BetMGM has launched its Pennsylvania site. While soft-launching it has threatened Tennessee’s rival with legal action for swiping its marketing slogan.
Pennsylvania-licensed BetMGM online casino started the campaign of soft-launch-event on Tuesday. This will see the site offering real-time money bets from 2-10 PM on Tuesday, 10 am-8 pm on Wednesday and 10 am-10 pm on Thursday. The site is expected to be 24/7 live on Friday.
BetMGM is an online venture of Road Digital which is the venture of MGM Resorts and GVC Holdings. It has a presence in states like Colorado, Nevada, Indiana, New Jersey, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
As of now, the Pennsylvania site is focused on the casino. BetMGM has not yet finalized on the land-based gaming partner to offer sports betting.
The company however offered a marketing partnership with the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers last week. They are looking for a Pennsylvania betting launch before the end of the year.
BetMGM joins almost dozens of online casino operators in the state. It generated around $57.3mn in October in revenue in the state excluding poker. For Poker, the state has only PokerStars and it is not clear when BetMGM would include online poker in its offerings.
PartyPoker of GVC might make a way into Pennsylvania but there is no official confirmation on it.
BetMGM has also threatened Tennessee based Nashville sports startup Action 24/7. The startup has allegedly infringed the betting tagline of BetMGM, ‘The King of Sportsbooks’.
BetMGM has reportedly sent a cease and desist letter to Action 24/7. The latter received the license in Tennessee in October. The allegation said that the social media promos featuring Memphis-based pro wrestling legend Jury ‘The King’ Lawler.
Tina Hodges, spokesperson of Action 24/7 noted that Lawler has an extensive professional history of ‘The King’.
She added,
“a classic case of a big international casino and hotel chain with a high-priced attorney sending a threatening letter to a hometown start-up that they think will just be afraid.”
However, BetMGM said that the claim is not only on the slogan but also on space, font, spacing, and coloring, in short, similar appearance. The BetMGM attorney said that it is misleading.
Action 24/7 is homegrown and did not intend to go beyond Tennessee, but the legal challenge could make things difficult for the company.
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