The National Basketball Association struck a deal with MGM Resorts that will allow the casino operator to use its branding on betting products throughout the U.S., following the Supreme Court’s rejection earlier this year of a law that effectively blocked sports gambling.
The partnership is the league’s first with a sports-betting operator and will include joint efforts such as real-time data-sharing to protect the integrity of games involving the NBA and the WNBA, executives from both organizations said. MGM Resorts will be promoted across the NBA’s digital properties, including the NBA app, and the league will be advertised on MGM Resorts’ platforms.
“As the landscape for sports betting in the U.S. continues to evolve at a rapid pace, MGM Resorts is a proven gaming leader for us to work with on this groundbreaking partnership,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
Two months ago, the Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, that had prevented states from legalizing sports gambling. The decision set off a flurry of partnerships, as major casino chains seek to profit from the policy shift. A few states had allowed some form of sports betting before the law’s passage and were permitted to continue doing so, and several others are expected to advance legislation on the issue.
“The legalization of sports gambling is a controversial subject,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority’s opinion, which determined that the Constitution empowers Congress to regulate sports betting directly, but not to dictate how states do so. The decision was supported by five of his colleagues and partially by Justice Stephen Breyer.
“Supporters argue that legalization will produce revenue for the states and critically weaken illegal sports betting operations, which are often run by organized crime,” Alito wrote. “Opponents contend that legalizing sports gambling will hook the young on gambling, encourage people of modest means to squander their savings and earnings, and corrupt professional and college sports. The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make.”
On Monday, MGM announced a joint venture with a United Kingdom-based gaming company to create an online gambling and sports betting platform. The company also struck a deal with Boyd Gaming Corp. to offer sports betting in 15 states. On Wednesday, MGM will become the first casino chain to offer legal sports gambling in Mississippi.
Caesars Entertainment, meanwhile, is racing to launch sports betting in locations in New Jersey and other states, and recently partnered with Scientific Games to build physical gambling locations.
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