BetMGM recently announced Ryan Spoon has been named chief operating officer. Spoon comes to BetMGM from ESPN, where he served as senior vice president of social & digital content. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of digital product and design, helping to build, operate and grow ESPN.com, the ESPN app, ESPN Fantasy and ESPN Social. Before he joined ESPN, Spoon was a venture capitalist at Polaris Venture Partners. A 2-time winner of Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 award, Spoon will be based at BetMGM headquarters in New Jersey.
Spoon will report to BetMGM Chief Executive Officer Adam Greenblatt. He stated, “BetMGM has seen early success in establishing itself as a significant player in the sports betting world through relationships with leagues, teams and partners. With Ryan’s expertise in developing scaled and engaging digital experiences, BetMGM will leverage those relationships in entirely new ways.”
Spoon added, “The opportunity at BetMGM during these early phases was an immediate draw for me. With the assets of MGM Resorts, GVC’s industry leading technology and the many league, team and platform partners, BetMGM is uniquely positioned in the market to drive future growth.”
BetMGM’s platform provides a sports-betting platform through which players can customize pre-game, live in-play, futures and parlay bets on football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, soccer, tennis and combat sports. The app currently is live in six states and rapid expansion is planned as more states legalize sports betting.
BetMGM’s league partnerships include the NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, PGA Tour and NASCAR. Team partners include the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Detroit Lions, Las Vegas Raiders and Vegas Golden Knights. Strategic partners include Yahoo! Sports and Buffalo Wild Wings.
