BetMGM share of the mobile NY sports betting market so far has been in line with expectations, Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen said.
Nygaard-Andersen made the comments during Entain’s first-quarter trading update last week The report itself is short on details since London-listed companies do not need to provide specific financial information for first and third quarter updates. Nygaard-Andersen had plenty to say about sports betting in New York and US sports betting in general, though.
BetMGM, the iGaming joint venture between Entain and MGM Resorts, will host a business update of its own May 12.
BetMGM fourth in NY sports betting
Nygaard-Andersen is not worried about BetMGM handle share in New York right now.
As of the week ending March 27, BetMGM had an 8.4% share of handle since mobile apps launched in January with $391.3 million in handle. That is good for fourth place, but it is significantly behind the top three books:
- FanDuel: $1.69 billion, 36.1% share
- Caesars: $1.2 billion, 25.6% share
- DraftKings: $1.146 billion, 24.5% share
Focused on rational costs for sustainable business
BetMGM is treating New York like any other state and trying to build a sustainable business for the future, Nygaard-Andersen said. Given the company’s marketing spending and the fact BetMGM launched nine days after the market opened puts the performance “in line with expectations,” she said.
BetMGM continues to cut that handle share gap each week. For the week ending April 3, BetMGM had an 11.8% share of handle compared to Caesars’ 15.7% in third place. It also helps that promotional spending by others is slowing, Nygaard-Andersen added:
“I think it’s a really good sign that we are seeing some of the other operators being open about them dialing down their promotional spend here after the first couple of months in New York.”
US sports betting promo environment ‘cooled off,’ for now
Like New York, most other US sports betting jurisdictions have a more rational promotional environment right now, Nygaard-Andersen said.
“I think we are seeing that, specifically when it comes to the promotional environment, that it has cooled off a bit. And also, as we all registered over the last couple of months, we see more and more operators start to talk about building a sustainable business and targeting break even over the next years, which of course, we welcome and I think that’s a really positive development.”
March Madness brought ‘impressive’ KPIs
A “huge event” with the Super Bowl quickly transitioned to March Madness betting, which saw strong growth over last year, Nygaard-Andersen said.
Bet volumes, active players and first-time depositors were all more than double last year. Cross-sell in markets with iGaming was “really encouraging,” she added.
Entain reported BetMGM has a second-best 24% market share for sports betting and iGaming and a leading 29% market share for iGaming.
Customer acquisition can still be pricy though
Cost per acquisition still depends on the market, she explained, and will continue to rise at peak times like the start of the NFL betting season.
“When it comes to the CPAs, I mean, obviously the CPAs, they continue to vary with seasonality and launches into new, bigger states and depending on how the competitive environment is there.
“And we do expect to see that CPA levels will still be higher and probably, as we go through the next cycle of the NFL season, we will continue to see the CPA level being elevated. But we still remain our focus and commitment around $250 being an average blended CPA when we look forward.”
