BetMGM 2024 EBITDA Expectations Unchanged Despite NFL Results


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The extended run of NFL favorites winning during the fourth quarter will not impact sports betting operators equally, according to Entain’s update about BetMGM.

Entain announced Monday morning that despite customer-friendly results, BetMGM will still report an EBITDA loss of around $250 million. BetMGM had a negative EBITDA of -$123 million in the first half.

That is a stark difference from what Flutter announced concerning FanDuel. Flutter announced that the NFL results from Nov. 12 through Dec. 31 resulted in an adjusted EBITDA loss of $260 million.

Full BetMGM results will be available Feb. 4.

BetMGM benefits from investment year?

BetMGM was not necessarily supposed to be another year of investment for partners MGM Resorts and Entain. But following a management change to appease shareholders, then interim CEO Stella David admitted on Entain’s 2023 earnings call that the company was a little slower than it should have been to focus on US bettors:

“But being fully transparent, it took us, and that is Entain, some time to realize just how quickly we needed to feed BetMGM with better customer experiences, and better, more focused US-tailored products,” David said.

It was initially seen as a negative that BetMGM was still investing in 2024 instead of chasing profits, which most other US sportsbook operators have switched to.

But an investment year means focusing on product, not production. In other words, BetMGM likely was not hit as hard by the run of friendly results because it is not pushing its product as much as other operators.

Bright outlook for 2025?

BetMGM entered 2025 on much more stable footing than it entered 2024. There is no longer an interim CEO, as industry veteran Gavin Isaacs joined Entain over the summer.

The third-quarter update showed BetMGM growing, with 15% of online gambling market share. Just 8% was in sports betting with 22% in iGaming.

BetMGM noted in its first-half results that it would be investing more than previously expected in iGaming. It is so bullish on the segment that it said it would fund customer acquisition in the second half of the year with bank debt.

Photo by Shutterstock / Adam McCullough