If you’re going to be a prominent sports media platform, you have to satisfy the ravenous interest in gambling, and The Athletic is doing just that with their newly announced partnership with BetMGM. The agreement makes BetMGM The Athletic’s exclusive sports betting partner in the United States.
With the partnership, The Athletic will launch a new betting section featuring sports wagering content that will include live odds and exclusive offers operated by BetMGM. Those lines will be linked back to the BetMGM sportsbook, which will help funnel The Athletic’s one-million subscribers to the gambling platform.
“The Athletic has an incredibly engaged and loyal readership and we look forward to introducing their fans to the BetMGM sports betting brand,” BetMGM’s Chief Revenue Officer Matt Prevost said in the press release. “They also have an outstanding product and, through integrations and collaboration, this partnership complements The Athletic’s premium offering.”
Written, audio, and video sports betting analysis will be provided to The Athletic’s subscribers, including a new mailbag feature with BetMGM’s VP of Trading. According to The Athletic, BetMGM was carefully selected as the two sides reached an agreement that was eight months in the making, although financial terms of the deal were not released.
“BetMGM has pioneered the online gaming industry and as we sought to establish The Athletic as a home for great betting content, we knew there would be no better partner,” said Evan Parker, The Athletic’s General Manager of Content Operations. “As we collaborate on this new venture, we share a joint vision for how to seamlessly blend media, analysis and betting into unique, premium experiences for The Athletic subscribers.”
The partnership seems similar to the one BetMGM already has with Yahoo! Sports. It takes a sports website with heavy traffic, offers its users betting content and directs them to BetMGM’s sportsbook to wager.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
