- BetMGM, along with technology partner TAPPP, have announced the ‘aggressive expansion’ of the gift card distribution network for BetMGM’s branded gift cards.
- The BetMGM cards give players the ability to fund their BetMGM accounts quickly and easily.
- DraftKings launched the first sportsbook branded gift cards in December 2020.
BetMGM and technology partner TAPP have announced the ‘aggressive expansion’ of the distribution network for BetMGM’s branded gift cards. The gift cards give players yet another funding option for BetMGM accounts and have been a hit since they were introduced in September 2021.
First, some background on New York based TAPPP. Here’s the ‘About’ blurb from their website:
TAPPP is a Technology and Marketing company that helps media, consumer products and sports wagering clients drive customer acquisitions, transactions, engagement, and retention through products and services offered On-Screen, At Events and In-Store.
One major component of their business is payment facilitation, more specifically gift cards. Sportsbooks aren’t their only target market–they’ve also got a partnership with MLB.TV. So lets say you want to sign up for the MLB streaming service. You can do it using the MLB.TV gift cards. The use cases for the sports league branded cards are easy to think of–say you want to get your kid the streaming service for his birthday. You just put the MLB gift card in an envelope. Ditto if the kid wants a team jersey or whatever. The use cases for sportsbooks focus more on convenience. It’s easier to head to the local 7-Eleven and pick up a gift card than it would be making a trip to a retail location. There’s also plenty of good reasons why you might not want to use your credit card, bank account, etc. In a perfect world, a BetMGM gift card would be an appropriate gift for a teenage boy–they’ve got to learn this stuff eventually.
The goals for the distribution expansion are ambitious–the amount of stores carrying BetMGM prepaid cards will roughly double from around 6,000 to more than 12,000 in the current quarter. The cards are now available in 12 states, with Wyoming and Mississippi to be added to the distribution network soon. The cards are already available at Lowe’s and convenience stores like 7-Eleven but as part of their distribution expansion they’ll be heading to grocery stores which the press release calls ‘a vastly underutilized retail space in sports betting prepaid cards’ as well as big box stores and more home improvement retailers. Here’s a stat that’s pretty impressive:
BetMGM’s partnership with TAPPP launched in September 2021, attracting a vast group of new customers, and providing existing customers with a fast, flexible option to fund their BetMGM accounts in states in which sports betting is legal. Since its inception, the BetMGM gift card business has experienced an industry-leading redemption rate of 99%, with nearly 75% of customers redeeming their purchases within just 2 hours.
Matt Prevost, Chief Revenue Officer of BetMGM, is happy to see another payment option for sportsbook players:
“The launch of our prepaid sports betting card business has exceeded all expectations, and we are looking forward to even greater success as legal sports betting continues to enter new markets across the country. The program’s expansion this quarter is the latest phase of our continued successful partnership with TAPPP to provide customers with an easy and responsible way to fund their BetMGM accounts.”
There are several companies that are taking advantage of this new payment method for sportsbook players. Game On launched their product in late 2020 allowing players to post up at a number of sports betting companies including BetMGM, FanDuel and BetRivers. The first branded sportsbook gift card came from Draft Kings and launched in mid-December 2020.
