Sports Betting Conversations. The Road to Opening New States
How can a betting provider combine a casino ecosystem and the digital world? The DataArt team met with Ursula Grosser, Director of Projects at BetMGM, to share their sportsbook experience. Ursula discusses active partnerships, state-specific and nationwide marketing campaigns, and new state onboarding.
SPEAKERS
Russell Karp, Vice President in the DataArt Media and Entertainment practice, focusing on sports betting.
Ursula Grosser, Senior Director, Program Management at BetMGM. BetMGM, a partnership between MGM Resorts International and Entain Holdings, is the exclusive sports betting division of MGM, both online and in MGM casinos nationwide. They aspire to make unforgettable moments of sports and gaming even more personal, powerful, and fun through unmatched digital technology and evocative player experiences.
Kevin Twitchell, advisor in the DataArt Media and Entertainment practice.
Matthew Schatz, advisor in the DataArt Media and Entertainment practice.
Watch the full video or read a shortened text version below.
Russell Karp: We understand you spent a lot of years in finance, and now you’re at BetMGM doing very interesting things. So, how and why did you make the transition from finance to sports betting?
Ursula Grosser: Sure. I would like to go a little bit further back in my story. Because I was born and raised in Switzerland and I was always very interested in sports, it was always a passion of mine. Unfortunately, when I went to college, there weren’t sports business or sports management programs. You could study sports science, which was not going to happen for me because I’m not going to do an undergrad in medicine or biology or whatever. I was always interested in the business aspect of it, so I went to college and got a degree in business administration and information media technology management. And as you are in Switzerland, banking is almost a logical career start. So, I joined the Swiss bank. After a year, I had the opportunity to initially move to New York for an assignment and then stayed. So, I’ve been in New York for over 12 years now.
So, as you advance in your career, you earn more money and move around a little bit. I had various jobs in banking and IT, as well as in HR, and eventually, I was like, «No, this is not really what I want to do so long term with my career.» So, I decided to look for a change. I applied to the Columbia sports management program and decided to start that part-time. I still worked in banking at BNP Paribas at the time and then started the program, and about a year in, I was approached on LinkedIn.
I would say my switch to sports betting was probably a coincidence at that time; it was literally the right place at the right time, and at the time, it wasn’t even BetMGM; it was Roar Digital, a new company. When I interviewed, there were about 25 people in the company. I was like, «Well, this sounds like a great opportunity,» obviously as part of the program. I knew this was going to be big in the future, there is huge market potential, and it’s going to be an exciting industry. That’s how I ended up at BetMGM; I was employee number 30 or so. At the time, they were looking for a Project Manager to work on some joint venture activities and start building some of the project management functions in the company.
Kevin Twitchell: When you sit around the corporate company, how is BetMGM broken off? How does it fit in the ecosystem of the casino versus the digital world?
Ursula Grosser: We’re a joint venture between Entain, which is a UK-based or European-based gaming provider, and MGM Resorts International. So, we’re owned 50% by each of those parents, but we are independent of those. We complement the MGM retail business with our digital offering, which is sports betting as well as iGaming, casino, and poker; then, additionally, Entain is our technology provider. They have a long history and experience in providing online gaming, so again, sports betting and games, etc., and then the retail side of it is MGM.
Matthew Shatz: And do you have an active partnership with MGM or any other Entain properties in terms of driving customer acquisition or traffic, or how does that work?
Ursula Grosser: That also makes it probably a little bit more unique compared to our competitors, what BetMGM can offer because we have full access to the MGM customer base in that sense. So, we’re trying to drive, and that’s part of our strategy, customers from retail casinos to the mobile platform where available. We’re currently live in 13 states with either retail or a mobile product. Where we have both, we’re trying to drive customers to the mobile platform. On the Entain side, they do not have brick-and-mortar casinos, and they are global; they technically don’t have a presence in the US, so BetMGM is their presence in the US.
Russell Karp: Part of your strategy when entering your market is advertising and marketing to that specific stage. Does BetMGM craft unique marketing programs based on the state, or there’s just one?
