FEATURE: MGM RESORTS
VERTICAL BETTING
M
MGM Resorts International ‘Entains’ More Action In The Sports Betting Vertical. By Damien Connelly
GM Resorts International, an S&P 500® company, made an acquisition play for Entain plc, a FTSE® 100 company. It was a slightly surprising offer, but not wholly unexpected. The rationale was simple and included: 1. Entain has a proprietary B2C and B2B technology stack. This acquisition would enable MGM Resorts to take ownership of that end-to-end technology stack; 2. Entain is MGM Resorts’ sports betting partner in their 50/50 joint venture, BetMGM; and 40
ABOVE: Jette NygaardAndersen CEO Entain
3. This acquisition would have delivered full control of BetMGM to MGM Resorts – beneficial to MGM Resorts as sports betting is rapidly growing across America and companies such as Entain, which has its roots in the UK, have decades of experience in running legal omnichannel, multi-jurisdictional sports betting operations. The premium was 22% to the share price for Entain based on closing prices on 31 December 2020 – not a “Wow” premium. The offer was publicly acknowledged on 4 January by both parties, and withdrawn 19 sportsbettingoperator.com
