A report at ESPN.com outlines a number of moves that U.S. professional sports leagues have been making to enter into deals with companies involved in sports betting.
According to the report, the deals are being made both publically and secretly with odds makers, betting prognosticators and data providers that make sports wagering possible in the digital age, according to interviews with a range of sports gambling officials and experts.
The leagues—including the NFL, the NBA, the NHL and Major League Baseball—seem to be positioning themselves to profit if sports betting is legalized in the United States.
Among the deals pointed to in the report are:
The NFL in April became a part owner of newly formed Sportradar US, the subsidiary of a Swiss company that provides real-time statistics, scores and odds to bookmakers, including, according to gambling industry sources, multiple offshore sportsbooks that offer illegal betting in the U.S.
Last July, the NBA, through its ownership stake in FanDuel, became part owner of numberFire, a New York tech company that offers sophisticated analysis for daily fantasy and sports wagering, including betting recommendations on the league’s own games.
Shortly after the World Series in November, Major League Baseball signed a deal with a London-based company, Sport Integrity Monitor, to monitor betting lines and identify suspicious betting activity that might indicate fixed games. SportIM’s parent company sets odds and provides software for legal bookmakers in Europe and Asia.
Such deals could open new revenue streams for the leagues selling live data for gamblers, as pointed to in the NFL and NBA deals, the report said.
An example is a deal between Sportradar and the International Tennis Federation. Sportradar is paying the ITF $70 million over five years for exclusive access to live match data.
“A subtle bridge is being built,” Chris Grove, the editor of legalsportsreport.com, an online newsletter that tracks the sports betting industry told ESPN. “This sort of activity, I think we’re seeing it normalized.”
The various league officials also hope they can use data to prevent betting and game fixing scandals, which have become commonplace internationally, ESPN said.
The leagues are also facing scrutiny for numerous partnerships they’ve made with the daily fantasy sports industry, which is currently fighting a state-by-state battle—through FanDuel and DraftKings, the two largest DFS sites—for legitimacy.
The report, however, noted a fundamental change in sports betting, which is no longer centered on the outcome of games and matches. Through daily fantasy sports and in-game betting systems, many bets now rely on in-game statistics.
Despite the risks, the report concludes that the league’s move into sports betting is inevitable.
“To the extent that they don’t participate, they do so at their own peril,” Nevada state Sen. Mark Lipparelli, the former leader of the Nevada Gaming Control Board told ESPN. “You can’t be late to the party and expect that everyone else who’s come to agreement is going to shift their position to your concern.”
