MGM Resorts had its quarter two earnings call Wednesday, and the top executive had a frank assessment of his company’s online betting platform, BetMGM.
“Candidly, our product is not where we want it to be,” MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle told investors.
That statement comes on the heels of BetMGM’s Q2 earnings call last week. During that call, executives revealed that the digital company had hit profitability in Q2, ahead of their original Q3 projection. So the app is already ahead of schedule before Kentucky sports betting launches this September.
But they also said their overall online gaming share (sports betting, online casinos) was 18%, down from 19% from Q4 of 2022.
In addition, BetMGM said its US online sports betting share was 11%. But, really, Earnings + More reported that, according to Wells Fargo analysts, that number was closer to 8% in Q2.
Co-ownership with Entain not ideal, analysts say
Across the industry, the 50/50 split of BetMGM’s ownership between Entain and MGM Resorts is seen as a weak point holding back the forward momentum of the BetMGM product.
Hornbuckle said Wednesday that the completion of BetMGM’s move to a single wallet between its sportsbook and online casino apps should help moving forward. He also pointed to Entain’s recent acquisition of Angstrom Sports, a sports modeling, forecasting and data analytics company, as reason for optimism regarding BetMGM’s future.
“I think the opportunity with Angstrom will drive more product, more parlay, more frequency, and recency around bets in game and otherwise,” Hornbuckle said.
He later added: “I think the moves that we’re making with Entain and that we’re going to make with Angstrom as a proper onboarding partner will get us back in that game in a meaningful way.”
BetMGM will launch in Kentucky
BetMGM confirmed it will launch a BetMGM Sportsbook in Kentucky last week. However, we still don’t know which racetrack it will partner with for market access.
Smart money is on Revolutionary Racing-owned Sandy’s Racing & Gaming, which told PlayKentucky it is close to announcing its sports betting partner(s).
