‘A pretty tremendous year’ for BetMGM, execs say
“BetMGM’s had a pretty tremendous year,” CEO Adam Greenblatt said at the top of its year-end earnings call on 4 February. He was looking back on a year that saw BetMGM’s first profits and first distribution to corporate co-parents MGM Resorts International and Entain.
“Not only did Q4 achieve a record quarterly revenue but December was our best month ever,” Greenblatt enthused. He credited the strong finish to favorable sports outcomes and “a perfect storm” of other factors. Also, 60% of NFL bettors were said to be crossing over to igaming in 2025.
Greenblatt said that igaming continued to grow “despite no new state launches” and that online sports betting “generated a significant contribution. BetMGM has sharply turned the corner into our next phase of growth.”
Igaming, Greenblatt said, “continued to be the powerhouse and anchor of our business,” up 18% in the fourth quarter alone. Player engagement, he added, was up 14% and not moderating as much as expected. “We continue to invest in being the destination for igaming players.”
BetMGM had launched online-slot versions of The Price is Right and Friends in the fourth quarter, along with new iterations of its Wizard of Oz-themed slots. They were, Greenblatt said, “contributing a significant portion of our top 10 games overall.” He added that BetMGM was reinvesting in live-dealer games, which he said were the fastest-growing segment of United States igaming.
In OSB, handle was reported to be 16% higher, despite lower marketing expenditures and a smaller player base. “All of that resulted in a massive uptick,” Greenblatt said, “2025 was truly a transformative year for our sports business.”
BetMGM was targeting fewer, higher-value players, Greenblatt continued, and reaching them sooner in their betting life cycles. “We have fewer players in our basket overall but they’re staying with us longer.”
Drilling down to Nevada in particular, the CEO said the Silver State had contributed 26% greater handle and 65 more revenue in 2025. Overall, it represented 5% of the BetMGM revenue picture. In part, this was because would-be BetMGM players can now sign up online rather than at MGM’s terrestrial sports books.
Greenblatt also credited the live-dealer studio at MGM Grand with being “a strong differentiator. Nevada is a true, strategic engine that drives value and the flywheel is turning faster than ever before.”
Chief Financial Officer Gary Deutsch broke down fourth-quarter revenues as being derived US$481 million from igaming, US$279 million from OSB and US$20 million from retail wagering. For all of 2025, those numbers were US$1.8 billion, US$903 million and US$66 million respectively.
Although BetMGM has a US$150 million line of credit, executives stress that it had not been drawn upon, particularly to fund ongoing business. Soothed Deutsch, “we have ample liquidity to continue operations.”
With regard to player incentives, Deutsch said, “we believe we’re at the right level of bonusing.” He cautioned that 2026 results might be dampened by tax increases in the US and the cost of starting up the Alberta market in Canada.
In terms of guidance, BetMGM’s US$46 million in capex was, Deutsch said, “a fair proxy” for 2026. He also noted that the US$270 million being returned to MGM and Entain was above the US$200 million that BetMGM had previously modeled. He guided investors to a 2027 cash flow of about US$500 million.
Greenblatt headed off questions about prediction markets by saying “we remain steadfast” in support of the state regulators, attorneys general and Native American entities opposing them. He cited a swelling tide of anti-prediction market litigation, as well as the opposition of the NFL and NCAA to event contracts. “The sentiment we shared is growing,” the CEO said. “It’s growing.”
He elaborated by saying, “we’re not seeing a national impact” from prediction markets, placing it in the low single digits. Greenblatt asserted that BetMGM was losing mostly teenage players and sharp bettors to event contract wagering.
Looking back on 2025, Greenblatt said, “it was our best year yet, with evidence of strong, sustainable and profitable growth. Our business has secured its ability to deliver profitable growth. We are very proud of our performance in 2025 and we look forward to building on that success in 2026.”
David McKee is an award-winning journalist who has three decades of experience covering the gaming industry.
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The Backstory
What set up BetMGM’s turning point
BetMGM’s declaration of a “tremendous year” follows a two-year arc of tightening the model after deeper losses in 2024 and a reset on how to grow without chasing every customer. As recently as last February, executives were selling Wall Street on a disciplined rebuild. Losses widened to $291 million in 2024 from $97 million a year earlier, yet management argued the business was stronger, more efficient and primed for 2025. In that investor call, Chief Executive Adam Greenblatt described a pivot toward higher-value customers, leaner marketing and sharper cross-sell between sports and casino. He also projected $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion in 2025 revenue after booking $2.1 billion in 2024, signaling confidence that the engine could scale without a flood of new state launches. Those themes—premium players, live dealer, omnichannel loyalty and selective state investment—have since become the spine of the company’s story. Read the setup from February in BetMGM execs bullish, despite wider losses.
The strategy addressed headwinds from a tougher 2024 football season and a more crowded promotional field. By narrowing focus to players who stay longer and wager more, BetMGM said it could live with slower customer acquisition if net value per player rose. The company highlighted double-digit fourth-quarter growth in 2024 across several metrics, a rising igaming share and an expanding library of slot titles. It told investors to expect most 2025 revenue to come from the existing player base. That disciplined tone was paired with a new revolving credit line designed to insulate co-owners MGM Resorts and Entain from additional capital calls, signaling a push toward self-funding operations.
