KEY TAKEAWAYS
BetMGM announced on October 22, 2026 that it has renewed its partnership with the National Football League, keeping its designation as the league’s Official Sports Betting Partner in Canada. The one-year extension covers sports betting through online and in-person channels in Ontario and Alberta, and it continues a relationship that began in 2022, according to a release distributed through GlobeNewswire from Toronto.
The release does not give a dollar value for the renewal and does not state the dates of the one-year term. It describes what BetMGM may do with league marks in Canadian marketing, and it says the operator agreed to follow the league’s central integrity rules and responsible gambling programs.
What BetMGM and the NFL Announced
BetMGM, the sports betting company formed by MGM Resorts International and Entain, said the renewal gives it continued access to NFL intellectual property, marketing activations and fan experiences in Canada. The deal is a one-year extension, not a new multi-year contract, which sets it apart from the agreement BetMGM announced in 2022 and from the new partnership that theScore Bet signed this month.
Matt Prevost, BetMGM’s Chief Revenue Officer, said the companies “share the league’s view that sports betting must be built on trust: fair competition on the field, and a safe, responsible experience for the fans who choose to bet.” He added that BetMGM will keep giving fans in Ontario and Alberta a way to engage with the NFL.
Gavin Kemp, general manager of NFL Canada, said the league was “pleased to extend our partnership with BetMGM for another year.” He added that the league wants to work with partners that share its focus on responsible gaming. Neither executive gave a value for the deal, and the release is silent on whether the renewal changes any rights from the previous term.
The announcement came from BetMGM, which is headquartered in New Jersey and was founded in 2018. The NFL’s own statement is limited to the Kemp quotation in the same release; the documents reviewed include no separate league announcement.
What the Renewal Covers
The release spells out several elements of the renewal. The partnership covers the sports betting category only, in digital and retail channels, and only in the two provinces named. The table lists each term as the release states it.
| Term | What the release says |
|---|---|
| Length | One-year extension of a relationship that began in 2022 |
| Category | Sports betting, in online and retail settings |
| Territory | Ontario and Alberta |
| Marketing rights | Continued use of NFL intellectual property, including the shield, club marks and showcase events like the Super Bowl, in Canadian campaigns |
| Activations | Integrated marketing activations and premium hospitality experiences |
| Conditions | BetMGM follows the league’s central integrity rules and its responsible gambling programs |
| Financial terms | Not disclosed in the release |
The release also describes BetMGM’s football offering in the two provinces, saying fans see more than 500 betting markets per game, with live betting and expanded cash-out features. That is the company’s own description of its product, not a finding about market share or customer numbers. The release says BetMGM provides responsible gambling resources including GameSense, a program developed and licensed to it by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation.
How the Partnership Got Here
BetMGM’s NFL relationship in Canada predates the renewal by more than four years. In a release dated August 9, 2022, the company said it was being named among the NFL’s Official Sportsbook Partners in Canada under a multi-year partnership extension. That 2022 agreement gave BetMGM the right to display official NFL marks in Canada and to advertise on NFL-operated digital platforms, along with access to exclusive NFL experiences for Canadian customers.
The same release described BetMGM as an early Ontario entrant that switched on its online sportsbook and iGaming platforms there in April 2022. It also noted that the company had become an Approved Sportsbook Operator of the NFL in the United States in 2021, a separate relationship that allowed in-game television advertising. The October 22 release concerns only the Canadian partnership.
Wording has shifted slightly across the years. The 2022 release used the label “Official Sportsbook Partner,” while the 2026 release uses “Official Sports Betting Partner.” The documents reviewed do not say whether the change reflects a change in rights, so this article treats the two labels as describing the same status.
Why It Matters in Ontario and Alberta
The renewal arrives in a Canadian market that has changed since 2022. Alberta opened its regulated iGaming market on July 13, 2026, and the Alberta iGaming Corporation said 22 registered sites were approved to offer regulated services at launch. The renewal names Ontario and Alberta, and Alberta is the newer of the two regulated markets.
