JERSEY CITY, NJ – (January 22, 2021) – BetMGM launched its market leading sports betting and iGaming app in Michigan today, giving customers access to a wide variety of betting options, as well as access to benefits tied to MGM Grand Detroit and MGM Resorts’ iconic casino-resorts nationwide. BetMGM was created when MGM Resorts International and Entain plc decided to combine strengths and develop a top-of-the-line sports betting app. MGM Resorts is a high-profile chain of casinos, resorts, hotels and establishments that are located across the country.
The Alliance of American Football might be dead, but MGM Resorts doesn’t want to see its sports bettingtechnology buried alongside it.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - BetMGM launched its market leading sports betting app in Iowa today, giving customers access to benefits tied to MGM Resorts' iconic casino-resorts. BetMGM Sports is where the action is! Brought to you by the world’s leading resorts and casinos, BetMGM is the premiere sports betting destination for all major professional and college sports. Experience the excitement of betting on Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, MMA, Soccer, and Tennis as well as College Football, College.
As part of its Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, the defunct league would agree to surrender its intellectual property to MGM. The AAF spent millions of dollars developing a proprietary in-play betting app that never materialized, partially with funding from gambling partner MGM.
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Now MGM wants its money back, and the tech it invested in too.
MGM moves to acquire AAF sports betting assets
The two companies have agreed to settle at least a portion of the claim in lieu of squabbling in court. Under the proposed agreement, MGM would pay $125,000 for the AAF sports betting assets and reduce its total claim from $7 million to $5 million.
Trustee Randolph Osherow submitted the settlement agreement to the court Wednesday. The agreement must be approved by a bankruptcy judge before it goes into effect and likely will require a waiting period for competing claims.
MGM invested a total of $7 million in the AAF dating back to September 2018, protecting itself with a secured lien against its assets. The league relied on such third-party funding to finance its operations and develop its technology, and the two parties began negotiating a deal as soon as the AAF entered bankruptcy in April.
The filing also mentions MGM’s plans to further develop the platform, as its “value will likely dissipate” over time otherwise.
What is the AAF intellectual property?
We hardly saw any sports from the AAF, let alone any legal sports betting.
The league did offer a glimpse of real-time player tracking via its official app, but the technology had insufficient time to mature into a betting option. Plans to add biometric data into that stream never came to fruition, nor did the predictive game for fans without access to legal wagering.
The end goal was to integrate betting and broadcasts within a single platform, relying on MGM’s license for access to state markets. Just as the league itself hoped to disrupt the established sports landscape, AAF stakeholders hoped their betting product would transform sports gambling.
Perhaps time would have revealed a polished and dynamic product, but the sneak peek underwhelmed.
The filing notes that the parties are aware of competing claims to the IP, possibly from former investor Tom Dundon. At the time of his funding in February, some suspected that his primary target was the league’s gambling technology.
Dundon recently filed his own claim as a creditor, seeking to recover his $70 million investment.
Did MGM make a good deal?
Whatever that technology actually looks like right now, MGM is on course to obtain it for an effective cost of $2.125 million.
The company currently offers online sports betting in both Nevada and New Jersey, having forged a major alliance with GVCto expand elsewhere. MGM’s family of partners most notably includes league-level deals with the NBA, MLB, and NHL.
The AAF technology might find some use as a complement to the existing MGM Sportsbook platform. Still, it’s not clear which components are finished, or which would even be useful for betting.
Back in February, MGM executive Scott Butera told USA Today that the product was “not fully functional, but it’s almost there.” He briefly explained the concept of the app for gambling purposes:
“What it will do, which is very important to us from a sports betting standpoint, is it will allow almost immediate transmission of data and what’s going on in an event to your mobile device, which will allow us to have play-by-play gambling, which is non-existent today.”
He’s right — there is nothing quite like this in the US sports betting market today.
Where’s the value, though?
Development aside, practical questions regarding the real-world use of the tech still linger. Is this as transformative as investors hope?
Probably not, at least for the foreseeable future.
On-field tracking generally requires wearable devices, for starters, an intrusion that players’ associations do not support. Biometrics are likely off the table entirely amid overarching personal health and data privacy issues.
A niche market for next-play betting
Some industry analysts, including Chris Grove of Eilers & Krejcik, acknowledge the value of fast data with a few caveats.
“We think next-play betting is likely to remain a niche activity,” Grove said, “even given advances in technology. Where data-rich leagues like the AAF are likely to see more activity is in forms of betting that draw heavily on data, but have a longer action window.”
