ZenSports’ peer-to-peer sports betting product, which has focused entirely on the international market since launching in March 2019, has taken its first step toward licensing in the United States.
Through a deal inked with Strategic Gaming Management, ZenSports has acquired an option to purchase the Big Wheel Casino located in Lovelock, Nevada, with an additional option to operate the sports book at Baldini’s Sports Casino in Reno, Nevada. Both of these agreements will give ZenSports the all-important physical presence required by the Nevada Gaming Control Board to operate its mobile sports betting platform in the state.
According to ZenSports co-founder and CEO Mark Thomas, “One of the biggest hurdles in getting licensed to operate an Internet/mobile sports betting platform in the United States is the requirement to own or partner with a land-based sportsbook and casino. Through our relationship with Strategic Gaming Management, we were able to secure the option to purchase this business in Nevada, which is the first critical step in getting ZenSports licensed and operating in the state.”
Thomas originally met the CEO of Strategic Gaming Management, Grant Lincoln, in January 2020. Lincoln subsequently made an angel investment in and became a consultant to ZenSports. Since that time, ZenSports has steadily grown its international peer-to-peer sports betting business and raised funding from investors like Jason Calacanis, Jor Law, and others.
“ZenSports is proving to be a force in the mobile and peer-to-peer sports betting world,” said Lincoln, “and we’re helping give them an opportunity to expand into the Nevada market and make ZenSports a household name here.”
Now that ZenSports holds the right to buy and own a sportsbook and casino in Nevada, the next step in getting its mobile app operational there is to go through the licensing and technology-certification process. ZenSports has retained the law firm of Saltzman Mugan Dushoff in Las Vegas to assist with the Nevada licensing process and with BMM Testlabs for the technology certification process.
