Yesterday saw American casino giant MGM Resorts International ink a partnership deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) only a day after finalizing a related joint venture agreement with British online sportsbetting firm GVC Holdings.
Non-exclusive alliance:
Las Vegas-headquartered MGM Resorts International used an official Tuesday press release to reveal that its new alliance with the NBA will authorize it to utilize official data and branding from North America’s top professional basketball league on a non-exclusive basis across all of its land-based and online sportsbetting platforms in the United States.
Pair to establish ‘best-in-class practices’:
MGM Resorts International explained that its latest partnership will also cover information and branding from the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and see the pair work to protect the integrity of the sport via the establishment of ‘best-in-class practices’ such as anonymized real-time data sharing.
NBA to promote casino giant:
Announced by Adam Silver (pictured, left), Commissioner for the NBA, and Jim Murren (pictured, right), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for MGM Resorts International, at a special event held in New York City, the new partnership is to furthermore see the casino giant’s brands promoted digitally via the NBA App, NBA TV, NBA.com and the professional basketball league’s social media platforms.
First-of-its-kind deal:
MGM Resorts International declared that the first-of-its-type partnership is to furthermore see it promote the NBA and the WNBA across its sportsbetting platforms and collaborate to create a series of ‘integrations’ for the basketball league’s platforms including special digital content series.
Shares increase following announcement:
New York-listed MGM Resorts International is responsible for over 25 properties across the globe including the Bellagio Las Vegas, MGM Macau, Beau Rivage Resort and Casino Biloxi and Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa with American television broadcaster CNBC reporting yesterday that news of the NBA deal had sent its share price up by 2%.
Partnership to ‘revolutionize sportsbetting’:
Murren used yesterday’s press release to state that the unique collaboration will allow his firm and the NBA to ‘revolutionize sportsbetting in the United States’ by providing new ways for aficionados to engage with each partner’s products and brands.
Murren’s statement read…
“Integrating the NBA’s assets and having official NBA data showcased across the MGM Resorts [International] platforms will provide us with a distinct advantage and instill more confidence in knowing that our data is directly from the NBA.”
Market ‘continues to evolve at a rapid pace’:
For his part, Silver described MGM Resorts International as ‘a proven gaming leader’ while proclaiming that the partnership comes as the sportsbetting environment in the United States ‘continues to evolve at a rapid pace.’
Silver’s statement read…
“Our collaboration will result in the best possible gaming and entertainment experience for consumers through the use of accurate [and] real-time NBA and WNBA data and our collective efforts to maintain and enhance the integrity of our games.”
