Twitter Strikes Deal With BetMGM to Feature Odds, Allow Bets to Be Taken From Platform (Update)

Kylie Robison of Fortune broke the news in late January that X (formerly known as Twitter) has entered into a deal with BetMGM to integrate sports betting statistics into the platform.

While the specific financial terms of the collaboration were not immediately known, the intention was said to be for the social media platform to showcase betting odds and provide a direct link to BetMGM, allowing users to place bets.

Indeed the weeks that followed we began to see BetMGM diplayed more frequently on X.  And during the evening of Thursday February 8, BetMGM enjoyed a more prominent fixture above our trending feed.  This was just three days before the Super Bowl.

Until now, both parties have been mum regarding any deal.  But that all changed on Friday February 9.

BetMGM announced the agreement with X to become the platform’s exclusive live-odds sports betting partner. Under the deal, X will integrate BetMGM’s odds info and branding, with each game linking to BetMGM’s website and app to allow users to place wagers (where legally permissible). Bets will not be placed directly via the X social media platform.

 “X is the center of the sports world’s conversation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Being directly accessible within that forum is an unprecedented opportunity to expand our reach to a passionate and engaged audience,” BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said in a statement.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino commented: “Sports never sleep on X and now with our strategic partnership with BetMGM, fans are practically in the front row. We’re bringing sports fans on X even closer to the action so they can cheer, and now bet, on their favorite teams.”

X reportedly lost a significant number of high paying advertisers including Disney, NBC parent company Comcast as well as Fox Sports after Media Matters for America discovered ads displaying along side racist posts. 

X owner Elon Musk responded by calling Media Matters of America "pure evil".

Best selling author and CBR Chair in Politics, Censorship, and Free Speech at the University of Austin, Michael Shellenberger, questioned the Media Matters of America findings at the time.

"The media say X is placing Apple, IBM, and other ads near pro-Nazi content, but it's not. We tried various ways to replicate Media Matters' research and couldn't. The real goal of Media Matters isn't to fight antisemitism. It's to destroy X as a free speech platform."

Despite premature reports of Twitter's demise, Gambling911.com now touts the platform as its second biggest referral source after Google.

BetMGM had a market share of 17 percent in U.S. online sports betting in December and has the third largest market share in the US sports betting industry behind DraftKings and FanDuel.

The BetMGM site is a partnership between MGM and Ladbrokes parent company Entain.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher