The NFL now has deals with Caesars, Sportradar, and DraftKings, but no direct sports betting partnerships.
NFL teams, including the Redskins and Rams, are trying to implement betting-like platforms of their own.
Executives of the NFL believe they already get great ratings without sports betting.

NEW YORK – Betting on the NFL is happening right now whether NFL owners like it or not. However, some have come to embrace the new industry, including Shad Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Khan shared his thoughts on legal sports betting during the Yahoo Finance All Market Summit last week.

“There’s a huge amount of during-the-event betting,” said Khan. “So we look at maybe in-stadium, on a phone [betting], there’ll be a huge amount of activity on that. And obviously, it’s going to drive the values of franchises up.”

Jerry Jones, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Cowboys, also believes that the NFL stands to gain a 50% increase in the amount of revenue the league can make when renegotiating television contracts.

As for the NFL’s front office, league executives are not quite as enthusiastic to hop on the sports betting bandwagon.

“We get great engagement, we don’t need to integrate sports betting directly into that,” said NFL Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, Christopher Haplin to the New York Times last month.

However, research from the American Gaming Association (AGA) shows that the NFL stands to profit heavily from legal sports betting spreading throughout the US.

A study conducted by the AGA in 2018 showed that the league stands to earn over $2 billion a year from a large legal sports wagering market.

The AGA also conducted a nationwide survey before the beginning of this year’s NFL season. The results showed that 38.1 million American adults, roughly 15% of the entire U.S. population, planned on placing an NFL bet this season.

So far the NFL has tip-toed around the sports betting industry by naming Caesars as their official casino sponsor, Sportradar as their official data distributor, and DraftKings as their official daily fantasy sports partner.

“You have to remember the history of the NFL,” said Khan. “The NFL has really been obsessed with the integrity of the sport. And it’s taken a while for, you know, all the owners to get comfortable with it.”

The NFL is in its 100th season this year, and throughout the league’s history, the NFL’s stance on sports betting has slowly changed.

There are now 17 states that have legalized sports betting since 2018 and more are expected to join that list next year. Many of these states are home to prominent NFL franchises. When asked if owners are ready to welcome this new industry, Khan responded by saying “I think so now.”

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