Q&A: Rebet CEO and CMO reveal their plan to disrupt the social sportsbook market

Dialing in from their dorm room at Dartmouth College, Carson Hubbard and Isabella DiGiovanni are all smiles following the launch of Rebet, a new free-to-play social sportsbook that is looking to tackle the US market.

The app launched in every state — barring Idaho, Michigan and Nevada — earlier this month, with the bold claim that it would “revolutionize the sports betting experience”.

It allows users to bet using Rebet Coins and Rebet Cash. The former replenish daily in intervals of 100 — or 10 if a user’s balance reaches zero — and people can buy more coins for real money. The latter cannot be bought and replenished daily, or in intervals of one when a player’s account hits zero. 

The social sportsbook model has been criticized in some circles for effectively offering a sports betting product without adhering to each state’s regulatory requirements. 

Speaking to EGR, Hubbard and DiGiovanni — who serve as Rebet’s CEO and CMO respectively —describe how the business is compliant with existing legislation, as well as their plans for managing the product given their lack of industry experience.

Along with fellow Dartmouth students Liam Tassiello (COO) and Edwin Onyango (CTO) onboard as co-founders, the firm is focusing on a so-called “community-centric atmosphere” to bring players together.

The major launch, being overseen from a college dorm control centre, is a bold move. Here, Hubbard and DiGiovanni explain how they plan to achieve their lofty goals.

EGR: What made you want to create Rebet and what is your overall vision, given the team you’ve assembled appears to have next to no experience in the sports betting industry?

Carson Hubbard (CH): One of the most interesting parts of our story is how Rebet came about. It isn’t every day you see a company run by a group of 20- and 21-year-olds. Rebet’s development was driven by our shared love for sports and the realization that there was a huge void in the current sports betting space. The vision is to build a platform that would bring the social and communal aspects of fandom to the forefront of the sports betting experience. 

We noticed that we were placing picks, then messaging each other our bets in group chats. We then spoke about the picks and then went for the same ones as our friends. This would then take a long time to do together, so that got us thinking of combining the inherent social aspects of sports betting with the platform itself. So, we came up with making a version of Twitter (now X) or any other social networking platform with the thrill of the sports betting experience. That is how Rebet was born.

EGR: For those unfamiliar with Rebet, could you explain how the app works and differs from other social sportsbooks?

CH: We took this first-of-its-kind approach to create a community-centric atmosphere, and we provide that with three key features.

First, there is the social feed, where users post bets for their friends and followers to see, and people can comment on, like, and share them.

Then there is my favorite feature on the whole app: the rebet button. People can bet the same picks as their friends with a click of a button and then place a wager amount on it, and the bet is placed. You then get the notification that you are riding out that bet with your friend. 

The peer-to-peer betting feature also allows you to compete against your friends in sweepstakes, Rebet Cash or Rebet Coins. We have simplified the betting experience with easy-to-read lines so that new users can more easily understand what they are betting on. 

EGR: Is there a particular demographic you are targeting, and how did you go about determining that demographic, if so?

Isabella DiGiovanni (ID): Actually, the beginner bettor market is a huge target market for us. Within that beginner bettor market, we think there’s this untapped group in the female demographic that no other traditional sportsbook or social sportsbook on the market is trying to target.

We’ve done a lot of research looking at the gender demographics of the industry and it skews towards males, which is not a surprise. I’ve done a lot of surveying and research among females, and I’ve heard females enthusiastic about sports betting and sports. 

The one thing I’m constantly hearing is “I don’t understand the terminology” or “I don’t understand the odds”. So, as a female entering this male-dominated space, I find it creates a high barrier of entry for females. That feedback and research are what help us.

CH: We built Rebet for everybody. Whether you’ve never placed a bet on an app before or have been making bets for 20 years, you can enjoy Rebet.

EGR: You launched Rebet in every state bar Idaho, Michigan, and Nevada. How do you ensure that you adhering to the various legal frameworks in each state, given some of those do not even have legalized sports betting as of yet?

CH: Our legal team analyzed the sweepstakes laws state by state and determined which states we would operate in based on those laws. We decided not to launch in Idaho, Michigan, and Nevada because the current laws don’t work with our business model. Still, we’re proactively monitoring them and making adjustments as needed. 

EGR: While Rebet Cash can’t be bought for real money, Rebet Coins can be. How do you make sure people are playing responsibly?

CH: [Responsible gaming] is important to us. We have established various user-controlled, responsible gaming measures to promote safer gaming. Some of these methods include users setting limits on the number of days they can play, daily play limits, Rebet Coin purchase limits and maximum wagers. 

We also proactively monitor signs of gaming abuse so that we can implement mandatory controls from our proprietary admin panel to help safeguard users. In addition, we’ve teamed up with Sportradar to use its integrity services across our entire app. 

EGR: Eilers & Krejcik Gaming has suggested that the sweepstakes market is worth $3.1bn, which was about 40% of the overall GDP of the US sports betting market in 2022. Is the market’s value the reason you included a sweepstakes element in Rebet?

CH: Ultimately, what led us to the decision to include sweepstakes was the inclusivity of the model. The ability to make the platform completely free-to-play for users so anyone could participate without making a purchase is what drew us to that model, and because we want to be a social platform that has a community-centric approach that anybody can use and engage with, regardless of many Rebet Coins they purchase.

EGR:What has been the initial feedback from users on Rebet since you launched?

ID: We have had positive and beneficial feedback from players. The users I have heard from and gathered feedback from are telling us that the app is encompassing all the portions of that void in the market we spoke about earlier. They are trying the peer-to-peer betting feature, the rebet button, and the personalized profiles, and they love the community aspect of the app.

Ultimately, we have had a lot of positive feedback and people love the app. As founders, I find it amazing to see the community on the platform already. We see people talking on the platform and using those features to communicate with each other.

EGR: Following your launch, do you already have a roadmap of where you want to take Rebet, or is it a case of plotting the future once the app has been running for longer?

CH: As you said, we have only just launched, so we’re still getting ourselves settled in the space. However, this is just the beginning for Rebet. We have an entire roadmap of new innovative features, more first-of-a-kind features that have never been done. Our motto is that innovation never stops. We are going to continue to innovate and continue to create the best user experience for everyone on the Rebet platform. 

EGR: Could you reveal to us what these new features are going to be?

CH: In the coming weeks of being live, we will be making the ability to make live picks on games, and the obvious one is adding more payment methods. Those new features are still in the process of being built behind the scenes, so we can’t disclose them at this time.