BetMGM Sportsbook Review

BetMGM is the official online sportsbook and mobile betting app of MGM Resorts International, operator of casino resorts across the United States and around the world.

For those unfamiliar with the name, MGM Resorts operates some of the biggest casinos on the planet. Some of its more well-known properties in the US include Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand in Las Vegas along with Beau Rivage in Mississippi and Borgata in Atlantic City among operations in other states.

MGM Resorts first entered the online gambling space with the launch of playMGM online casino for New Jersey residents in 2017. After the Supreme Court overturned the federal sports betting prohibition in 2018, playMGM added online sports betting to the menu and later changed its name to BetMGM to better reflect its focus on sports betting.

BetMGM Bonus Offers and Promos

BetMGM offers bonuses to new customers along with a regular lineup of ongoing promos. The welcome bonus tends to be fairly unchanging while ongoing promos change on a regular basis.

BetMGM Sportsbook Bonus

Currently, BetMGM Sportsbook offers new customers a simple but value-added welcome bonus with reasonable terms:

Other BetMGM Promotions

BetMGM safely qualifies as a promotion-heavy betting site. These ongoing promotions change frequently, but the examples below offer a preview as to the number and variety offers you will find as a customer.

• College Basketball Bonus Bet: During the latest college basketball season, BetMGM offered a $20 bonus bet for all customers who logged in, opted in to the promotion and placed a pre-game wager on an NCAA basketball game. Anyone whose wager lost was refunded with up to $20 in bonus bets.
• Money Monday Club: During this promotion, BetMGM sportsbook offered a $10 bonus bet to all customers who placed at least $50 worth of wagers during the previous week.
• Daily Odds Boosts: Check the “Odds Boost” section on the BetMGM app or website every day for wagers that have been given bigger and better odds.

Betting Markets and Types of Wagers

BetMGM offers betting markets on sports from the US and around the world. The major professional and college US sports are covered extensively as expected. All NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and most college games are covered both with standard pregame wagers and in-play betting.

International sports coverage consists of soccer, which includes dozens of leagues ranging from Estonian leagues to the MLS here in the USA), golf, tennis, cricket, darts, boxing and more.

BetMGM has one of the widest selections of sports covered in theory, but it should be mentioned that the list of available sports changes by season and availability is subject to various state regulations.

Market depth ranges from deep (200+ betting options for a single game) to shallow (just a few of the main markets for a single game) depending on the prominence of the event. All major US sports leagues are covered in adequate detail, although some of BetMGM’s competitors feature more betting options on a per-game basis.

BetMGM also provides several interesting features:

• Cash Out: The early cash out feature at BetMGM allows customers to close their bets early (before the event in question is finished) to take a payout at the current odds. This functionality can be used to secure one’s winnings if the game is going as planned or to cut one’s losses if the game is not going so well. Cash out is available for straight bets and parlays.
• Edit My Bet: The “edit my bet” option allows users to increase their stakes or add/remove/swap selections in parlays before the wager has been placed, even if the game is still in progress or if some legs of a parlay have already been settled. This feature is available for any wager that offers the early cash out option and for parlays that still have outstanding legs.
• Custom Parlay Builder: BetMGM launched a custom parlay builder tool in October 2020 to assist users in building same-game parlays. Bettors can find the Parlay Builder on the betting markets page of any supported sports event. From there, customers can use the builder to choose from several hundred individual wagers for each leg of their bet, with odds updated in real-time.

Sports leagues covered: Athletics, Aussie rules, badminton, baseball, basketball, beach soccer, beach volleyball, biathlon, boxing, chess, cricket, cross country skiing, cycling, darts, esports, field hockey, floorball, football, futsal, Gaelic games, golf, handball, hockey, lacrosse, MMA, motorsports, Nordic combined, Olympics, Pesäpallo, pool, rowing, rugby league, rugby union, ski alpine, ski jumping, snooker, snowboarding, soccer, speed skating, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball and water polo.

Types of wagers offered: Moneyline, point spread, point total, parlays, round robins, alternative spreads, alternative totals, half/quarter/period outcomes, double chance, correct score, first/last/anytime point scorer, even/odd point totals, player props, team props and game props.

MGM Rewards Program

Decent customer loyalty rewards programs are somewhat of a rarity in the US sports betting industry, but BetMGM is an exception in that regard. The MGM Rewards program that covers all of MGM’s properties around the world also extends to BetMGM, allowing customers to accumulate points and earn perks both online and in-person.

However, the MGM Rewards program in its current format is not particularly valuable for online-exclusive bettors because points are slow to accumulate via sports betting and many of the rewards are geared towards in-person activities. On the other hand, frequent MGM guests will likely appreciate having one more way to earn Tier Credits.

Wagers placed online and in-person earn Tier Credits that move customers up through the tiered VIP program. Customers earn Tier Credits at varying rates based on the type and size of every bet they place.

Once players begin betting and accumulating Tier Credits, they’ll begin moving up through five levels in the MGM Rewards program:

Level	Benefits	Tier Credits Required
Sapphire	Personalized offers and room discounts	Up to 19,999 Tier Credits
Pearl	10% bonus on points earned playing certain games at MGM properties   Dedicated line at participating buffets	20,000 Tier Credits
Gold	All of the above plus 20% bonus on points earned playing certain games at MGM properties   Priority hotel check-in line at the front desk	60,000 Tier Credits
Platinum	All of the above plus 30% bonus on points earned   Priority access for valet and taxi service   Annual complimentary cruise for qualifying members	160,000 Tier Credits
Noir	All of the above plus 40% bonus on points earned   Guaranteed hotel and restaurant reservations   Complimentary limousine service to/from nearest airport with hotel stay	By invitation only

BetMGM App Review

BetMGM offers standalone mobile apps for iOS and Android devices plus a responsive website that can be accessed via any device or desktop.

