USA TODAY is one of Gannett’s brands and its audience numbers more than 47 million sports fans who are going to be served in-depth reviews, expert insights, and breaking news under the partnership with Gambling.com Group. There’s obvious room for synergies between what Gambling.com can offer and what Gannett’s audience needs – analysis and betting insights.
“We expect this partnership to be immediately accretive to our EBITDA and Free Cash Flow by monetizing our sports traffic. The deal is progressively more valuable as regulated online gambling is launched in more states.” said Michael Reed – Gannett’s chairman and chief executive officer. This is possible because the partnership will be realized across the entire USA TODAY Network.
Gambling.com Group’s proprietary data science platform and sports betting content will be spread throughout the Network, as well as more than 200 publications. This includes the namesake – USA TODAY – as well as AZCentral.com, Tennessean.com, and other publications in states that have sports betting legalized, which are currently 33, with three more launches soon.
Sports Betting is Gaining Popularity in the US
Additionally, the partnership will see tools and content distribution across USA TODAY Sports as well as Sports Media Group, which itself includes another very important element – the Sports Wire suite of fan sites which covers more than 20 of the legal sports betting markets across the US. Overall, Reed might just be right about how quickly the partnership can start bearing fruit.
Gannett is almost in the middle of its five-year partnership with Germany’s Tipico, which provides the publisher with odds for its sports content. The deal is with Tipico’s American subsidiary – Tipico USA Technology – and the move to partner with a sports betting provider shows that Gannett is serious about its undertaking in this market.
Gambling.com Group is also very focused on strengthening its US presence. It launched the betohio.com website just before New Year’s, and month before that, it had already expanded into Maryland as well. If anything, the 2022 push for a stronger presence in North America overall started back in February 2022, when it acquired BonusFinder.com.
So, the partnership between the two companies feels like a natural pairing and is set to bring even more high-quality content to sports fans in the US. Sports betting has been gradually gaining popularity across the country, with only 16 states remaining where sports betting isn’t legal in any form. Three states legalized sports betting in 2022 – Massachusetts, Kansas, and Maine.