Genius Sports Adds NFL Data to Deal With Entain, BetMGM
Genius Sports has signed a long-ranging expansion of its partnership with Entain and BetMGM, the latest deal to monetize its access to official NFL data.
Under the agreement both Entain and BetMGM (a 50-50 venture between Entain and MGM Resorts) will have access to the NFL’s official, live data feed, including real-time play-by-play stats that power in-play betting markets. The groups will also gain access to advertising across the NFL’s digital properties and the right to use NFL and team logos in their products.
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The deal comes with Entain’s future—and therefore BetMGM’s long-term ownership—in flux. Last week DraftKings proposed a $22 billion cash and stock takeover for Entain (LSE: ENT), a deal that would need approval from Entain shareholders and its board. Were that to happen, it would likely mean MGM would need a new partner in BetMGM. The Las Vegas-based casino operator (NYSE: MGM) has said that it believes the details of BetMGM’s creation gives it rights to approve any major Entain transaction.
This is the latest new deal that Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) has signed since it became the NFL’s official gambling data partner earlier this year. That contract came at a heavy cost—hundreds of millions of cash and stock—under the assumption that it would drive a lot of new business for the company, which went public in April via SPAC acquisition.
BetMGM is one of at least seven sportsbooks that have a commercial partnership with the NFL. As part of those deals, the companies agreed to purchase official data through Genius Sports.
BetMGM operates sports betting and iGaming solely in the U.S. U.K.-based Entain’s brands include Coral, Ladbrokes and bwin. Genius was already supplying those books with official data from around the globe, including English Premier League soccer, Euroleague basketball, LigaMX and Argentinian soccer.
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