MGM Resorts International, a giant in the hospitality industry with a strong presence in Las Vegas, is making a strategic move through its online gambling subsidiary, BetMGM. This branch of MGM, created in partnership with UK gambling operator GVC Holdings, is now collaborating with the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter. The partnership will intertwine sports betting with social media in a novel way.
BetMGM, a result of a partnership formed in July 2018 and valued at around $15 billion, targets the US sports betting and online gaming sector. The collaboration with X aims to introduce a new feature on the social media platform. This feature will display betting odds and include a direct link to BetMGM, enabling users to place bets conveniently.
This partnership comes at a key moment time for both entities, with the NFL Super Bowl just around the corner. X, known for its strength in covering live events, has seen significant engagement during such events in the past. For example, the platform recorded a staggering 28.4 million tweets during the 2015 Super Bowl broadcast. However, X has faced challenges recently, particularly after owner Elon Musk drastically reduced the company’s staff. This led to outages during high-traffic events, including last year’s Super Bowl halftime show. Another outage occurred before the 2023 event, prompting Musk to instruct his team to halt the development of new features.