Entain CFO confident on Fanatics and ESPN Bet challenge
Rob Wood backs the acquisition of Angstrom Sports to give BetMGM the leading edge in US sports betting
Entain CFO Rob Wood has said the presence of Fanatics Betting & Gaming and ESPN Bet in the US sports betting market can be fended off with the BetMGM product.
Speaking to EGR, following a Q3 trading update for the BetMGM JV partner, Wood was confident in the operator’s ability to fend off any new challenge from the duo.
Pointing towards Entain’s $265.6m acquisition of data provider Angstrom Sports as a key differentiator, the CFO said BetMGM would have the most powerful sports betting offering in the states.
With Fanatics and ESPN Bet both being touted as potential market disrupters to the likes of BetMGM, as well as DraftKings and FanDuel, Wood remained confident in the JV’s ability.
He said: “We have got two credible new competitors, but it is worth noting we’ve also seen competitors leave the market.
“ESPN Bet is a direct replacement for Barstool Sportsbook and it’s the same operator that’s behind it. We’ve seen Fox Bet leave the market. Lots of operators are pulling back. There is a change in the identity of where we see competitive threats. But I would say in aggregate, it’s unchanged.”
Regarding Angstrom, Wood said the combination of the addition of the tech, as well as plans to further merge the land-based operations in Las Vegas with online sports betting, would put the firm in good stead.
On the goal to achieve between 20% and 25% of market share in the US, with BetMGM currently sitting at 18%, excluding New York, Wood said: “One of the main reasons why we know we can get there back is because we acquired Angstrom in June, which fundamentally takes our NFL product beyond anybody else.
“The NFL parlay product is a real competitive battleground and we’ve now got the capability to have the best offering on the market.
“MGM owns something like half of the hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip, with something like 20 million annual visitors.
“At the moment, we’re not [there] yet and we don’t yet have the technology so that when customers bet in Nevada and then they go back to their home state, they can do that seamlessly. But by next year, we’ll have that and that will create massive advantages for us,” the CFO added.