From Long Shot to Big Shot: Tipico Sportsbook Becomes The 2021 Battle of the Books Champion!

Written By Dave Bontempo on April 16, 2021 - Last Updated on August 13, 2024
battle of the book sportsbook championship

The Improbable Dream has come true.

Tipico Sportsbook, a play-in team for the third annual Battle of the Books competition, stormed through a talented field and captured the coveted championship, which was determined by Twitter users.

Twitters users determined the outcome by voting, hitting the like button to qualify for prizes and imploring fellow users to vote along with them each round. Prizes went up each round and reached $100 for the finals. Voting totals multiplies as the stakes rose in the final rounds.

Battle of the Books was sponsored by njbetting.com and playnj.com.

You Are The Champions, My Tipico Friends

The tournament bestowed bragging rights to Tipico Sportsbook and introduced many new users to our websites, which provide betting content, promo and news all year long from the multi-billion-dollar legalized sports-wagering industry.

Tipico defeated defending champ theScoreBet, joining that company and first-year kingpin PointsBet in the tournament winner’s circle.

battle of the books sportsbook contest

battle of the books sportsbook contest

We know the fans were excited to see Tipico take home the crown, especially after racking up over 1,000 Tipico fan votes in only a total of 2 rounds. However, we wanted to see what some of the Tipico team members thought of the event, so we did just that…

We first talked with Keith Gormley, Tipico VP, Head of US Marketing, and he was quick to deflect all the praise toward those around him, giving all the credit to his employees, and of course the fans:

 “The way our fans and employees came out to support us throughout the Battle of the Books tournament was a pleasant surprise! I’d also like recognize Tipico’s tournament MVP, Madison, who also happens to be an employee on my team. Madison is our social media star, and she definitely led the charge”

We were then able to catch up with newly crowned MVP, Madison Bess, to talk about her first-ever experience in the Battle of the Books tournament. As Tipico’s Digital Marketing Manager, Madison knows about the importance of enagaging with fans as much as possible, and was quite impressed with the passion of everyone who came out to support them:

“It was great to see the Tipico community come out in full force over the last few weeks to support and vote in our first Battle Of The Books. We’re new to New Jersey, and to see the passion from our fans and partners build in an organic way throughout the tournament was awesome”

The Tipico Tornado Crushed Every Opponent in its Path

A run for the ages…

  • Tipico knocked off industry giant FanDuel.
  • It demolished Sugar House to reach the Final Four.
  • It gained more than three quarters of the voting to smash Bet MGM.
  • In the championship game, it secured a large early lead over the ScoreBet and survived a furious late comeback to prevail 59-41%.

How big was this? Villanova beats Georgetown. The 1980 United States Olympic hockey team defeats the Soviet Union.

“The Tipico run was fun to watch,” said Pete Amato, the founder and director of Battle of the Books. “When they won some of the early rounds, especially against FanDuel, the believers hadn’t all come out yet. That changed in the Final Four. The betting was way up and they jumped to a big early advantage in both the semifinals and finals. Congratulations to Tipico. This should be an historic victory for their book.”

Bonus bet prizes were generously donated by FanDuel Sportsbook, BetMGM, William Hill, and Pete wanted to give a shout out to the Online Sportbooks who added a variety of bonus bets to make the tournament that much more exciting!

“To FanDuel, BetMGM, and William Hill… the PlayNJ team truly appreciates all those [bonus] bets we were able to give away to some amazing sportsbook fans. Thank you for taking part in helping us give out some amazing prizes, the tournament wouldn’t be the same without your help, so it means a lot to us. The prizes you add to contest gives the fans just another reason to get excited each every year and we really appreciate all three sportsbook for stepping up and helping to make the Battle of the Books what it has become today. We hope to see you next year!”

Tipico was half of the Cinderella story that nearly defined the finals. But the TheScoreBet took care of that, halting TwinSpires’ glorious run in the semifinals. With a convincing triumph, theScore seemed poise to win it all.

battle of the books sportsbook contest

TheScore has beaten one longshot, but could not topple another. PointsBet also performed well but suffered a shock. The book had a quarterfinal win against TwinSpires in its pocket the whole game until…. a furious rally ended its campaign.

TwinSpires rallied from a huge deficit to win the comeback game of the tournament.

“Although some of the top-seeded books underperformed, a number of them did well but just ran into a better team,”  said Bill Gelman, Lead Writer & Site Manager for PlayNJ.com. “William Hill put up a strong tournament. So did PointsBet. These books were used to being here and they were ready.”

“But somebody was just better. That was the beauty of the Battle of the Books for me. The enthusiasm surrounding the final rounds was incredible. We can’t wait to do it again next year.”

Battle of the Books 3… In The Books

Tipico’s victory looks more impressive because the tournament field gets tougher every year.

Twenty companies entered the Battle of the Books championship this year.

Four needed to play their way in to reach the Sweet  16.

And then they had to surprised industry giants DraftKings and FanDuel.

The  two No. 1’s went out early. And the “Crazy Eight” seeds went deep into the competition.

The pressure will build on Tipico. Three tournaments. Three different winners. Can this book, in the Amato realm, “Re-Pete”?

Battle of the Books 4 will be here before we know it. See you then…

Dave Bontempo Avatar
Written by
Dave Bontempo

Dave Bontempo, a multiple national award-winning boxing commentator and writer, authors NFL betting columns for the Press of Atlantic City and others. He writes about all major sports in the booming legal New Jersey sports betting industry. Dave also hosts the Why Eagles Why podcast. Dave is a member of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame and the Atlantic City International Boxing Hall of Fame.

View all posts by Dave Bontempo
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