The National Football League (NFL) is partnering with Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings and FanDuel as their official sports betting partners in a deal that will be very valuable to everyone involved. It’s also a deal that highlights the supreme hypocrisy of the league that worked tirelessly for decades to prevent regulated sports betting from existing anywhere in the United States except Nevada.
As part of the deal, the three sports betting operators, will intertwine sports betting content into existing NFL media properties such as NFL.com. The operators and the League will also share data to help thwart potential fraud, and promote resources for problem gamblers.
The the NFL would choose to partner with three sports betting operators, rather than just partnering with their official DFS partner DraftKings, shows off exactly how professional football is maximizing its profit off the activity it worked against for decades. NFL officials never mention how the League led the fight to keep sports betting illegal by using spurious claims of the potential for fraud and the integrity of the game. These things apparently matter a lot less when there’s serious money to be made. League officials say that they’re applying what they learned from daily fantasy sports to make certain that sports betting doesn’t get out of hand.
In a statement reported on by ESPN.com, Renie Anderson, NFL chief revenue officer and executive vice president of NFL partnerships said, “Working closely with Caesars, DraftKings and FanDuel, we will provide fans new and different ways of interacting and engaging with the sport they love.”
“We know it’s going to continue to evolve and change, so as we continue to learn how this really amplifies that engagement, which is really the core, key priority why we’re in this business, engaging the most rabid fan base on the planet,” Anderson told ESPN. “We’re excited about that and think through data and a variety of other areas we’re going to learn a lot and continue to evolve the space and grow that key point of engagement for our fans.”
More specific details of the partnership are expected to be announced in the coming days.