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Pennsylvania sports betting doesn’t leave much room between third and fourth place. BetMGM Sportsbook PA has been fighting for it all summer.
In July, BetMGM Sportsbook handled $35.1 million in online wagers in Pennsylvania, good for fourth. Third place-finisher Fanatics Sportsbook posted $35.2 million. Just around $3.1 million separated BetMGM Sportsbook, Fanatics Sportsbook, and bet365 Sportsbook for the month.
FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook, meanwhile, combined for 67.5% of the state’s online handle between them.
That’s the market BetMGM is walking into with “It Happens Here,” a new football season campaign starring Jon Hamm, an Emmy and Golden Globe winner. The operator built a fictional room for the shoot that borrows a sportsbook’s energy, a speakeasy’s exclusivity, and a Vegas stage’s shine, and calls it the Legends Lounge.
Hamm hosts a series of four spots rolling out through the season, the first of which, “Raise the Stakes,” debuted Saturday, Aug.
Hamm and creative partner CAPE were perfect fits for the campaign, said Matt Prevost, BetMGM’s chief revenue officer.
“With Jon’s magnetic charm and CAPE’s creative vision, ‘It Happens Here’ ties together the breadth of experiences we offer in a way that’s unmistakably BetMGM.”
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Why it’s the right time for Pennsylvania sports betting
Football season is when Pennsylvania’s handle numbers move the most, and it’s when a tightly packed chasing pack has the best shot at separating from each other. BetMGM Sportsbook’s hold rate in July ran above the field average, at 12.42%. The volume just hasn’t caught up to it yet.
On the campaign BetMGM partnered with CAPE, the creative agency BetMGM chose as its full agency of record this year. CAPE previously built “Mullet Over,” BetMGM’s responsible gambling campaign fronted by NHL star Connor McDavid, and “Lucky Doe” for sister brand Borgata Casino PA, which the companies call the best-performing spot in Borgata’s history.
Casey Ritts, CAPE’s co-founder and chief executive, said the agency is “excited to expand our partnership with BetMGM and build ideas that can become lasting expressions of the brand.”
BetMGM offers both online sports betting and the BetMGM online casino in Pennsylvania, one of only a handful of states where the company runs both. Its responsible gambling program, GameSense, licensed from the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, runs across the app the same way it does everywhere else the company operates.
A three-way race separated by just $3 million doesn’t get won by the app that stays quiet.
