It seems as if almost every single day, there is some major new announcement being made that affects and changes the sports betting industry. That was the case earlier this week when BetMGM and Yahoo Sports announced a huge deal that will change the game yet again.
The official joint announcement from both companies says that this deal will “power sports betting for Yahoo Sports and create collaborative content experiences and live events.” In other words, Yahoo is now the official Digital Media Sports Partner of MGM Resorts, which is one of the biggest players in the sports betting industry.
The reason that Yahoo wanted to partner with MGM Resorts is that it already has deals in place with two of the professional sports leagues in this country. The National Basketball Association and National Hockey League have agreed to terms with MGM Resorts and BetMGM, and Yahoo wanted to get in on that action.
Both leagues announced that they are excited about this new partnership between MGM Resorts and Yahoo Sports, and they look forward to seeing how it impacts their league.
No Delay
There are some partnerships that take a long time to get off the ground, but that won’t be the case with this one. The Yahoo Sports app will begin integrating information and offerings from BetMGM as early as November. The Yahoo Sports app is available for download on both Android and iOS devices and is one of the most downloaded sports apps in the country.
Yahoo Sports reported that its amount of app downloads and users grew by over 68 percent from 2018-19, and that number will likely continue to rise. For sports betting fans that live in states where sports betting is legal, they can be redirected to the BetMGM sportsbook app and place bets directly through their mobile devices.
The MGM Resorts will also play a huge role in this partnership, although that has a lot less impact on the sports betting industry than the BetMGM sportsbook. Yahoo Sports will have its content shown at MGM Resorts throughout the country, and it will create and deliver new content that is specifically made for MGM.
MGM Resorts will also be the host sites for large multiplayer events that are sponsored and hosted by Yahoo Sports, but it is unclear when those competitions will begin.
Sign Of The Times
This joint announcement did not include any financial terms, but it was announced that this is a multi-year deal. This type of deal will likely start to become more and more common as digital media sites and channels will want to partner with a sportsbook that can get them some revenue from sports betting.
Sportsbooks and resorts want to partner with a television network or digital company because then they are given content for free, and don’t have to produce it themselves. This new deal will open up sports betting on all of the major professional sports in the United States, and some other global sports and sporting events will be included as well.