Until now, the battle for market leadership in sports betting and bitcoin casino games in the United States has been a duel between the world’s two biggest gambling operators. Now, however, it could soon turn into a tough three-way battle, as Tipico has brought on board a very strong new partner for its expansion plans in the form of Gannett, the owner of USA Today magazine. The market leader in sports betting in Germany is letting the media group’s tremendous reach cost it around $90 million.
Tipico beats Entain at USA Today and blows to the attack
Tipico, one of the largest bookmakers in Europe and market leader in sports betting in Germany, entered the new bitcoin gambling stage in the USA quite late, namely only last fall. Will the company succeed in standing up to the two largest gambling operators, Flutter Entertainment and Entain, and wresting market share from them, or did the market entry simply come too late? This was the exciting question at the time. Of course, it hasn’t really been answered yet after less than a year, but the pendulum is starting to swing more and more in a certain direction.
The latest news that media conglomerate Gannett will be partnering with the bookmaker for at least five years should certainly have Entain and Flutter Entertainment sweating. For one thing, Gannett is not just any media conglomerate, but the owner of USA Today, the largest circulation newspaper in the United States. The company also owns another 250-plus regional papers and more than 200 sports magazines in digital and print formats.
USA Today is also a network whose threads reach into all major distribution channels. Added together, this adds up to around 46 million readers and customers of the media offerings provided. In the future, Tipico will be able to address this sheer mass directly and exclusively via USA Today and other media, an advantage over Entain and Flutter Entertainment that can hardly be overestimated.
The competition is already warming up
Tipico will spend a total of 90 million US dollars over the next five years on its partnership with Gannett and USA Today, in return for exclusive access to a gigantic network of magazines and media. At the same time, this has already dealt a bitter blow to the big competition, which until now has been allowed to advertise exclusively with BetMGM, the joint venture between Entain and MGM Resorts. However, the 90 million US dollars for this cooperation are only part of the deal, because in addition, unspecified performance incentives were spoken.
This probably means that even more money is likely to flow from Tipico to Gannett if USA Today succeeds in meeting certain customer acquisition targets. In addition, there is also the option for Gannett to acquire a total of 4,990 common shares of Tipico US over the five years and thus participate in its future development. For all this, of course, the bookmaker and online casino operator gets a lot.
Everywhere, whether in video series, columns, blog posts, newsletters, on social media and at events from the gigantic USA Today network, Tipico will soon be everywhere. Of particular importance here is access to the more than 200 sports sites that cover all college and professional sports, with some 500 sports journalists. Here Tipico is given a lot of space with its own betting odds and lots of marketing. The launch is already planned for August, before the start of the new NFL season. Tipico will be on the hunt for customers in all NFL wire team pages and in the magazine “For The Win” with its own betting section.
