MGM Resorts International And GVC Holdings Commit To Second Round Of Investment In US Sports Betting And Online Gaming Platform BetMGM

Rhea-AI Summary

ROAR Digital, LLC, the operator of BetMGM, announced a second round of investment totaling $450 million from its shareholders, MGM Resorts and GVC Holdings. This follows an initial commitment of $200 million, bringing the total investable capital to over $370 million. BetMGM is on track to generate over $130 million in net revenues this year, mainly from iGaming in New Jersey. With market access to 19 states and a 210% growth in gross gaming revenue in Q2 2020, the company aims to establish itself as a leader in the rapidly growing U.S. sports betting and iGaming markets.

Positive

• Second round of investment brings total to $450 million.
• Total investable capital now exceeds $370 million.
• On track to generate over $130 million in net revenues in 2020.
• Market access secured in 19 states, reaching 50% of U.S. population.
• Achieved a 210% increase in gross gaming revenue in Q2 2020.
• Leading market share of approximately 18% in New Jersey's iGaming.

Negative

• None.

NEW JERSEY, July 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ROAR Digital, LLC ("ROAR" or the "Company") – the US sports betting and online gaming company operating as BetMGM and owned jointly by MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) ("MGM Resorts") and GVC Holdings (LSE: GVC) ("GVC") – announced today that its shareholders have committed to a second round of investment, bringing the total to $450 million. This increase follows MGM Resorts' and GVC's total initial commitment of $200 million and underpins their commitment to BetMGM becoming a leading player in the rapidly growing US sports betting and iGaming markets. These two rounds of investment provide the Company with over $370 million of investable capital at present.

Since its launch in 2018, the Company has made significant progress and is on track to operate in 11 states by the end of 2020. In addition to the financial strength of both its shareholders, the Company benefits from MGM Resorts' leading brand, iconic physical properties, and loyal customer base, along with GVC's proprietary, globally-proven technology.

"We launched this business to combine the best of MGM Resorts and GVC, and establish BetMGM as a leading brand in the US sports betting and iGaming markets," said Adam Greenblatt, CEO of ROAR Digital, LLC. "With broad market access secured, our long-term technology foundations now firmly established, and a high performing team in place, this further unequivocal support from our two shareholders will ensure we can achieve leading market positions in this exciting industry that is growing even faster than our initial expectations."

Greenblatt concluded, "BetMGM is on track to generate over $130 million of net revenues this year predominantly from iGaming in New Jersey given the impact of COVID-19. With the return of sports and our growing operations across the US, we anticipate rapid growth in the coming year."

The Company's success will be built on its four core strategic tenets, each of which provide distinct competitive advantages:

1.  Market access:

The Company has already secured market access to 19 states¹ which together reach approximately 50% of the US population. It has active operations in seven states with four more expected to launch by year end 2020.

With a best-in-class web, mobile, and desktop sportsbook platform as well as supporting MGM Resorts' brick and mortar sportsbook destinations, BetMGM's exclusive betting engine allows sports fans to place bets quickly, safely and easily in every channel. This superior experience, together with the Company's demonstrated strength in player onboarding and management as well as GVC's global sportsbook expertise, places BetMGM in a very strong position to achieve a leading share in the US sports betting market, estimated to achieve revenues of approximately $8.5 billion² by 2025.

In iGaming, the Company has already achieved a leading market position in New Jersey with approximately 18% market share³ and gross gaming revenue growth of 210% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the prior year quarter. The US iGaming market is estimated to achieve revenues of approximately $6.9 billion² by 2025, and the Company believes that it can replicate this leading market position in other jurisdictions, as additional states legalize iGaming in the future.

2.  Customer reach:

The Company is uniquely positioned to access a wide range of customers through its partners, affiliates and its omni-channel approach.

MGM Resorts has an established portfolio of market-leading properties across the US, giving BetMGM access to market to millions of engaged and brand loyal customers. M life Rewards, MGM Resorts' loyalty program, has over 34 million members, of which approximately 18% are located in states planned to be live on the BetMGM platform by the end of 2020. 

