What happened Shares of MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM) jumped as much as 5.5% in trading Thursday after the company announced a new online sports-betting partnership. At the market close, shares were up 4.2% on the day. So what MGM's sports-betting venture BetMGM announced a partnership with The Athletic digital sports-media company. The Athletic will use BetMGM as its exclusive sports-betting partner and create The Athletic Betting Hub. Image source: Getty Images. This gives BetMGM access to over 1 million paying subscribers around the world and will add media content around the betting platform. BetMGM is still only available in a fraction of the country, but getting exposure to customers on sites like The Athletic could help cultivate customers long term. Now what The gambling industry has pushed hard into online gambling, and partnerships with sports leagues and media companies have been key to the growth strategy. As one of the bigger names in sports, The Athletic could be a key partner for BetMGM trying to establish itself in the space. There's still a lot of competition ahead, but the room for growth as sports gambling is opened up across the U.S. could make MGM Resorts a long-term growth stock for investors. 10 stocks we like better than MGM Resorts InternationalWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and MGM Resorts International wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 Travis Hoium owns shares of MGM Resorts International. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source