MGM Resorts Int’l has signed on as the first sports betting sponsor of the NHL just three months after it broke ground as the first sportsbook operator to sponsor a major U.S. sports property through its deal with the NBA. The multiyear, non-exclusive deal with the NHL gives MGM access to league and team marks for use online and in its sportsbooks and delivers MGM and its U.S. resorts promotion through the league’s media platforms and events, including the Stanley Cup playoffs, All-Star Game, Winter Classic and NHL Stadium Series. MGM also gets access to market its sportsbooks, resorts and rewards program to the NHL’s database of hockey fans. It will purchase and use official data from the league, the emphasis of which will be proprietary player tracking data that the NHL plans to roll out next season. Financial terms were not disclosed. “We’re a lot more than an online betting shop,” said MGM Resorts President of Interactive Gaming Scott Butera, who stressed the way the sponsorship could help MGM develop engaging games and bet types. “We’re looking at relationships in a much different way. It’s not just about customer acquisition in a certain state or certain market. It’s about having a partner who will … work with you in the here-and-now but also with a vision to the future, helping to shape the future.”
TAKE THAT FOR DATA: The most intriguing aspect of the NHL’s deal with MGM may stem from the way the two approached the use of official league data -- not so much as it exists today, but in the form that they envision it taking beginning next season, when the league will roll out previously unavailable player and puck tracking data. While the NBA, MLB and NFL all have lobbied for legislation that would require sportsbooks to use official statistical data provided by the leagues, the NHL has stayed out of that fray, content to negotiate with sportsbooks on the sale of that data. The league has made it clear that it will not require sportsbooks to buy data to be league or team sponsors. “This is not a money play for us,” said NHL Chief Revenue Officer & Exec VP/Global Partnerships Keith Wachtel said. “It’s not about trying to get a piece of the gaming revenue. This is about engagement with our fans. It’s about technology and finding the right partners.”
A PLAY-ON SITUATION: All leagues are bullish about the prospect of in-play betting, which allows fans to place bets on a deep and dynamic menu of individual occurrences within a game, including who will score next, how and from where. For now, in-play betting in the U.S. revolves largely around the final outcome of a game, with odds changing based on the current score and situation. MGM is among the sportsbooks banking on differentiating themselves by offering far more. “MGM and others, from a sports betting standpoint, absolutely need and want the tracking data,” Wachtel said. “Not everyone has to have it, by the way. (But) if you want to be a partner with us and you don’t want the tracking data, that’s because you can’t afford it and you’re not sure how you’re going to be able to use it at this point. Obviously, MGM sees the value. That’s why they’re our first betting partner. And they also see what the future holds. It’s one of those where they’re first in and they’re going to reap the benefits three or four years down the road when that data becomes extremely valuable and the price is going to drastically change.”
EYEING GAMES FOR ALL STATES: Butera said MGM intends to develop games and bet types that are entertaining enough to roll out even in states that have yet to authorize sports betting, allowing fans to play for prizes, such as NHL and NBA merchandise and stays at MGM resorts. Once a state allows betting, players there could place wagers within those same interactive games. “We want to have a product that’s unlike any other,” Butera said. “That’s not just taking a sportsbook and putting it online. This is something extremely different.”