The Company is integrating M life Rewards in support of an omni-channel strategy such that BetMGM customers will become M life Members to earn and enjoy Tier status, recognition and rewards based on their sports and iGaming wagers. Likewise, existing M life Rewards members will now have a new way to earn Tier Credits and status based on sports and iGaming wagers placed with BetMGM. This integration is expected to drive new customer acquisition, omni-channel activity, as well as ongoing customer loyalty and engagement for BetMGM.

In addition, the Company has exclusive partnerships with Yahoo Sports and Buffalo Wild Wings. Upon the imminent return of sports, the Company is looking forward to launching BetMGM to Yahoo's 64 million monthly active users, including one of the largest fantasy sports player bases in the US. 

3.  Product and technology:

BetMGM has exclusive access to GVC's proven, highly flexible, and highly scalable in-house technology platform, which gives it world-class infrastructure, tools and content in both iGaming and sports betting.

Access to proprietary and vertically integrated technology is a key strategic advantage in delivering a leading sports and gaming proposition to customers. Core benefits include speed of development, reducing time to market on innovative new features, platform stability and flexibility, and ease of use.  The technology platform has been fully optimized ahead of the return of US sports, with the Company enjoying support from a team of over 2,000 IT specialists, including a dedicated team servicing the BetMGM product.

The Company also benefits from the maturity and rich features of GVC's sports product, including an immersive in-play betting experience across an exhaustive range of sports as well as a range of industry leading bet management features such as Bet Rewards, Odds Boosts, Build-A-Bet, Edit-My-Bet and Auto Cash Out features. Combined with state-of-the-art engagement capabilities, best-in-class frictionless customer experience, as well as powerful omni-channel journeys and cross sell capabilities this gives BetMGM significant technological and experiential advantages. Internally developed, exclusive iGaming content has been key to BetMGM's success in New Jersey. The current strength of product and technology, combined with the pace of improvement and innovation, strongly supports the Company's leadership ambitions.

4.  People: 

In addition to being able to draw on the outstanding talent within both MGM Resorts and GVC, the Company has built an industry-leading team across a range of functions, including marketing, technology, product development, and customer engagement and retention.

The team has been hand-picked and combines deep industry experience from around the globe with US specialists in areas where local expertise is vital such as VIP, product UI/UX and customer research.

The US-based trading leadership team has a track-record of building trading operations and winning market share from incumbent players in the sports betting market. The approach and techniques further support the Company's growth agenda.

"Sports betting and iGaming are fundamental to what MGM Resorts does best," said Bill Hornbuckle, Acting CEO & President of MGM Resorts. "Our investment in ROAR is a demonstration of our continued excitement about the unique benefit of offering unforgettable, premier entertainment experiences to millions of our loyal guests directly through BetMGM. We believe this competitive advantage places BetMGM at the forefront of the most dynamic growth opportunity in all of US gaming and will ultimately deliver meaningful long-term value for our shareholders."

"These are exciting times for BetMGM, as it continues to expand its iGaming business while also offering customers an outstanding sports betting experience as live sports returns to the US," said Kenny Alexander, CEO of GVC. "We see enormous potential for the US market and are delighted to have such a strong foothold in it through our partnership with MGM Resorts. Our stake in BetMGM is, by some distance, the most important and exciting investment that GVC has ever made. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that the Company has the funding and technical resources needed to achieve long-term market leadership, whilst delivering significant value for shareholders."

GVC will hold a call for analysts and investors at 5:00pm (BST) / 12:00pm (ET) today. Dial in details are:
UK: +44 (0) 33 0606 1122, US: +1 646 585 9192
Company name: GVC Holdings PLC, Room number: 862448, PIN: 4058

For more information on BetMGM, follow @BetMGM on Twitter.

1. Market access includes states where certain legislative modifications are required and states in which the Company is seeking direct licensure
2. Market size estimates are based on Morgan Stanley research as of June 2020
3. Implied market share based on June 2020 E&K report using March – May 2020 revenues

ABOUT BETMGM
BetMGM is the sports betting and gaming platform of ROAR Digital LLC, jointly owned by MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) and GVC Holdings Plc (LSE: GVC). Based in New Jersey, the company was established in July 2018 to create a world-class sports betting and online gaming platform in the United States, in order to take advantage of the new opportunities created by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn the U.S. federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). Utilizing GVC's US-licensed, state-of-the-art proprietary technology platform, BetMGM offers sports betting and online gaming via market leading brands including BetMGM and partypoker. The company has exclusive access to MGM's U.S. land-based and online sports betting, major tournament poker, and online gaming businesses. For more information visit www.roardigital.com.