This backdrop helps explain why last year’s strong fourth quarter—and a record December—matters to management. It validates the bet on quality over quantity, and it favors verticals that convert well, like live dealer casino, rather than undifferentiated mass acquisition. It also underpins guidance that the business can generate cash and distribute it to parents while investing in content, studios and targeted market entries.
The parent-company lens: Entain’s results and legal noise
One driver of scrutiny on BetMGM is pressure at Entain, which owns half the joint venture and is navigating its own rebuild. Entain reported net gaming revenue of £5.2 billion in 2024, up 7% year over year, with a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter on sportsbook margins and international growth led by Brazil. Management cast 2024 as a transition year and noted BetMGM delivered $2.1 billion in online revenue. That context from the parent camp—steady growth, a sharpened portfolio and dependence on U.S. momentum—frames why a profitable joint venture matters to investor sentiment. See the results summary in Entain generates £5.2 billion in fiscal year 2024, up 7% year-over-year.
Entain also carried legal overhang tied to historic issues. Former CEO Kenny Alexander and former Chairman Lee Feldman sued the company and its law firm, alleging improper sharing of privileged material during a bribery probe linked to a former Turkish asset. Entain agreed to a deferred prosecution deal in 2023 that included hundreds of millions of pounds in penalties and donations. While the case involves legacy matters, it keeps governance in focus and adds urgency to showing consistent, clean operating execution across the group. For more on the suit, read Former Entain execs sue company over bribery case.
From premium-mass to live dealer: the product thesis
BetMGM’s thesis hinges on product depth and player value rather than a land grab. In early 2025, executives said they were “fishing in the deepest waters,” a nod to the premium-mass concept casinos use to describe high-value, non-VIP play. The company doubled its igaming catalog to more than 5,000 titles, leaned into branded slots and touted cross-sell from sports to casino. It also singled out live dealer as a core differentiator and pledged more studio investment, betting that adoption grows organically because the format replicates the high-touch casino floor better than RNG table games. The emphasis is clear in BetMGM execs bullish, despite wider losses, which details content expansion and the push to be “the destination for all igaming players.”
The shift also changes market math. Rather than outspend rivals in lower-penetration states, BetMGM said it would pull back where its share is shallow and concentrate on jurisdictions and cohorts that support lifetime value. That approach dovetails with an “omnichannel” pitch tying online play to MGM Resorts’ properties and loyalty programs. It is a hedge against promotional burn, and it keeps the focus on demonstrable unit economics at a time when investors are rewarding cash generation over sheer handle growth.
Regulatory crosscurrents: prediction markets and props
The policy backdrop remains fluid. A Truist Securities panel of industry operators and advisers warned in September that state gambling regulators are ill-equipped to police a pivot by sportsbooks into prediction markets. Panelists said operators could be tempted to migrate activity to contracts that are not taxed like sports bets, potentially zeroing out commissions to use them as a loss leader. They also argued that if tax receipts from sports betting sag, states might move to legalize igaming to fill the gap. Read the discussion in State regulators not ready for prediction markets, panelists say.
Pushback to prediction markets is growing, especially from tribes and state officials. A coalition of tribes and the Indian Gaming Association filed a brief supporting Connecticut’s effort to halt event contracts from platforms like Kalshi, saying such products siphon revenue from tribal casinos by skirting compacts and oversight. That legal offensive mirrors a California suit and underscores the political cost for any operator seen as undermining tribal exclusivity. For details on the filing and the stakes for tribal gaming, see Native American tribes say prediction markets siphon tribal casino money.
The same panel highlighted a separate integrity debate around in-play and player prop bets, which some regulators have moved to restrict. Industry voices cautioned that outright bans could push bettors offshore, arguing that regulated markets are better equipped to flag suspicious activity in real time. For BetMGM, those debates matter twice over: they affect product mix and hold, and they shape relations with state partners that the company says it does not want to jeopardize.
Taxes, legalization and the path to durable margins
Operators face a fiscal squeeze in several states considering higher levies on sports betting. In early 2025, BetMGM flagged that higher taxes could weigh on results and repeated a policy preference: broadening legal igaming, which carries better margins and a wider base of revenue than sports alone. That aligns loosely with the Truist panel’s view that tax dynamics could push lawmakers toward casino expansion online. See the operating and policy signals in BetMGM execs bullish, despite wider losses and State regulators not ready for prediction markets, panelists say.
The stakes are clear. If taxes rise and prediction markets duck under gaming oversight, regulated operators could lose share to untaxed or lightly regulated competitors while carrying a higher cost base. If states instead legalize igaming and keep prop betting in the regulated tent, platforms with deep casino content and strong cross-sell stand to gain. BetMGM has built its current narrative around that second outcome—where product depth, live dealer capacity and loyalty ecosystems convert into longer sessions, steadier margins and meaningful cash returns to parents.
