The league of sports has been one of – if not the most – competitive sectors in the entire world. From the NRL to wrestling, and every sport in between, there has always been an innately competitive undertone to playing, watching, and even playing back sports games long past. Players build careers around their skills and the rest of the world cheers them on and pushes for their teams to win against the rivalling teams. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that gambling has, over the years, become an increasingly popular side effect of any and all sports games and leagues. The world of gambling has always been particularly controversial, but in recent years there has been a push in multiple countries to allow and create legal gambling platforms that allow players to make bets without doing so illegally. It is a pivotal shift that has been met with both cautious optimism and overwhelming positivity.
While gambling has traditionally been an illegal practice, that has all changed thanks to the roll out of support from multiple states in the USA. As more and more legal US sports betting sites make their way online, there has been a steadfast increase in the amount of interest in online gambling. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that banning sports gambling is unconstitutional. Ever since, the sporting world has been subject to a gravitational shift that has been anything but subtle. One of the biggest changes has been the honest and open advertising efforts in support of online gambling. Legal sports betting are advertising online, on television, on the radio, via podcasts, and even during halftime entertainment for sports games. This is positive news for both sports leagues and the online sports gambling community.
Sports gambling has become a national sensation in the US, as more leagues strike deals with casinos. The sports gambling industry is a lucrative market these days – especially when one considers the fact that these legal sports betting companies have risen from the ashes left behind when the sports gambling industry was illegal. It has been an uphill battle, with public perception being the biggest bump in the road to acceptance and understanding of the legal industry rising upward. The legal gambling landscape is still relatively new, but betters are finding themselves more and more comfortable with their involvement as the rise in popularity coincides with a definitive reassurance that the sports betting companies they align themselves with are not only legal, but gaining traction as popular outlets more and more.
The rise began in the 1980s for the sports leagues. It was then that sports leagues first became aware of the elevating interest in fantasy sports. It has taken nearly forty years for the sports leagues to completely embrace the concept of fans betting on the outcomes of their games, but now it seems that more and more leagues are making deals with gambling companies to secure their position in an increasingly lucrative market. Earlier this year, Major League Baseball (MLB) reached an agreement that spans over multiple years with MGM Resorts. This agreement details the fact that MGM Resorts is now the first ever “official gaming partner of Major League Baseball”, as well as being the official entertainment partner of Major League Baseball.
This is not the only deal that has been signed off on in recent months, either. In August, MGM Resorts officially became the exclusive official gaming partner of both the NBA and the WNBA. Not long after this deal went public, it was announced that MGM Resorts was also rewarded with a multi-year agreement with the NHL to provide MGM with data. This data will be used for betting purposes, further elevating MGM Resorts’ position as a titan of industry in the sports gambling world. All these deals have come in hot and heavy not long after the US Supreme Court’s decision to legalise sports gambling, and each deal speaks volumes of the industry’s scalability and promise for all parties. Sports leagues, legal sports gambling companies, and gamers themselves all have much to gain from the lucrative market’s steady rise in popularity. This is only the beginning.
Historically, sports have always been one of the most competitive and exciting industries in the entire world. Players train their whole lives in the hopes of being scouted into one of the greatest teams in the world. Fans flock to games and to their televisions to see the action play out in front of them. The rivalries between teams extend well beyond the field. The world of action sports has always been competitive, and so the gradual development of sports gambling was almost a certain inevitability. Illegal sports gambling is an issue, but the good news is that more and more legal sports betting companies are rising from the ashes of a once-shaky foundation, strengthening it by doing it the morally sound way, and strengthening the sports leagues at the same time. Legal sports gambling is increasingly accepted in the US (and around the world) and there is nowhere to go from here but up.