Prediction markets remain controversial and nowhere was this more evident than during first-quarter earnings calls. Gaming executives’ comment spanned the spectrum from opposition to fevered endorsement, with a measure of indifference in between.
BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt got the ball rolling on 14 April , when he took to the airwaves to slam event contracts, which he disdained as “new sports betting companies … they call themselves prediction markets. ” He accused them of driving up customer-acquisition costs.
However, Greenblatt deemed the spending fever as unsustainable.
“The current climate of hyperspend” would, he said, pass eventually. He denounced the new rivals at length, saying BetMGM stood with 40 state attorneys general and was looking forward to US Supreme Court adjudication of what he considered a states-rights issue.
