BetMGM Announces Partnership With Cardinals; Gains Access to Arizona Market
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BetMGM has finally announced a partnership that will grant its sportsbook possible access to the Arizona betting market. BetMGM, Gila River Hotels & Casinos, and the Arizona Cardinals have reached an agreement on a betting partnership for both retail and online sports betting. Prior to this announcement, some had begun to worry that BetMGM still did not have a partnership that would allow it to open its online sportsbook in Arizona, which would have been quite the surprise.
What is not a surprise is the fact that BetMGM has partnered with yet another NFL team. While BetMGM is not yet an official betting partner of the NFL, it is an official betting partner of several NFL teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders, and now Arizona Cardinals.
However, this partnership is more important than many of the others as Arizona will be handing out sports betting licenses to many of the major sports teams and organizations in the state. This means that BetMGM will be able to access licenses for sports betting through this advantageous partnership with the Cardinals.
Retail Sports Betting
One of the more exciting parts of this announcement is the fact that BetMGM is looking to open retail sportsbooks at all Arizona Gila River properties and at State Farm Stadium, which plays home to the Arizona Cardinals. This would add four retail destinations, on top of the online sportsbooks, for BetMGM. The prospect of being able to wager at an Arizona Cardinals game could be massive for both revenue and brand recognition for BetMGM.
According to BetMGM’s release, the BetMGM Sportsbook within State Farm Stadium will be ready by the 2022 NFL Season. However, it is worth noting that the target date for online sports betting to launch in Arizona is September 9th, before the 2021 NFL Season. This means that it is likely you will still be able to bet at Cardinals games this year with BetMGM; it will simply have to be from your mobile device.
Arizona Market
BetMGM now adds its sportsbook to a long list of possible Arizona sportsbooks for the September 9th launch. Other companies that will have access to licensing include DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, WynnBet, PointsBet, and many more. It is going to be one of the more competitive launches that we have seen and slightly resembles Michigan’s online sports betting launch from earlier this year.
With a population north of 7 million, and several massive sports franchises, Arizona will have a large pie. It will be extremely interesting to follow just exactly how that pie is divided up. For reference, in 13 months of sports betting, Colorado has generated $2.8 billion in wagers and $182.2 million in gross revenue. While a different market, Arizona is even more populous than Colorado and could easily surpass these numbers.
With Arizona opening up sports betting just in time for NFL season, it is likely that we see monstrous launch numbers. In fact, the launch could lead to possibly the best launch that the American sports betting market has ever seen.