Alberta’s government says the Alberta iGaming Corporation oversees the market while Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis acts as regulator, and the corporation said 20% of net revenue from approved sites goes to the provincial General Revenue Fund. It also said 3% of gross gaming revenue is directed to First Nations and social responsibility initiatives. Before regulation, the corporation said, about 70% of online gambling in Alberta ran through unregulated offshore sites.
For the league, partnership deals tie its marks to operators that accept conditions. In both the BetMGM and theScore Bet agreements, the operator commits to the league’s central integrity rules and responsible gambling programs. The league describes game integrity as the foundation of its approach to legalized sports betting, and the integrity clause is the one condition stated the same way in both releases.
What the Renewal Does and Does Not Mean
Several points deserve care. A one-year renewal is shorter than the multi-year deals in related announcements, and the release gives no start or end date, so a reader cannot tell from it when the next renewal decision falls.
The renewal also does not mean BetMGM may operate anywhere in Canada. The release says it covers Ontario and Alberta, and its closing notice restricts its audience to Alberta (18+) and Ontario (19+). The partnership is a marketing and rights agreement, not a licence; the operator’s ability to take bets in each province rests on that province’s regulatory framework, which the release does not describe.
The release lists help resources for readers affected by gambling: 211 Alberta, reached by call or text to 211 or at ab.211.ca, and ConnexOntario, reached at ConnexOntario.ca, by calling 1-866-531-2600 or by texting CONNEX to 247247. Those details come from the release’s own notice.
Finally, the deal does not by itself indicate how much BetMGM spends. The release provides no financial figure, no customer figure and no change to its product list.
How It Compares With theScore Bet’s NFL Deal
The BetMGM renewal sits beside another NFL Canada announcement from earlier this month. On October 2, 2026, PENN Entertainment’s theScore Bet and the NFL announced a new multi-year partnership, and the two agreements differ in several ways, as the table shows.
| Feature | BetMGM | theScore Bet (PENN Entertainment) |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | October 22, 2026 | October 2, 2026 |
| Type | Renewal of a relationship begun in 2022 | New partnership |
| Length | One year | Multi-year |
| Designation | Official Sports Betting Partner in Canada | Official NFL Partner status covering its sportsbook and online casino in Canada |
| Products covered | Sports betting, digital and retail | theScore Bet, theScore Casino and Hollywood Casino |
| Provinces named | Ontario and Alberta | theScore Bet is live in Ontario and Alberta |
| Integrity terms | Follows the league’s central integrity rules and responsible gambling programs | Follows the league’s central game integrity rules and responsible gambling programs |
The theScore Bet deal includes casino products, while the BetMGM renewal covers sports betting only, according to the two releases. The documents reviewed do not give the full roster of the NFL’s Canadian betting partners, so this article does not count them.
What Comes Next
The next milestone is the end of the one-year term, the date of which the release does not give. Until then, BetMGM can keep using the NFL marks in Canadian marketing, subject to the integrity and responsible gambling conditions it accepted.
BetMGM announced another Canadian partnership renewal on October 15, 2026, extending its multi-year relationship with NHL star Connor McDavid, whose responsible gambling campaign the company links to a 27% annual rise in accounts with deposit limits since December 2025. That figure is the company’s own.
Other recent coverage on GamingNewsNow shows how leagues and operators are adjusting their rules and relationships. The NBA restricted prop bets and added AI betting monitoring on October 16, 2026, and Matchbook’s completed Betdaq acquisition left the Betdaq exchange scheduled to close on October 21.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
- BetMGM — BetMGM and the National Football League Extend Partnership in Canada (October 22, 2026)
- GlobeNewswire (via Financial Post) — BetMGM and the National Football League Extend Partnership in Canada (October 22, 2026)
- BetMGM (PR Newswire) — BetMGM Becomes an Official Sportsbook Partner of the National Football League in Canada (August 9, 2022)
- PENN Entertainment — theScore Bet and NFL Announce New Multi-Year Official Partnership in Canada (October 2, 2026)
- Alberta iGaming Corporation — Alberta’s Regulated iGaming Market Officially Launches (July 13, 2026)
- Government of Alberta — Alberta’s iGaming Strategy
- BetMGM (GlobeNewswire) — BetMGM Renews Partnership with National Hockey League Star Connor McDavid (October 15, 2026)
