BetMGM was not the only sportsbook interested in filling the hole left by PointsBet as the sports betting odds sponsor of NBC‘s Football Night In America.
NBC had conversations with multiple potential partners for the available Sunday Night Football pregame partnership, parties close to the conversations told Legal Sports Report last week.
BetMGM eventually took over as the odds sponsor during Week 2. NBC did not say why the deal did not start until then, or why it was not jointly announced until three days after the debut.
BetMGM gets national exposure as PointsBet goes regional
There are a few more perks in the deal for BetMGM, including the brand’s odds and lines in all content hosted by Matthew Berry across NBC platforms.
“It is a tremendous opportunity to partner with the talented team at NBC Sports and have the ability to engage with football fans nationwide,” BetMGM Chief Revenue Officer Matt Prevost said.
PointsBet, meanwhile, will use its dedicated NBC marketing dollars for more regional exposure. There will be more Betcasts during NBA games in the Chicago and Philadelphia markets that will include PointsBet this year, NBC confirmed.
The regionalization for PointsBet is part of a bigger plan to get a better return on marketing investments. The company will not raise its US marketing costs in fiscal 2023 compared to the fiscal 2022, CFO Andrew Mellor said on the company’s recent earnings call.
Virginia sees record tax revenue after promo change
It did not take long for Virginia to feel the positive effects of limiting promo deductions.
The state saw $4.5 million paid by nine operators in August. That is the highest total tax revenue since the market launched in January 2021, topping last November’s $4.2 million collected.
Virginia’s new budget effective July 1 ended unlimited promo deductions from taxable revenue for VA sportsbooks that have been live for more than 12 months. That immediately ended promo deductions for seven operators in July, including market leaders FanDuel, BetMGM and DraftKings.
EDR closes sports betting platform OpenBet purchase
The acquisition of the OpenBet sports betting platform by Endeavor from Light & Wonder closed Friday for $800 million.
That $800 million price point ($750 million in cash and the rest in stock) is $400 million lower than the original $1.2 billion price agreed to last September.
“In combination with our IMG ARENA sports data and content business, we’ll look to create and unlock meaningful value for our rights holder and sportsbook customers, helping deliver the most compelling offerings for sports fans globally,” EDR CEO Ariel Emanuel said.
For LNW (formerly Scientific Games,) the sale marks the final step of its strategic plan to transition the company and pay down debt. LNW now has a clear path to achieving its targeted net debt-to-EBITDA ratio range of 2.5 to 3.5 times, interim CEO Matt Wilson said.
GAN launches B2B sports betting tech, services in US
GAN is live with its first B2B sports betting platform and trading services customer after launching GAN Sports with Island View Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi.
It is the first such launch since GAN closed on the Coolbet acquisition in 2021. Gan expects a “robust cadence of GAN Sports launches throughout 2023.”
“We look forward to driving the future growth of their existing sportsbook business and increasing the proportion of our B2B revenues derived from U.S. sports betting as we scale this new B2B revenue stream,” GAN CEO Dermot Smurfit said.