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Genius Sports Acquires Legend for $1.2 Billion: What It Means for Bettors
Genius Sports announced that it entered an agreement to purchase Legend on February 8, in a deal that could be worth up to $1.2 billion. Genius Sports, a sports data and technology company, is one of the key players in the US betting scene, providing odds, data feeds, and even live streams for many of the most prominent sportsbooks in the country. They are extremely influential and about to be more so with the integration of Legend’s media and content distribution expertise. At a time when sports data is worth its weight in gold, for both bettors and operators, this move could have massive industry impacts.
The competition for sports data has grown exponentially in the past few years, as sports betting has spread across the USA. Sportsbooks need to outdo their competition with better lines, provide more features and data for their consumers. But from the bettor’s side, the need for data has also become exceedingly important in sports betting. Data sources for researching bets, and even AI powered betting tools to generate win rates and probability figures for bets are on the up and up, so companies like Genius Sports are in high demand.
Genius Sports To Acquire Legend
Genius Sports is very much a solutions and data tech company built for sportsbooks, and it is partnered with many of the top betting brands in North America. Just 5 years ago, they acquired Second Spectrum, a company that specialized in data tracking and creating visual solutions for sportsbooks. In 2023, Genius Sports launched BetVision, a unique streaming product that allows bettors to watch live streams, open live states, and place live bets without leaving the stream. But now, with the imminent acquisition of Legend, Genius Sports is looking to work on building brand visibility.
The deal struck on February 5th states that Genius Sports Limited will buy Legend for $900 million, with an extra earnout fee that is worth up to $300 million. Legend brings a massive ecosystem of sports fans, and last year, they attracted 320 million visits from 118 million people, with over two thirds of those customers coming back. Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports, projected big opportunities for Genius Sports following the acquisition.
“The acquisition of Legend will drive higher margins and stronger free cash flow, positioning Genius Sports to immediately transform the market and grow the size and scale of our business.”
Genius Sports closed the fiscal year of 2025 with a 31% year on year growth in revenue, reaching $669 million, and the momentum is expected to continue well into this year.
What is Legend (L1)
Legend, which also goes by L1, is a media network that specializes in distributing fan-focused content. They power over 25 global brands, and their goal is to spread important know-how to increase traffic. Match previews, odds comparison features, tips pages and statistic-based analytical feeds are all part of what they do, and they track the audience metrics to learn what sports bettors want most.
As a result, Legend is deeply connected to any public sentiment or new betting trends. They know what drives engagement, and the do’s and don’ts for betting related brands. It really is the missing piece of the puzzle for Genius Sports, which has, up until now, been solely focused on creating new tech and products for sportsbook operators. Legend’s insights can also help with funneling monetization, finding opportunities to connect fans with the sportsbooks and gaming brands that best suit their needs, based on their data.
Genius Sports Services and Solutions
While Genius Sports has engagement and marketing tools of its own, it is best known as being an official sports data provider, and supplier of betting technology. Formed in 2016, Genius Sports was the product of a merger between Betgenius and SportingPulse. Harnessing the experience and software from its predecessors, Genius Sports quickly established itself as one of the key players in the industry.
It struck deals with sports leagues and organizations such as the NCAA, PGA Tour, NASCAR, and in 2019 became the official supplier of live data for top soccer leagues. These include the Premier League, English Football League and Scottish Professional Football League, before partnering with the German Football Association and Superliga Argentina.
In 2021, Genius Sports secured 3 important partnerships, with WynnBET, the NFL and the CFL. It is still the NFL’s official source of play-by-play data and has the rights to distribute NFL streams. Which it now does through its BetVision sportsbook streaming solution.
Which Sportsbooks Use GS Products
Genius Sports has a wide range of products, and different sportsbooks use different services. But in full, you have everything from real time odds data to bet builder/parlay betting functions, and even live betting solutions.
- Official live feeds from top leagues
- Betting odds on pre-match and live wagers
- Bet builder and same game parlay betting tools
- Live data for in-play games
- BetVision live streaming solution
- Fan engagement and marketing tools (which will be boosted with L1)
Genius Sports has ties with all the big brands in America, including DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars and Hard Rock Bet. It also has connections to large gambling conglomerates like Entain (LadBrokes, Coral, bwin, etc) and Flutter (Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Betfair, etc).
Sportsbook Breakdown by Services
All sportsbooks have their own proprietary algorithms for calculating betting odds, and while they may use some of the same data suppliers or odds pricing support solutions, this doesn’t mean the odds will be the same at all sportsbooks. This is perhaps the most impactful role of Genius Sports for sports bettors in the US. Especially as value betting and arbitrage betting strategies revolve around discrepancies in odds prices, and everyone is out to get the very best bets for their money’s worth.
Markets do tend to converge before games start, into the CLV, but betting odds can vary greatly depending on which services the sportsbooks use and how they convert the data into probabilities and win rate percentages. And, of course, how the sportsbooks implement their betting juice into the prices.
Taking that into consideration, Genius Sports actually is one of the go-to companies for sports data, and many sportsbooks also use either its odds feeds or odds support software. Again, it doesn’t mean the odds are the same at these platforms, but it just means they source the raw datapoints from the same places:
- FanDuel: Official live data feeds, pre game and live markets, odds pricing support
- DraftKings: Real time data feeds, live markets, BetBuilder/same game parlay pricing, trading tools
- BetMGM: Official data feeds, pre game odds pricing, live betting markets
- bet365: Live data feeds, live markets, odds feeds for multiple sports
- Hard Rock Bet: Official data, trading services, and BetVision interactive live betting experiences
Genius can influence how bets are built, providing the data, pricing support, feeds, parlay builders and live data and/or streams. Legend, its latest acquisition, can influence how users are brought to those betting platforms, which will give Genius Sports a massive boost over its rival companies like Sportradar, Stats Perform, Kambi, SBTech (now owned by DraftKings and integrated into their in-house tech stack), and Scientific Games/SG Digital.
Broader Industry Impacts of The Merger
Owning a media company does not automatically mean that Genius Sports will grow, or that its partnered sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings will find more customers. Execution matters here, it depends on how Genius Sports uses Legend. For operators, Genius Sports can use L1’s links to reach out to more sportsbooks, or expand their service offering to more of their current clients. Increasing their own visibility gives Genius Sports a better platform to approach books and sports leagues, to become the official data partner or tech solutions provider for them.
For customers, Genius Sport may explore new angles in their betting solutions and look for more player-centric features. It may come in the form of more player-personalized promotions and targeted offers, or even loyalty schemes based on bettor preferences. The live betting, which is something of a specialty at Genius Sports, may be reworked to add richer live stats and smoother live betting products, capitalizing on the fan data Legend can give to Genius Sports. Throwing in Legend’s other products, such as match previews, real-time statistical analysis and news, Genius Sports has the resources it needs to revolutionize live betting, and the overal experience offered at its partnered sportsbooks.
This merger has lots of potential, and is a big jump in the way the betting industry ticks, from the moment a fan reads about a game to the second they stake their wagers.