The first impression one gets from the BetMGM mobile app is that this is a quality offering in terms of presentation and features, which is no surprise given the amounts of money Roar Digital has at its disposal courtesy of MGM Resorts and GVC Holdings.

The layout of the mobile app follows industry standards with upcoming games displayed in the middle of the screen along with odds on the main markets for each game (point spread, moneyline and total) plus links to view all wagers for that event.

In many cases, major US and international events are presented with no small amount of statistics for each team and head-to-head data so users can get a sense of each team’s recent form. Live play calling and updates are provided for in-play events as well, which makes it fairly simple to see how this particular game is going.

The app is high quality all around aside from one minor but persistent annoyance: there is often a slight lag when tapping a menu item or specific game to view more information. The lag time is not obscene, but it’s just long enough that we find ourselves at times tapping the screen a second time thinking our first tap wasn’t registered, resulting in a double tap that can have unpredictable results such as unintentionally navigating to yet another page.

The delayed tap issue is not a fatal flaw, but it can be annoying until the user becomes accustomed to giving the app a second or two to load the next page. Aside from that, the app works well.

BetMGM In-Play Betting

The in-play betting options at BetMGM are diverse, with most major North American and international events covered. This includes professional leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and so on) plus college football, college basketball and more.

Features such as play-by-play updates and a digital representation of the action on the field or court offers a sort of live streaming feel that is useful for when you’re not near a TV. BetMGM has also started offering actual live video streams of some sports – this is a feature we hope to see more of as the industry matures.

Most of the in-play markets revolve around standard full game, half-time and quarter results. Some examples of the type of in-play wagers offered on a recent NFL game include full-time moneyline, spread and totals (with odds updated in real time), 1^st quarter totals, 1^st quarter moneylines and 1^st quarter spreads.

What’s missing here are extra short-term wagers such as the outcome of the next drive or next free throw. These types of wagers are more resource-intensive for the oddsmakers, but we do know other sportsbooks offer them. If BetMGM wants to be truly competitive when it comes to in-play betting, it needs to offer more short-term wagers during live events.

BetMGM Deposit Methods

The BetMGM casino, sportsbook and poker room share a single wallet, which can be funded through any of the following methods.

Deposit Method	Type of Payment	Processing Time
Visa	Credit and debit	Instant
Mastercard	Credit and debit	Instant
American Express	Credit and debit	Instant
VIP Preferred	ACH e-check	Instant
Play+	E-wallet and prepaid debit card	Instant
PayPal	E-wallet	Instant
Electronic Transfer	Online bill pay using customer’s existing online banking login info	Instant
PayNearMe	Cash in-person at a nearby convenience store or pharmacy	Minutes
Cash at the cage	Cash deposited in-person at the casino	Instant
Skrill	E-wallet similar to PayPal	Instant

BetMGM Live Streaming

BetMGM provides live streaming video of certain sports, giving customers the full sports viewing and betting experience on a single platform. Customers who are logged in and have a funded account may watch all events listed under the “live stream” menu item or that display a live stream/play icon for free.

The live streaming options at BetMGM cover a surprisingly wide array of sports and leagues from around the world. The major pro US sports are not yet included among BetMGM’s live streaming options, but that is an industrywide shortcoming at this stage as most US sports leagues are locked into long term deals with major television broadcasters.

Still, the options at BetMGM are diverse. Customers with funded accounts may log in via desktop or through the mobile app to watch soccer, tennis, table tennis and snooker among other events.

The live streaming options are provided through a variety of deals Roar Digital has struck with broadcasters, but the company has declined to offer specifics on how those contracts work or what else may be coming in the future.

Some of the sports leagues BetMGM has acquired rights for online streaming include:

• PGA Tour: Select PGA Tour Events
• NBA: Select NBA games
• MLB: Select MLB games
• Soccer: English Championship, EFL Cup, German Bundesliga, French Cup, Scottish Premiership, Dutch Eredivisie, Danish Superliga, Polish Ekstraklasa, Croatian First Football, Belarussian Premier League and Czech First League
• Tennis: men’s ATP 1000 events and French Open
• Snooker
• Table Tennis

Responsible Gambling Efforts

BetMGM is one of the more proactive operators on the issue of responsible gaming. By default, BetMGM displays regular problem gambling hotline notifications and displays a counter showing how long users have been logged in.

Additionally, customers can log in to set spending and time limits, initiate timeouts and self-exclude for set lengths of time or permanently. BetMGM also provides full access to win/loss statements and a personal history of responsible gaming limits.

• Deposit limits: Customers may set daily, weekly and monthly deposit limits
• Spending limits: Customers may set daily, weekly and monthly spending limits
• Session limits: Customers may set daily session limits ranging from 1 hour to 23 hours

BetMGM Customer Support

BetMGM offers 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat and e-mail. Customers may also use an extensive FAQ section to get the answers to most common questions.

The live support options are adequate, but one minor annoyance is the BetMGM help section forces users to select a question and read through an answer before revealing the support team’s contact information.