BetMGM looks toward premium customers for growth
“Our business has truly inflected,” BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said of his company’s second-quarter earnings during a 29 July investor call.
BetMGM reported US$692 million in net revenue, for a year-to-date tally of US$1.4 billion, plus US$86 million in second-quarter cash flow. Full-year cash flow was projected at US$150 million, a US$400 million improvement on 2024.
Greenblatt reported elevated online sports betting margins in the second quarter, particularly June. Igaming revenues were said to be up 29% without the benefit of any new state launches.
The CEO said the company was looking to continue improving its marketing efficiency and to pivot to premium mass-market bettors. He boosted his full-year revenue projection 28%, to US$2.7 billion.
“We’re incredibly pleased with our growth in online gaming,” Greenblatt continued. Handle alone was up 28% during the first six months of 2025, which the CEO said, “reflects significant progress on our plan.”
BetMGM, Greenblatt said, grew revenues with fewer active players, targeting premium-value ones. Its strategy was to identify high-value players early and concentrate upon them.
“We’ve become more effective at getting the right rewards to the right players,” the CEO resumed, saying customers were engaging 14% more and betting 24% more often, including 5% more parlay wagers. “Simply put, our app is quicker, more featured and more fun.”
Greenblatt said marketing spending was down but at the right level. He warned investors not to expect further reductions.
He also touted BetMGM’s live-dealer gambling. “While it doesn’t replace the magic of the live experience,” Greenblatt said, it provided some equivalence for BetMGM’s Ontario players.
“BetMGM has had a very strong start to the year,” Chief Financial Officer Gary Deutsch said. One factor, he said, was higher-than-expected player profiles in igaming. Changes made during the 2024-25 NFL season, he added, had converted “potential energy into kinetic energy.”
OSB numbers, Deutsch continued, “were not flattered by good-luck results” on the playing field but by customer-relations management. “We believe our player is higher-staking but lower-margin.”
Igaming, the CFO said, “was very contributor-positive” during the second quarter — as was online sports betting. “Because of online sports betting we have a large footprint of valuable players” who can be rolled over into igaming when their jurisdictions legalize it.
“We are both confident and optimistic about our content engine going through football,” said Deutsch. The heightened earnings guidance was, he said, “prudent and conservative.”
Deutsch cautioned that higher taxes, especially in Illinois and New Jersey, would cut into second-half cash flow. But, he added, the company was confident of annual US$500 million cash flow in the medium term.
Nor would BetMGM try to mitigate tax hikes through surcharges upon customers, although minimum-bet levels had been increased. “We have not passed on the surcharge to any players,” Greenblatt resumed. “BetMGM is a surcharge-free zone for now.” The imposts being made by other companies instead presented “a relative competitive opportunity.”
“The business is as healthy as it has ever been,” said the CEO. “We see continued momentum in both of our core businesses. Our path to US$500 million of EBITDA is within reach. We are focused primarily on demonstrable” return on investment.
Greenblatt took a swipe at sweepstakes gambling, which he termed illegal igaming, bad for state governments and players alike. “What we would like to see is more regulated igaming states and we fully anticipate that to happen.” In the current state of affairs, “the good guys aren’t benefiting.”
As for prediction markets, “we are monitoring this very closely,” on a day-by-day basis. “We won’t be caught flat-footed.”
Later in the call, Greenblatt was less circumspect. “We have the ability” to compete in prediction markets, he said, “We do not have the ability to be a first mover.” He added that BetMGM did not want to be a first mover, since tribes, states and 34 attorneys general had made their adverse views of prediction markets clear.
Addressing the US Congress’ recent increase of taxes on gambling winnings, Goldblatt predicted, “this is going to go away. There are enough smart people that recognize that this is not the best approach to take. The rational outcome will prevail.”
Dig deeper
David McKee is an award-winning journalist who has three decades of experience covering the gaming industry.
Verticals:
Sectors:
Topics:
