BetMGM, Buffalo Wild Wings To Use Innovative Tech
After announcing a multi-year partnership in 2019, international restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings and BetMGM are exploring geolocation technology. The companies will launch state-of-the-art sports betting in Buffalo Wild Wings locations in multiple states, including Tennessee, West Virginia, Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, and Iowa. Patrons of these BWW locations will be able to access the BetMGM app, which will use custom GPS technology to provide guests with curated sports betting offers.
Restaurant and sports bar Buffalo Wild Wings is launching its high-tech collaboration with BetMGM, Blazin’ Bets. ©Omar Mahmood/Pexels
The Latest Developments: Fleshing Out A 2019 Announcement
In mid-March, 2021, representatives from Buffalo Wild Wings and BetMGM announced that Buffalo Wild Wings patrons in six US states (Tennessee, West Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, New Jersey, and Indiana) would have unique offers while placing bets using the BetMGM app inside Buffalo Wild Wings locations.
Blazin’ Bets: Everything You Need To Know
When used within a Buffalo Wild Wings location, BetMGM’s app now has a special feature called Blazin’ Bets, available only to BWW visitors in the six states listed above. In an article about the innovation with The Denver Post, gambling historian David Schwartz speculated similar integrations of virtual and physical gambling will likely follow.
The Value Of Geolocation Technology
The development hinges on the fact that the BetMGM app is already available to users within each of these states. Because of unique geolocation technology implemented by BetMGM and Buffalo Wild Wings, users have additional incentive to use the BetMGM app while at Buffalo Wild Wings locations, as they will be able to unlock custom offers there.
That’s Not All: A Special TV Channel
As if that weren’t enough demonstration of the partners’ high production budget, Buffalo Wild Wings and BetMGM have collaborated to launch a brand-new in-bar TV channel exclusively for BWW patrons. The channel, OT Odds Powered By BetMGM, will offer gamblers at Buffalo Wild Wings betting and fantasy tips, as well as live game odds.
Buffalo Wild Wings App Gets An Upgrade
Higher-ups at Buffalo Wild Wings also elected to update the software of the franchise’s totally free game, Picks and Props. Now, Picks and Props will come with integrated BetMGM offers, where the titular Picks can be made using odds calibrated by BetMGM. Should a player score especially high, they could be included in the BWW Hall of Fame.
For BWW Fans, Three Delicious New Options
As Buffalo Wild Wings announced the exciting new details of its continuing partnership with MGM Resorts International, the company also revealed three new menu items: the smashed hatch burger, truffalo sauce, and buffalo chicken tots. This just continues the company’s consistent release of new menu items, which has included multiple new sauces.
The Smashed Hatch Chile Burger, the first of the restaurant’s new food options, comes with two hamburger patties, bacon, cheese, and hatch chili peppers, which are known for growing in New Mexico. Next up is Truffalo Sauce, a play on the buffalo sauce that made the company so famous, a limited-time offer.
Truffalo Sauce combines white truffle oil and Buffalo Wild Wings’ beloved buffalo sauce. Finally, the Buffalo Chicken Tots are a deep-fried dish jam-packed with fried potatoes, chicken, blue cheese, green onions, and chili peppers. The tots are then covered in buffalo sauce and ranch dressing.
2019: The Companies Begin A Partnership
In early September, 2019, representatives from Buffalo Wild Wings and MGM Resorts International announced that the companies would be working together. At the time, MGM Resorts International’s sports betting venture was called Roar Digital. The project has since been rebranded as BetMGM, which offers online gambling beyond just sports betting.
Then And Now: A Whole New Gaming Industry
At the time, the partnership was notable because it was the very first time a major player in the gambling industry had struck a partnership with a chain of sports bars. In 2021, deals of this nature are more familiar. In the intervening years since the start of the BWW and MGM partnership, legal sports betting has exploded in popularity in the US.
As a result, partnerships which were at one time considered unconventional — like those between Buffalo Wild Wings and a sports betting company like what is now BetMGM — have become commonplace, though deals of this specific nature remain more unusual. In 2021, most partnerships are taking the form of sports leagues partnering with sportsbooks.
BetMGM’s Growth Since The Deal
Since then, too, BetMGM has skyrocketed to being one of the best-known online gambling and sports betting providers in the US. As of March 2021, BetMGM’s top competitors rank at the highest echelons of legal sports betting, like DraftKings, FanDuel, and WynnBET. The app is available to players across the US, and has numerous sports and media partnerships.
In 2020, Buffalo Wild Wings Struck Similar Deal With Betcris
In mid-December, 2020 — more than a year after Buffalo Wild Wings and MGM Resorts International announced their partnership — Buffalo Wild Wings announced that it would be partnering with another sports betting operator: this time, Betcris, one of the most popular sportsbooks in Latin America.
Betcris Powers Buffalo Wild Wings Sportsbooks In Mexico
Unlike Buffalo Wild Wings’ collaboration with BetMGM, the Betcris partnership allows BWW to branch into the lucrative world of Latin American sports betting. At the time the companies announced their partnership, a collaborating Betcris sportsbook was already active at 10 Buffalo Wild Wings locations in Mexico.
