betr’s Sportsbook, Too

In less than five months after it was established, Betr launched its sports betting app in Ohio. It has since added Massachusetts and has plans to launch in Virginia in the not-too-distant future.

The company also expanded its sports betting offerings beyond in-game markets to include more traditional offerings, such as point spreads, moneylines and totals.

In May, Betr purchased the Chameleon platform from FansUnite. The company is using that platform as the basis for its new sportsbook product that will replace the “beta” platform it launched in January.

The new platform is expected to roll out in the first half of next year.