Home Basketball Betting Why gambling operators in the US are partnering with sports leagues

Why gambling operators in the US are partnering with sports leagues

The gambling industry in the US has seen many changes in the past year or so. Sports betting is being legalized in many states and this isn’t just allowing American residents to legally bet on top sports action. It’s also seeing partnerships being stuck between the top sports leagues and gambling operators.

Until last year, it was a federal decision on whether states could legalize gambling. Then, the Supreme Court made a ruling that the individual states could decide for themselves. This has led to a growing number of them legalizing sports betting with more likely to do so in the future. The UK has held quite a different stance when it comes to legal online gambling and in comparison to the US, it has been quite relaxed. There are hundreds of places to play online. The UK has also been a lot more open to how people can fund gambling sites online, PayPal casinos for UK players are a hit as it makes it easy for players to deposit with a name they trust.

The ability to bet legally on top American sports is important for the actual gamblers themselves. They hope to get some big wins on the Yankees or the 49ers, for the gambling operators, there are much larger fish to fry.

In the past, bosses of American sports such as Basketball and American Football haven’t been too keen on gambling links. They felt that betting on sport being legal may threaten their integrity. Previous attempts by the state of New Jersey to legalize betting were opposed by top sports.

It’s all changing now though. The NFL have gone from refusing advertising or being linked with events held in Las Vegas, to allowing the city to have an NFL team from 2020.

Caesar’s now have a three-year deal with the NFL. It’s worth $90m over three years and gives them exclusive rights to NFL trademarks, not just in the US but the UK too. However, this new love affair between gambling companies and the NFL isn’t a full one. Neither sports betting nor fantasy football are part of this deal.

The Daily Fantasy Sports partnership is in the hands of DraftKings, who have a multi-year deal with the NFL.  They also have a sports betting data partnership deal with Sportrada but a direct partnership with a sportsbook still hasn’t been signed. It’s believed that they may try out some deals in other countries before deciding to create partnership deals in the US.

There are several teams that have signed agreements with casinos. This includes the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets. MGM Resorts are now the official gambling partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. The NBA and NHL already have three US betting partners so it’s all moving in the right direction for the gambling operators.

It’s inevitable that more gambling companies will seek deal with top American sports. The gambling industry is a highly competitive one and the more publicity companies can get, the better for them. There are massive television audiences for sports events, so they have to be key targets for securing deals with. It’s been estimated by the American Gaming Association that the amount being wagered illegally via offshore bookmakers was nearly $150bn a year. Now that situation has changed, being the gambling partner of a top sport can be very lucrative indeed.

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