MGM – Bookielink

LatAm Q3 results round-up: Brazil betting launch dominates discussions

With the majority of the gambling industry having published their Q3 results, iGB looks at how operators fared in the region and their plans for the future there.

Brazil will launch its legal betting market on 1 January 2025 and one operator that is hoping to make a real dent in the market is the giant Flutter Entertainment.

Back in September, Flutter announced it had agreed to acquire an initial 56% stake in NSX Group, which operates the Brazil-facing Betnacional brand. The deal is worth $350 million (£266.5 million/€316.0 million).

For the nine months ending 30 September, Flutter reported year-on-year revenue growth in Brazil of 4%. In its earnings call following the Q3 results release, CFO Rob Coldrake spoke of the operator’s excitement for the market opening.

“We’re very confident about our approach in Brazil,” Coldrake told reporters. “We’ve grown with our brands that we’ve got there already. We’re very excited about the NSX acquisition.”

The NSX acquisition will create a new..

October 23, 2024

BetMGM launches in Sweden as European expansion continues

LeoVegas has launched its BetMGM brand in Sweden, marking its third market launch outside North America.

BetMGM joins sister brands LeoVegas, GoGoCasino and the sports betting brand nya expekt in LeoVegas’ home market of Sweden.

The brand was initially developed for the US market via a joint venture between MGM Resorts and Entain. MGM snapped up LeoVegas in a $604 million deal in 2022 and subsequently bought Tipico’s US betting platform in June to support its entry into Brazil and bring LeoVegas’ sports betting tech in house.

LeoVegas CEO and founder Gustaf Hagman told iGB in September 2023 that MGM’s intention was to grow internationally in the digital space, with LeoVegas as the powerhouse.

Setting BetMGM live in the UK was its first point of call in September last year. This was followed by the Netherlands in April as the operator sought to replicate its initial success in the UK market elsewhere in Europe.

What BetMGM products are available in Sweden?

The same offering w..

August 15, 2024

MGM enters joint venture with Grupo Globo to launch BetMGM in Brazil

MGM has established a joint venture with media giant Grupo Globo to enter the licensed betting market in Brazil. The offering will use BetMGM’s branding and LeoVegas’ betting and gaming technology.
The venture will leverage Grupo Globo’s consumer network of approximately 70 million daily users across tv, digital, radio and print media. It is the largest media group in Latin America.

Once its licence is approved, the JV will launch in 2025 with its headquarters in Sao Paulo.

In a statement, BetMGM said the venture would maintain exclusive rights to all of MGM Resorts’ iconic brands and will count on the customer bases of both companies to establish a widely known betting offering.

MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle said the JV was a key milestone in the operator’s growth strategy.

“Brazil is one of the most exciting and vibrant emerging gaming markets in the world, and no one has more exposure and expertise in this market than Grupo Globo.

“This historic alliance allows us to quickly enter t..

July 30, 2024

Insider who tried to wager $100,000 on Alabama baseball sentenced

The Indiana businessman who attempted to wager $100,000 on an Alabama-LSU college baseball game last year was sentenced on Monday (28 July) to eight months in prison and three and a half years of supervised probation.
Bert Neff, who received a text from former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohanan saying that Alabama had pulled its starting pitcher, walked into an MGM casino in Ohio on 28 April 2023 and attempted to place a $100,000 bet based on the information.

MGM employees refused the bet, but allowed Neff to lay down $15,000 on LSU to win. The attempt to wager $100,000 and the ensuing $15,000 bet were considered suspicious by MGM employees. The bets were quickly flagged and, within days, markets on LSU-Alabama baseball were suspended. Within a week, Bohanan was fired.

Bohanan has not been charged. But the NCAA sanctioned him for 15 years.

Neff, whose son played baseball at Cincinnati when the bet was placed, wasn’t charged for wagering with inside information. Federal authorit..

September 8, 2023

LeoVegas breaks ground with BetMGM UK

The news that BetMGM would be launching in the UK gave its gambling market a much-needed shake. But it was the fact that LeoVegas, not Entain, would be MGM’s launch partner that really set the conversation alight. Gustaf Hagman, CEO of LeoVegas, believes his company is more than ready to take on the challenge.

To say the journey to the launch of BetMGM UK has been complex would be an understatement.

To the uninitiated, an established US-facing brand – a joint venture of two industry giants – has managed to implant itself into the UK market.

But peeling back the layers reveals a different story. BetMGM’s US offering is a joint venture shared between MGM and Entain. But the launch of BetMGM UK doesn’t include Entain at all.

Instead LeoVegas, which was acquired by MGM Resorts last year for $604m, will power BetMGM’s new UK platform. This means that BetMGM UK will be competing directly against Entain’s UK brands, which include the likes of Ladbrokes, Coral and Gala.

Despite the enormi..

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Tag: MGM