When DraftKings agreed to ante up more than $22 billion to purchase Entain, MGM Resorts wasn’t too thrilled. MGM is a 50-50 partner with Entain on the BetMGM sportsbook.
In light of the DraftKings offer, MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle wants the other 50 percent.
Speaking with Bloomberg News, Hornbuckle said terms of the partnership require MGM’s approval before a new owner can operate BetMGM. “We’d have to come to some resolve,” Hornbuckle said. “We have 50 percent now. I would like more. I would need more.”
Among the options MGM would consider: BetMGM licenses technology that powers the site from DraftKings.
“There’s a lot of ways to structure it. The only thing that would be successful for us is if we got control of it and had a technology that we could proceed with,” Hornbuckle said during G2E in Las Vegas.
In other Entain news, the company revealed better than expected quarterly revenue on October 12, thanks to the growth of BetMGM. Net gaming revenue rose 4 percent in the three months ending September 30. Revenue from online sports betting jumped 12 percent.
The strong showing could convince Entain to turn down DraftKings’ offer because it undervalues its prospects.
BetMGM online sportsbook reported a 32 percent share for the three months to August 31, compared with 30 percent for the quarter to June 30.
“BetMGM is making a credible push for … market leadership,” analysts at Peel Hunt said in a client note. “This could be the perfect time for Entain to sell out of the BetMGM if MGM can be pushed to overpay.”
In related news, DraftKings led iGaming operators in September when it comes to Google searches, web traffic visits and web traffic duration, according to David Katz of Jefferies’ Digital Gaming Brand Matrix.
FanDuel ranked second with Bet365 in third place.
The Matrix, which monitors 13 web-traffic and social media metrics for 16 U.S. online sportsbooks, offers insights into momentum and stock performance, Katz said.
Score Media had the highest ranking in social media engagement. BetMGM had the strongest growth for the month followed by Penn National’s Barstool Sportsbook and FanDuel.
Based on research from Morgan Stanley, sports betting app downloads in the U.S. increased 183 percent from September 2020 to September 2021, coinciding with the start of the NFL and college football seasons. A small number of operators dominated the market, according to iGaming Business.
DraftKings and FanDuel had the largest market share of downloads with 32 percent and 27 percent respectively. BetMGM and Caesars Entertainment held 12 percent each.
Penn National Gaming’s subsidiary Barstool Sports’ saw its share dip from 13 to 7 percent. But the sportsbook produced an 18 percent share in August thanks to launches in Colorado, New Jersey, and Vancouver.
Credit the increase in downloads for sports betting debuts in Arizona and Wyoming, as well as a rise in advertising to lure customers.
Preliminary data for October shows a 161 percent jump in downloads.
