In an effort to increase revenue, sports leagues have begun to partner with official betting partners. The NFL is no exception, and announced three new betting partners in April. These partnerships give the sportsbook company access to official league data and allow them to market their relationship with the league and tie their brands to the league’s statistics. If the five-year deal works, the NFL will receive nearly $1 billion in revenue from the partners. If it doesn’t, the league has the option to end the deal after the third year.
This agreement is not only a win for the sportsbooks and fans, but it also paves the way for more action. For example, in-play betting requires access to official league data, which can only be provided by an official venue. Without this data, “squatters” can price bets without checking out the player’s statistics. And without the official data, there’s no way to know how far a golfer has driven.
A perfect sports gambling law would include substantive licensing requirements, create transparent markets, and protect consumers. Betting would be settled based on league data, and insiders would be prohibited from betting. Operators would also be responsible for preventing insider betting. The NFL needed the backing of the owners of all 32 teams before it could approve its bill. There were four groups of NFL owners. The owners were interested in a new betting option, but were unsure about how to proceed.