Mexico’s LigaMX Taps Genius Sports As Exclusive Gambling Data Partner
LigaMX, Mexican soccer’s governing body, has signed an exclusive gambling data partnership with Genius Sports.
Under the agreement, Genius Sports will capture data from Mexico’s top soccer leagues and sell it to sports betting operators in the U.S. and abroad. It will also distribute live streams from Liga de Expansion MX, the country’s second division.
With popular teams like Chivas and Club America, Mexican soccer is a commercial juggernaut that often flies under the radar in the U.S.; viewership of LigaMX games in the States, for example, doubles that of the English Premier League and nearly triples MLS.
On the gambling side, LigaMX is chasing the game, partially because the U.S. states with the biggest Hispanic populations are yet to legalize sports betting. That said, those laws are gradually changing, and sports books are all exploring ways to expand their reach into Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S.
For LigaMX, the deal is an opportunity to grow its international footprint, one of the association’s “fundamental pillars,” according to executive president Enrique Bonilla. Genius will create more live-betting options for LigaMX fans, and the distribution of live streams within a betting app can create a gambling boost for sports that otherwise might see minimal handle. BetMGM will be the company’s first partner for the data in the U.S.
The LigaMX deal also includes Genius Sports’s integrity services. The company monitors betting activity and line movement to help detect potential match-fixing and other types of corruption.
Based in London, Genius Sports is going public through a $1.5 billion deal with blank-check firm dMY Technology Group II. It has relationships with the English Premier League, the NCAA and NASCAR.
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