X is aiming to be the next hub for sports betting, report says
X partnered with BetMGM to show sports betting stats on the site, Fortune reported.
The deal, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, comes two weeks before Super Bowl LVIII.
X had so much traffic it crashed during last year's game.
Looking to place a bet on the next big game from the comfort of your Twitter — sorry, X — account? Soon you'll be able to.
X plans to roll out a new sports betting feature after inking a deal with the digital gambling platform BetMGM, Fortune reported.
BetMGM is the online sports betting subsidiary owned by MGM Resorts International, the Las Vegas-based hospitality company behind a roughly $15 billion portfolio of luxury hotels including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Park MGM.
BetMGM, a competitor of gambling platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel, debuted in 2018 following a deal between MGM and UK gambling operator GVC Holdings.
While the financial terms of the latest deal were not disclosed, Fortune reported X's new feature will display sports gambling statistics directly on the site, along with a link to test your luck on BetMGM.
Representatives for X and BetMGM did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
The deal comes about two weeks before Super Bowl LVIII, which CNN reported is expected to draw in a record 50.4 million US adults betting on the game. These bets will largely take the form of proposition wagers or "prop bets" related to in-game happenings unrelated to the game's outcome.
"Since 60 to 70 percent of our Super Bowl handle will be in prop bets, we'll have a prop catalog listing 400 to 500 prop bets to hand out to our customers," lifestyle magazine Cigar Aficionado reported Carl Johnson, the BetMGM sports director of Beau Rivage Casino, said of this year's game. "We expect several six-figure bets and wouldn't rule out some seven-figure bets."
The Super Bowl is a massive traffic draw for X — so much so that the site briefly crashed during Rihanna's halftime show last year.
The two teams duking it out at this year's game will be determined on Sunday after the final two playoff games: Last year's champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, will face off against the Baltimore Ravens for one slot, while the winner of a face-off between the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers will take the second ticket.
Usher will be headlining the halftime show.
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