BetMGM has announced a partnership with the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, becoming its exclusive live odds sports betting partner.
BetMGM, a joint venture between Entain and MGM Resorts, labelled the move a “first-of-its-kind” partnership, with BetMGM’s odds and branding integrated onto the social media platform in the United States.
The visible odds will initially be just professional American football, although each of the major professional and college sports are expected to follow in the next couple of weeks.
BetMGM chief executive Adam Greenblatt said: “X is the centre of the sports world’s conversation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Being directly accessible within that forum is an unprecedented opportunity to expand our reach to a passionate and engaged audience.
Linda Yaccarino, X chief executive, added: “Sports never sleep on X and now with our strategic partnership with BetMGM, fans are practically in the front row. We’re bringing sports fans on X even closer to the action so they can cheer, and now bet, on their favourite teams.”
Done deal in time for Super Bowl
The partnership, rumoured since last week, has been completed just in time for the Super Bowl, with Sunday’s game at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas expected to generate record numbers in regards to betting.
The American Gaming Association (AGA) is predicting Americans will wager $23.1bn (£18.4bn/€21.5bn) on this weekend’s Super Bowl, which will be played between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
Having surveyed 2,204 adults to predict wagering activity, the AGA estimates $16bn more will be bet on this year’s Super Bowl than the last. A record 67.8 million people are expected to place a wager, also a 35% increase year-on-year.
Of special interest to BetMGM is where players will bet, with 28.7 million, or 11% of all bettors, expected to do so with a licensed online sportsbook.
iGamingBusiness’ take
With a reported user base exceeding 500 million, as well as an extensive amount of engaged users in relation to sports, X will allow BetMGM to have an efficient acquisition model as it looks to further boost its market share.
With X linking directly back to BetMGM’s app and website, even deeper integration could give the partnership greater potential. Whether BetMGM can ever gain exclusive access to X for advertising remains to be seen, with that largely coming down to the money being offered.
The deal is somewhat comparable to ESPN Bet, the product of Penn’s $1.5bn partnership with Disney-owned ESPN, the largest sports media brand in the US. While ESPN Bet leverages sports, BetMGM is instead leveraging social media.
One area that could be particularly interesting will be if X enables bettors to place wagers on BetMGM via the X app. If BetMGM can find a way to fully maximise the social aspect of X, the potential of the deal could prove to be a gamechanger.
BetMGM reaches upper end of revenue guidance
This week, BetMGM revealed it had generated almost $2bn in revenue for 2023, reaching the upper end of its guidance range.
Revenue for the 12 months to 31 December 2023 amounted to $1.96bn. In line with its business update in December, BetMGM says it remains on track to reach a positive EBITDA of $500m by 2026. This comes despite it expecting to post negative EBITDA of $67m for 2023.
The continued growth was largely down to its North American expansion, with BetMGM now active in 28 markets across the region thanks to new launches in the likes of Ohio, Massachusetts and Kentucky, as well as an online expansion into Puerto Rico.
As for market share, BetMGM says it has a 14% sports betting and igaming share in the US, which it hopes the X deal will help to boost. The operator also says it holds 22% of the market in Ontario in Canada.