It’s similarly unclear whether other leagues would throw their weight behind such technology. While opening up to sports betting in a general sense, some commissioners remain concerned about losing engagement to in-game betting.
There’s nothing proprietary about betting on a single play, but latency and demand continue to act as barriers to such granular forms of betting in fast-paced sports. Time will tell whether or not AAF managed to create a workable solution for MGM before it fell apart.
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JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BetMGM launched its market-leading sports betting app in Virginia today, giving customers access to a wide variety of betting options, as well as benefits tied to MGM National Harbor in Maryland and MGM Resorts' iconic casino-resorts throughout the United States.
'We're ecstatic that BetMGM is one of the first mobile sports betting platforms to launch in Virginia,' said BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt. 'Virginians are passionate sports fans, and we're thrilled to provide them a user-friendly sports betting experience. BetMGM Virginia customers can earn benefits and will soon enjoy innovative experiences planned with MGM National Harbor in Maryland and the Washington Nationals.'
The BetMGM app gives Virginia sports fans the opportunity to customize pre-game, live in-play, futures and parlay wagers. The app's integration with MGM Resorts' M life Rewards program allows BetMGM customers to redeem their gameplay for world-class accommodations at MGM Resorts properties nationwide, including MGM National Harbor, MGM Grand, Bellagio and ARIA in Las Vegas, Borgata in New Jersey and Beau Rivage in Mississippi – among many more.
Jorge Perez, President & COO of MGM National Harbor, said, 'MGM National Harbor is the premier entertainment destination for the DC-Maryland-Virginia region, and the launch of the BetMGM app in Virginia gives our customers another great way to interact with our brand. We've got the DMV covered with a variety of entertainment options – whether at Nationals Park in D.C., our MGM National Harbor resort, or via the mobile app in Virginia. Additionally, should Maryland allow casinos to operate sports betting, MGM National Harbor stands ready to add this amenity.'
Today's announcement follows BetMGM's recently announced partnership with the Washington Nationals, which includes plans for opening a retail BetMGM sportsbook connected to Nationals Park. Scheduled to launch later this season, it will be BetMGM's first in-stadium sportsbook.
Virginia marks the 10th state where BetMGM's mobile sports betting offering is available. As BetMGM continues to expand to new areas, responsible gaming education remains a key focus. BetMGM is proud to provide resources to help customers play responsibly. The BetMGM app is available for download in Virginia on bothiOS and Android, and accessible via desktop at www.betmgm.com. For more information, follow @BetMGM on Twitter.
About BetMGM
BetMGM is a market leading sports betting and gaming entertainment company, pioneering the online gaming industry. Born out of a partnership between MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) and Entain Plc (LSE: ENT), BetMGM has exclusive access to all of MGM's U.S. land-based and online sports betting, major tournament poker, and online gaming businesses. Utilizing Entain's US-licensed, state of the art technology, BetMGM offers sports betting and online gaming via market leading brands including BetMGM, Borgata Casino, Party Casino and Party Poker. Founded in 2018, BetMGM is headquartered in New Jersey. For more information, visit http://www.betmgminc.com/.
About MGM National Harbor
Located in an unrivaled setting, MGM National Harbor offers stunning panoramic views of the eastern shore of the Potomac River in Maryland. The $1.4 billion LEED® Gold Certified resort sits a short distance from Washington, D.C. to the north and historic sites, including George Washington'sMount Vernon estate across the river in Virginia. The 24-story, 308-room resort features premier amenities and experiences for locals as well as visitors from around the world including a dynamic two-level casino with over 160,000 square feet of space that includes slots, table games and poker; a world-class spa and salon; an entertainment theater with flexible seating for up to 3,000; high- end branded retail; 50,000 square feet of meeting space; and restaurants from renowned local, national and international chefs. MGM National Harbor is owned by MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM). For more information, visit mgmnationalharbor.com or follow on Facebook and Twitter.
Statements in this release that are not historical facts are 'forward-looking' statements and 'safe harbor statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and/or uncertainties, including BetMGM's ability to grow in new or existing jurisdictions. Management has based forward-looking statements on current expectations and assumptions and not on historical facts. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements include the effects of economic and market conditions in the jurisdictions in which BetMGM operates, competition with other iGaming and sports betting platforms, the timing and costs of expanding in new jurisdictions as well as obtaining and maintaining the required permits, licenses, financings, approvals and other contingencies in connection with growth in new or existing jurisdictions. In providing forward-looking statements, BetMGM is not undertaking any duty or obligation to update these statements publicly as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. If BetMGM updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those other forward-looking statements.
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