MGM Resorts quer se tornar global online

MGM Resorts has announced its intention to extend its online gambling platforms worldwide

Jonathan Halkyard, MGM’s chief financial officer, told Bank of America Securities 2021 Gaming and the Lodging Conference that the company will continue to grow its BetMGM online gaming business, while actively moving toward an asset-light model that would see it focus primarily on gaming operations rather than ownership.

Due to the lack of prospects for new onshore resorts and MGM’s reluctance to invest in such resources outside of Macau and Japan, this expansion is likely to continue elsewhere. In addition to holding a majority stake in MGM China, which operates MGM Macau and MGM Cotai, MGM Resorts also leads a group aiming to build an IR in Osaka, Japan.

“When I think about what this company needs to be, definitely the most well-known brand, the most trusted brand in gaming,” Halkyard said.

“Casual, upscale and hopefully in so many distribution points with the highest availability in this country.

“So to the extent that it’s regulated, online offers internationally.

“Realistically, the opportunity for integrated resorts is not going to be in a large number of jurisdictions and the cost of capital can be quite extreme, but in our locations �C Macau and Japan �C we would expect to have a player there. So the best brands, the [most] trusted brands available anywhere, and leaders in gaming.”

Halkyard focused his remarks on the long-term potential of the company’s joint venture with Entain PLC, BetMGM.

Online consumers around the world would become members of M life Rewards and earn points and rewards for playing at BetMGM as a result of an omni-channel approach being advocated. It will continue to simplify its business strategy for the foreseeable future, Halkyard added.

“MGM has flirted in the past with non-gaming instances of its brand, and over the last six months, Bill (Hornbuckle, CEO) and I and some members of the management team, we’ve been opening and closing some of those investments,” he said.

“They are all small, but they consume financial and management resources, so we are getting out of these.

“We’ve already gone through CityCenter [sale], the MGP (MGM Growth Properties LLC) business, so less financial engineering and more streamlined and clear about what we are, which is an OpCo.”

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