Major Leagues Could Cash in $4.2bn from Sports Betting

The major US sports leagues could potentially earn $4.2bn in extras annually, recent research shows. According to the Nielsen Sports’ study commissioned by the American Gaming Association (AGA), if the leagues were to cooperate with the gaming industry on establishing a common, legal sports wagering framework, the scenario would be sustainable.

If Sports Betting Was Legalized Statewide…

The report sets the revenue increase for the MLB baseball league at $1.1bn, while the NBA could cash in $585m per annum. These figures add to an earlier assessment of a prospective revenue surge of $200m for the NHL and $2.3bn for the NFL, also annually.

That, provided that sports betting has been legalized statewide, which it isn’t, and is doubtful if it will ever be.

As Nielsen Sports explains, legalized betting would arouse interest in the competitions, which would consequentially reflect on the revenue generated from sponsorships, media rights, ticket sales, and so on and so forth.

According to AGA’s senior vice-president of public affairs, Sara Slane, the four major sports leagues (abovementioned) would “earn a collective $4.2bn from widely available legal sports betting, further proving that working together with the gaming industry would pay dividends for all sports stakeholders.”

Slane has added that “legal sports betting would also create substantial opportunities for state and local economies, generating tax revenue, jobs (…) and supporting small businesses across the country.”

The Painful Integrity Fee Issue

The figures show potential revenue increase excluding integrity fees. The issue of fees has been raging on for quite some time. Leagues have proposed that the fees be made part of the state- or federal sports betting laws - to no avail.

However, this doesn’t conclude the debate. I.e., Kentucky and New York lawmakers said earlier this week that integrity fees may be considered in the proposed regard.

Whether they may or may not be, leagues have been attempting other ways to benefit from sports wagering. One of them is – securing partnerships with gambling companies. Only this past summer, the NBA closed a deal with MGM, thus becoming the first US sports league ever to have achieved such a form of partnership. NHL has since stated its desire to jump on the bandwagon, and other leagues are “suspected” of being of like mind.

About the Research

As stated above, the research was conducted on behalf of the AGA. Nielsen Sports surveyed 1,032 adult sports fans and self-identified sports bettors, representative of gender, census age, ethnicity, and geography, across the US, from May 15 to May 31, 2018. The goal was to attempt a prediction at how a national, legal sports wagering market would affect the patterns of bettor-, casual bettor-, and non-bettor behavior, and how those patterns would affect national revenue.

Source:

“US Sports Leagues Could Reap $4.2 bn a Year from Legal Betting: Report”, business-standard.com, October 2, 2018.