ABOUT MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is an S&P 500® global entertainment company with national and international locations featuring best-in-class hotels and casinos, state-of-the-art meetings and conference spaces, incredible live and theatrical entertainment experiences, and an extensive array of restaurant, nightlife and retail offerings. MGM Resorts creates immersive, iconic experiences through its suite of Las Vegas-inspired brands. The MGM Resorts portfolio encompasses 29 unique hotel and destination gaming offerings in the United States and Macau, including some of the most recognizable resort brands in the industry such as Bellagio, MGM Grand, ARIA and Park MGM. The Company's 50/50 venture, ROAR Digital LLC, offers U.S. sports betting and online gaming through market-leading brands, including BetMGM and partypoker. The Company is currently pursuing targeted expansion in Asia through the integrated resort opportunity in Japan. Through its "Focused on What Matters: Embracing Humanity and Protecting the Planet" initiative, MGM Resorts commits to creating a more sustainable future, while striving to make a bigger difference in the lives of its employees, guests, and in the communities where it operates. The global employees of MGM Resorts are proud of their company for being recognized as one of FORTUNE® Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies®. For more information, please visit us at www.mgmresorts.com. Please also connect with us @MGMResortsIntl on Twitter as well as Facebook and Instagram.

ABOUT GVC HOLDINGS PLC
GVC Holdings PLC (LSE: GVC) is a FTSE100 company and is one of the world's largest sports-betting and gaming groups, operating both online and in the retail sector.  The Group owns a comprehensive portfolio of established brands; Sports Brands include bwin, Coral, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Ladbrokes, Neds and Sportingbet; Gaming Brands include CasinoClub, Foxy Bingo, Gala, Gioco Digitale, partypoker and PartyCasino. The Group owns proprietary technology across all of its core product verticals and in addition to its B2C operations provides services to a number of third-party customers on a B2B basis. The Group has also entered into a joint-venture with MGM Resorts to capitalise on the sports-betting and gaming opportunity in the US.  The Group is tax resident in the UK with licenses in more than 20 countries, across five continents. For more information see the Group's website: www.gvc-plc.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking" statements and "safe harbor statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and/or uncertainties, including ROAR's ability to grow in new or existing jurisdictions and execute on its business plan, the expected growth in the i-gaming and sports markets, the timing of a return of sports in the US, expected 2020 financial results, changes in applicable laws or regulations (particularly related to gaming), the ability of ROAR's owners to fund any committed capital and the general economic and market conditions in the markets in which ROAR operates. Management has based forward-looking statements on current expectations and assumptions and not on historical facts. In providing forward-looking statements, ROAR is not undertaking any duty or obligation to update these statements publicly as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. If ROAR updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those other forward-looking statements.

LEI: 213800GNI3K45LQR8L28

CONTACTS

ROAR Digital
Elisa Richardson
media@betmgm.com

GVC Holdings PLC
David Lloyd-Seed
Director of Investor Relations & External Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 203 938 0000
investors@gvc-plc.com

MGM Resorts International
Investor Relations
Catherine Park
cpark@mgmresorts.com

News Media
Marc Jacobson
media@mgmresorts.com

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SOURCE MGM Resorts International

FAQ

What is the total investment committed to BetMGM as of July 2020?

The total investment committed to BetMGM is $450 million.

How much net revenue is BetMGM expected to generate in 2020?

BetMGM is expected to generate over $130 million in net revenues in 2020.

In how many states is BetMGM expected to operate by the end of 2020?

BetMGM is on track to operate in 11 states by the end of 2020.

What was the growth rate of BetMGM's gross gaming revenue in Q2 2020?

BetMGM's gross gaming revenue grew by 210% in Q2 2020 compared to the prior year.

What percentage of the U.S. population can BetMGM potentially reach?

BetMGM has secured market access to 19 states, reaching approximately 50% of the U.S. population.