Globally recognized hospitality company, Marriott International, joined forces with the leading gaming and entertainment operator, MGM Resorts International. A joint statement released Monday by the two companies confirmed the new strategic licensing agreement which sees the creation of MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy. The new collection, the duo confirmed, is planned to launch this year in October, encompassing 17 leading resorts by MGM in Las Vegas, as well as around the United States.

This October, multiple MGM Collections with Marriott Bonvoy resorts will become available for booking via Marriott.com as well as Marriott Bonvoy mobile app. Not unexpectedly, the resorts would also be available for booking at MGM Resorts’ digital media channels, including MGM Resorts mobile app and MGMRewards.com. The two companies confirmed that by the end of the year, all properties are expected to become available for booking.

Under the terms of the new collaboration, iconic MGM properties will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy. Ultimately, the new strategic long-term licensing agreement is expected to deliver thrilling and unique experiences for MGM Resorts’ guests.

Additionally, the new collaboration will bring benefits to MGM Resorts and Marriot International’s loyalty program members. Currently, MGM Resorts’ famous loyalty program, MGM Rewards, has more than 40 million members around the globe. Per the new collaboration, all of its members will be able to link accounts with Marriott Bonvoy and tap into thrilling experiences and benefits.

Similarly, the members of Marriott’s award-winning loyalty platform, Marriot Bonvoy, will be able to access benefits and earn and redeem points at all MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy venues. Around the world, Marriot Bonvoy has more than 180 million members, which reaffirms the scalability of the loyalty platform.

The Two Companies Are Excited to Join Forces

Anthony Capuano, Marriott International’s president and CEO, explained that the company is excited to add iconic MGM Resorts’ venues to its channels, allowing customers to engage in thrilling experiences at MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy resorts. Finally, he said that Marriott anticipates an uptick in global room distribution by expanding its presence on the Las Vegas Strip.

“This historic, long-term agreement brings together two of the most trusted and iconic brands in hospitality and entertainment.“

Bill Hornbuckle, president and CEO at MGM Resorts

MGM Resorts’ president and CEO, Bill Hornbuckle, deemed the new collaboration with Marriott International historic and outlined that it sees two globally-recognized brands team up. He pointed out that MGM collaborated with Marriott previously for The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and is now delighted to upscale this relationship. Finally, Hornbuckle predicted that the collaboration will bring unique and engaging opportunities for Marriott and MGM members.

The post MGM and Marriott Unveil MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy appeared first on Keno Wizard.

Sports data, content and technology firm, Genius Sports, announced an extension of its existing official data partnership with the data rights holder of UK football, Football DataCo.

The terms of the agreement with Football DataCo will allow Genius Sports to continue serving as the exclusive official supplier of low-latency live data from the English Premier League (EPL), English Football League (EFL) and Scottish Professional Football Leagues (SPFL) for sports betting purposes.

“The Premier League is the most popular league in world sport and Genius Sports has created the fastest, most accurate and secure feed on UK football to power first-class products for sportsbooks around the world,” commented Genius Sports’ chief executive officer Mark Locke.

Delighted to see the key partnership extended, Locke outlined that Genius Sports would “continue to power innovation” alongside an expansion of its “suite of AI-powered Second Spectrum Tracking Data technology” into the EFL Championship.

The renewed partnership will allow Genius Sports to continue providing low-latency official data to regulated sports betting operators around the world throughout the 2024-25 season. The sports data company has been linking UK football with sportsbooks since the start of the 2019-20 season, covering more than 4,000 fixtures per season.

Expanding Second Spectrum’s Championship Coverage

The partnership has also been expanded to include the capturing of sub-second, skeletal tracking data for all Sky Bet EFL Championship and Championship Play-Off matches via Genius Sports’ best-in-class Second Spectrum technology.

“Genius Sports and Second Spectrum continue to generate first-class data and provide innovative solutions for a variety of Football DataCo’s stakeholders,” said the general manager of Football DataCo, Adrian Ford, pointing out that “the technology is improving all the time [and by] extending the creative use of data [will help] improve the presentation of English and Scottish football.”

The expansion will see the installation of Genius Sports’ AI-powered tracking systems across all Championship grounds where they are not present already, empowering Genius Sports to capture rich positional data on every player, match official and the ball.

Second Spectrum will also provide teams and coaches from the Championship with access to its software delivering player performance metrics derived from tracking data and indexed to match video, an access their EPL colleagues have since 2020.

Augmentation Enhances Viewer Experience

Optical on-pitch data, including shot velocity, player speed, positional data, and other team and player insights, empowers Second Spectrum’s augmentation technology to generate automated graphics in real time while offering viewers high personalization options by overlaying the graphics onto the live broadcasts.

The new agreement with Football DataCo comes hot on the heels of Genius Sports’ expanded collaboration with the German Football Association (DFB) to protect the integrity of football in the country and help the association prevent match-fixing.

Other major developments for the company in the past few months include the agreement with the Vietnam Pro Basketball League (VBA), a new collaboration with the European League of Football (ELF) that represents American football competitions outside of North America, as well as the launch of  CFL LiveStats.

The post Genius Sports to Continue Exclusive UK Football Data Collection appeared first on Keno Wizard.

SBC News reported that IMG Arena filed a lawsuit against Stats Perform over alleged breaches of exclusive data collection rights during Austrian, Czech, German, Greek, and Swiss soccer matches.

Stats Perform Accused of Breaching IMG Arena’s Exclusive Data Collection Rights

In the claim, IMG Arena alleges that Stats Perform has been operating an unauthorized network of data collectors or scouts to obtain real-time data from matches that are covered under IMG Arena’s exclusive soccer license. The suit further alleges that the unauthorized scouts collected betting data and shared it with Stats Perform in real-time.

In February 2022, IMG Arena was awarded the contract for the Collection and Supply of Fast Data for Betting Purposes for 19 European soccer leagues and 44 competitions, including top and lower-tier domestic leagues, domestic cups, super cups, and women’s soccer competitions.

IMG Arena claims that Stats Perform breached their exclusive data collection rights during several matches in the five countries, including a match between Lafnitz and Sturm Graz II in the Austrian league and a match between FK Teplice and FC Zbrojovka Brno in the Czech league. 

Unauthorized scouts were also present at men’s tier 3 (3 Bundesliga) and women’s tier 1 (Frauen-Bundesliga) matches in Germany and the men’s top tier (Super League) match between PAS Lamia 1964 and OFI Crete in Greece. An unauthorized scout was also present during a men’s second-tier (Challenge League) match between Neuchatel Xamax and FC Lausanne-Sport in Switzerland.

IMG Arena President Urges Rights Holders to Protect Their Data from Unscrupulous Companies

In a statement for SBC News, Freddie Longe, president of IMG Arena, said there is evidence indicating that Stats Perform has been sending unauthorized scouts to collect official data from European Leagues. The data was collected in several mature markets. 

According to IMG Arena, Stats Perform’s actions have caused substantial loss and damage to the company, although the full extent of the damage is not yet known. The company estimates the damages to be at least $1.6 million. IMG Arena believes that the data breaches by Stats Perform are undermining the value of the rights holders’ data and intellectual property in the marketplace.

Longe has further called on rights holders to take a more active role in protecting the value of their rights and to refuse to work with companies that engage in unscrupulous practices. He also urged entities like the Sports Rights Owners Coalition to play a more active role in protecting media rights.

The post IMG Arena Sues Stats Perform for Unauthorized Soccer Data Collection appeared first on Keno Wizard.