In October 2019, Yahoo Sports announced a partnership with BetMGM, which powered sports betting for Yahoo Sports and the creation of a new sportsbook offering, which is currently live in 11 states.

Speaking to Kelly Kehn on the SBC Leaders podcast, Joanna Lambert, President and General Manager, Consumer at Yahoo, shared that the company has plans to enhance its presence in the betting market.

In terms of benefiting sports fans, Lambert explained: “We’re striving to make Yahoo Sports a single destination for these people. We’ve been committed to great editorial, trusted news content, both from our editors in-house as well as our premium content partners.

“This partnership allows us to complete that 360 experience to also be able to introduce betting experiences for our customers. We are now live in the states where betting has been legalised and since that ruling, we’re really seeing the popularity of sports betting continue to steadily increase.”

Furthermore, Lambert explained that alongside sports fans, fantasy sports enthusiasts and casual fans are starting to become interested in the space. She added: “The next six months is us really honing in on the betting and gaming solution for our customers.”

In looking at the ever-growing gambling market, host Kehn shared that betting brand Entain does seven times the number of transactions on any given Saturday that Amazon does on Black Friday. “I don’t think people realise how big it is,” she added.

Furthermore, Lambert stated: “That’s one of the things that is really exciting about Yahoo in this space. Any sports programme right now, you’re inundated with betting opportunities in front of you because everyone in the space is trying to attract new customers. 

“That’s a benefit I saw in being part of Yahoo with this huge top-of the funnel audience where we can drive them effectively through product experiences, and really uniquely to areas that they like.”