BetMGM announced Tuesday that it has released a series of enhancements to its mobile sports betting app as the football season gets into full swing this weekend.
The biggest takeaway is an increased amount of markets powered by Angstrom, which is Entain's in-house sports modeling and analytics company, to provide exclusive betting odds for certain wagers. Also new to BetMGM is a more streamlined product for same-game parlays, as well as more pre-packaged parlays for bettors to consider. Bettors will be able to build multi-leg wagers from anywhere in the app.
“BetMGM puts customers first, responding to players' feedback and investing in user experiences to exceed expectations,” said BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt in a statement. “Leveraging our powerful in-house technology, we developed a more seamless, intuitive and integrated product. The BetMGM sports betting app is the perfect companion for the upcoming football season whether fans are enjoying the action in Vegas or at home.”
The upgrades to the mobile app come less than one week after BetMGM became the first sports betting operator to allow Nevada registrants to cross state lines into other legal markets and wager through a single digital wallet. That allows customers who have registered for an online BetMGM account in Nevada to place a wager in any of the 28 other North American jurisdictions where BetMGM is available without any undue regulatory or financial friction.
Will Parlay Enhancements Unlock Greater Market Share?
BetMGM is counting on the Angstrom platform to enhance its parlay offerings, which are now key for sportsbooks to drive revenue given that the holds for the multi-leg bets are substantially higher than those for single-event wagers. The popularity of parlays has grown exponentially in the last few years and will be on the upswing once again with the start of the NFL season looming.
Only a handful of states provide parlay handle and revenue figures, and Illinois is the only state that breaks out parlay handle and revenue figures by operator. BetMGM has lagged behind some of its competitors in that state when it comes to parlay handle and revenue. Some of that has been due to its promotional offers of parlay insurance, but the gap between BetMGM and FanDuel in one of the top three markets in the U.S. is notable.
Through the first six months of 2024, BetMGM has an 8.9% hold on parlays, generating $6.3 million in winnings from $70.4 million handle. The nearly 3.1 million parlay wagers made account for more than 44% of all wagers placed and 22.5% of all handle.
FanDuel, the marketplace leader when it comes to parlays and SGPs, has accepted 48.8 million parlay wagers in the Land of Lincoln this year. It has almost 30 times the winnings of BetMGM at $186 million thanks to a staggering 23.4% hold.
Other New-Look Features in Time for Football
BetMGM will have nearly 1,000 markets dedicated to football futures, including awards and player and team props. It will offer more than 450 ways to wager on each pro football game, and Angstrom will provide exclusive betting markets starting with the first week of the season.
This is a continuation of what Angstrom has been able to offer during baseball season. Its play-by-play, simulation-based pricing models have allowed BetMGM to offer more extensive home run markets.
There will also be live bet tracking, which allows customers to follow their wagers in real-time. BetMGM will also have a redesigned bet slip that displays all wagering options in one singular view. This allows customers to place multiple types of bets in one place at the same time.
Also available for the football season will be Smart Stats, which will offer customers key insights, data and statistics next to the betting markets.
