The NFL and its 32 teams are set to make hundreds of millions from legal sports betting during the 2021 season, according to a report.
The Washington Post reported “a person familiar with the league’s finances” said they expect to generate about $270 million in revenue from sports betting and gambling deals.
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Christopher Halpin, an executive vice president for the NFL, told the Post, “You can definitely see the market growing to $1 billion-plus of league opportunity over this decade.”
“For adult fans who want to bet in legal markets on sports, have products and partners that serve them best in class and advance their experience,” Halpin also said to the Post. “And on the flip side, don’t alienate the fan like my mother who doesn’t want sports betting in her national CBS broadcast.”
Halpin added:
For a long time, legalized sports betting was this sort of great unknown for the NFL. I think a lot of people just naturally assumed it would be the worst…. We started to say, ‘Okay, the practical reality [is] on the other side of the Supreme Court, there will be legalized sports betting.’… We said, ‘Okay, now let’s make sure this is the best market possible and best development possible for NFL fans.’
Reportedly there has been between $75 billion to $125 billion illegally gambled on sports in the United States before legalization. The league supposedly found that an overwhelming majority of the betting was online via smartphones in offshore sportsbooks.
(AFP/Stringer/Getty Images)
According to the Legal Sports Report, there are now 20 states that allow legal sports betting, while another nine are currently in the process of finalizing laws to be able to go into the market.
Follow Jacob Bliss on Twitter @jacobmbliss.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.