Yahoo Sports and MGM Resorts struck a multi-year deal last week to bring online betting to Yahoo’s fantasy sports app.
Starting this month, fans in New Jersey will be able to wager on Yahoo’s fantasy app through BetMGM according to TheWrap. The platform expects to spread to more states that adopt rules similar to New Jersey. Fans can bet on the NBA, NHL, baseball, football, golf, tennis and college sports.
“The historic partnership with Yahoo Sports and BetMGM will change the future of fandom, providing new ways for sports fans to go beyond engaging with content and interact through commerce,” Guru Gowrappan, the CEO of Verizon Media, Yahoo’s parent company, said in a statement. Currently, 60 million fans use the fantasy app each month.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. As part of the arrangement, MGM and Yahoo will work together on several content experiences, including live events from the NBA and NHL in the years ahead.
MGM CEO Jim Murren praised the agreement as a way to expand the company’s reach in the U.S. “Integrating Yahoo’s leading fantasy sports operations and content with BetMGM’s world-class sports betting and interactive platform positions us to drive market share and large-scale adoption among sports fans,” he said.
Both the NBA and NHL support the agreement.
“As sports betting continues to transform the industry, this partnership brings together the power of two trusted partners of the NBA,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a release. “By working together, MGM Resorts and Yahoo Sports will offer fans unprecedented ways to engage with our games.”
Added NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, “The expanding sports betting landscape presents exciting opportunities to increase fan engagement and leverage emerging technologies. MGM Resorts, a valued partner of the NHL, along with Yahoo, a leading media brand, will connect fans to the action on the ice in new and innovative ways.”
Brendan Bussmann, director of government affairs for Las Vegas-based gaming and hospitality research firm Global Market Advisors, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Yahoo and MGM add another layer to the sports betting mix.
“When you start going down that path, I think that’s when things start getting interesting.” New exposure of MGM among Yahoo users could potentially drive new sports-wagering dollars for the company, whether they in existing markets or potential new jurisdictions, he said.
The partnership brings the U.S. one step closer to resembling sports gambling abroad. Fans of the English Premier League, for example, can place soccer bets inside the stadium while watching a match. ESPN and Fox Sports have both leaned into gambling in the last year as well, launching their own sports betting shows.
