NBA Forms Multiyear Partnership with FanDuel

In the wake of recent events regarding the introduction of federal standards for the legalized betting market, The National Basketball Association and a renowned bookmaker of fantasy sports, FanDuel, have decided to broaden their current partnership. The deal will from now on include wagering on sports in the U.S.

This alliance is followed by the league’s previous agreement with MGM Resorts International and The Stars Group Inc.

InPlay Remains Part of New Deal

Although the financial terms were not published, The Basketball Association stated that the multiyear agreement with New York City-based fantasy service is official, adding it to other authorized gaming partners. The sportsbook will therefore acquire access to the league’s official game data and logos across its products.

Their prior agreement made the operator an official DFS partner of the NBA and WNBA which is still on; however, they will continue to reboot the contract with InPlay, the league’s interactive real-time fantasy play that is available during matches.

In 2014, NBA became the first professional sports association to officially partner with a fantasy sportsbook. The agreement was extended to WNBA in 2017, which was the initial official partnership for the award-winning FanDuel…

The brand continuously upgrades this fruitful collaboration by creating new game formats as well as new encounters in daily fantasy and sports wagering to advance fan experience. Still, in October 2018, William Hill sued the rival sports betting company for copyright violation.

Focusing on Innovation and Passion

Scott Kaufman, head of fantasy & gaming of the basketball association is satisfied with the expanded partnership, saying that “the core of our terrific partnership with FanDuel has been focused on innovation around the fan experience, and we are excited to extend it to include sports betting.”

He adds:

“Together, we have broken new ground in the fantasy world on both the NBA and WNBA, and now with the use of our official NBA betting data, will continue to collaborate on new ways to engage our passionate fans.”

The pleasure is on both sides as Matt King, CEO of FanDuel Group comments:

“The NBA was the first sports league we partnered with and has been an incredible partner ever since. We share a clear view on how we can collaborate to bring basketball fans new ways to engage with the games and players they love.

With the expansion of our fantasy agreement and addition of sports betting, we are excited to work together in ways we haven’t before.”

Other Leagues Catching Up (or Falling Behind)

To sum it up, the last couple of months sparked a number of partnerships between U.S. professional sports leagues, casinos, and gaming giants such as PaddyPower.

During the month of November, MGM Resorts became the first official partner of the National Hockey League (NHL)…

…while The National Football League is still uncertain of forming arrangements with some of the leading betting platforms.

With the initial growth in the industry, FanDuel and the NBA will also work together on responsible gaming and top-rated procedures to protect the integrity of league games.

Source:

“NBA and FanDuel announce multi-year sports betting partnership”, Nathan Joye, gamblinginsider.com, December 18, 2018.