Ursula Grosser: No, we cater to that market. Like Michigan, they’re really big on gaming as well, so there is more marketing, that’s cross-selling between sports and gaming; they’re big on casino games. And then, we have partnerships with some of them, like Pittsburgh Steelers. In Pennsylvania, we’re driving some of the promotions we do. We’re more driven toward that market, and then Denver Broncos is another one.
So, we adapt marketing to the states and what people want to see because, based on data, we see that some states favor either attempting that type, or they favor a team, etc. We’re catering towards that. But then we have more nationwide campaigns, like the Jamie Foxx one that you might have seen. That’s the one we’re using everywhere.
Ursula Grosser
Senior Director, Program Management at BetMGM
One big piece of our strategy is we want to be first in the market; that’s our goal. So, on day one, minute one, we want to be there, and there is a big run or a big competition around all our competitors and us to get the customers. FanDuel, and DraftKings, we know they have an event because of the daily fantasy, they already have a customer base, etc. So, one thing we try to do is also around pre-registration. As soon as we’re allowed from a regulatory point of view, it’s about pushing out marketing and having customer registration. They already have an account with us and hopefully money with us, so they’re going to bet, unlike day one.
Kevin Twitchell: Your story is inspiring, coming from finance and being female in the sports betting world. Do you have a recruiting process where you’re targeting smart women like yourself to join the team and be leaders in this industry?
Ursula Grosser: We are not quite there yet. My world is also very different than the rest of the company. So, generally, what I’m looking for is either someone who has very strong PM skills, and I don’t care if they have gaming experience or not, or I’m looking for a very strong gaming experience. Because the roles I have are highly complex, working at the senior level in the organization, managing multiple streams, complexities, etc. What I try to do is lead by example. I also have, as part of the sports management program, these conversations about opportunities, and my role is more project management. But then, there is marketing, there is data, there is HR, so this industry has everything that you’re looking for in a way. And ultimately, it’s the more woman, the better, but it’s also if they’re good, and it’s a little bit «Hey, I hope everyone who wants this» because I also think it’s not for everyone.
Where the industry is right now, it’s challenging, I call it «Wild Wild West» at times. So, it’s a lot of unknowns, a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of changing priorities; everything can change from one day to the other because there is so much growth and there is such an aggressive pace.
Ursula Grosser
Senior Director, Program Management at BetMGM
So, for me, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female; it’s more about attitude. And yeah, if you want, I’m happy to mentor, I’m here to support, and that’s where I see it. There are not a lot of women at the top right now when you look at the more, the mobile space. In retail, especially in Vegas, a long-standing industry, you can see that there are a lot of females, executives, etc., which is amazing, and in the mobile world, we still have some ways to go on that.
Russell Karp: I’m sure every project has its own challenges but from a management perspective in your position as a director, what are some of the overall challenges that you encounter throughout the quarter, a year, or longer?
Ursula Grosser: Well, as we are going into this time of the year when everyone wants to be ready for the NFL, the biggest challenge for us is the uncertainty around regulations and what the regulator wants us to do in the end. I just pick on Arizona, it’s the one that’s especially challenging right now, so they legalized about three and a half, four months ago. So, they came out very early and said, «We’re going to launch on September 9th,» that’s what they came out with. The final regulations were available last week.
As you can imagine, an app development cycle probably takes a little bit more than eight weeks. The alignment between requirements, our ability to deliver, and then making sure that we understand what we can and cannot do, etc. Initially, they moved it by two weeks, so just last week as well. There is uncertainty, even if September 9th is now going to happen or not. There is still a chance, which I don’t assume, but they want to be live from day one. That’s one of the biggest challenges for all the state launches if it’s a newly regulated market.
The other one is for the regulator also, to work through what are their rules because there are a lot of questions that are not defined in the rules, so there’s a lot of room for interpretation. And getting the right answers to make sure that we are compliant with the rules because if we are not, then we potentially miss a launch date, which we can’t. So, that’s one of the biggest challenges.
The other thing is house-made in that sense, self-inflicted ones where we as a company just need to improve and get better internally around communication and alignment. There is always the occasional «I thought we speak about this state now, we are talking,» because there are so many conflicting states that are happening at the moment. So, those are the things.
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By Russell Karp,
Vice President of Media and Entertainment Practice at DataArt
Originally published at https://www.dataart.com/.
