March Madness’ Return Ushers in a New Era for Sports and Gaming

After the most challenging of years, the 2021 tournament represents the most transformative moment yet in sports, gaming and our industry’s post-pandemic recovery

It was impossible to imagine this time last year – as the NCAA Basketball Tournament, like nearly everything else, shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic – but March Madness 2021 is poised to be among the most significant events to date in Las Vegas’ economic recovery and a bellwether for the future of sports betting, gaming and hospitality.

As the tournament begins, the anticipation among fans is palpable. The pent-up enthusiasm and rapidly growing interest and availability of mobile sports betting in the months since last year’s cancellation have set the stage for what we anticipate will be the most successful event in the history of mobile and online betting. I view this as a transformative moment in the convergence of sports, mobile gaming and the evolution of the fan experience, and I couldn’t be more excited to watch it all unfold amid the energy and drama the tournament brings with it.

Even as major sports leagues shuttered last spring, fans logged into our BetMGM gaming app, betting on whatever was available – whether it was table tennis or Belarusian soccer. They stayed connected through the app’s iGaming offerings, free-to-play games and many other features. We’ve long considered online sports betting and iGaming key components of our company’s growth and the future of our industry. The events of 2020 made that clearer than ever and catapulted that transformation into the fast lane.

We saw an opportunity to accelerate the growth of BetMGM throughout 2020 and early 2021 – improving the app’s design, expanding into new states and building relationships with new customers, many of whom were new to MGM. BetMGM began 2020 in three states. Today, we are in 12 and expect to be in approximately 20 markets by the end of 2021.  For the Super Bowl this past February, our app hosted 11 times the number of bets and handled 17 times the total amount bet when compared to the previous Super Bowl. And we’re expecting big things from March Madness, during which the American Gaming Association predicts more than 47 million Americans will place bets.

Not only do we expect online gaming to continue its climb, as more people embrace the convenience of technology, but we also look forward to developing a deeper connection with BetMGM users, introducing them to the entire MGM Resorts digital ecosystem, and cross-promoting our offerings in a way that drives new in-person visitation and amenity consumption.

We’re in a new world now, and everyone in this industry needs to play hard to keep up. It’s exciting, full of opportunity, and worth keeping your eye on. Expect to see an explosion of new offerings and innovation that seize the moment, put competitors on their heels and get all of those interested in sports and sports gaming excited to join in.

Whether you’re filling out a bracket just for fun, placing a sports bet with us through BetMGM or simply rooting for your alma mater, enjoy the tournament and all it represents this year.

One thing is certain: We’re entering a new age of sports, gaming, hospitality and the fan experience. We couldn’t be more optimistic about the future.