Following the partnership between Caesars Entertainment and the National Football League, the American Gaming Association (AGA) highlighted the upsides of this move and the long-term benefits of the tie-up.

AGA Content with NFL, Caesars Partnership

The National Football League (NFL) and flagship casino brand Caesars Entertainment have signed up a new exciting partnership on Thursday aimed at boosting brand awareness in the USA, the United Kingdom, and beyond. As per the partnership, Caesars will use its casino facilities, animators, food caterers, and music stars to create an accommodating environment for NFL fans.

The NFL, on the other hand, will benefit from having its brand popularized across the globe in every Caesars-owned property. Caesars is also allowed to use the NFL logo in its own marketing campaigns as it sees fit. Struck on Thursday, January 3, 2019, this partnership has been welcomed by the American Gaming Association (ASA), a supporter of the marriage between mainstream sporting bodies and gambling operators.

Specifically, ASA estimated that the NFL could be adding $2.3 billion annually from legal sports betting operations.

AGA outlined the benefits of such commercial partnerships and again ruled out against the idea of having gambling businesses pay integrity fees (a move supported by the NFL themselves until recently).

However, the lack of evidence that such integrity fees can have a meaningful impact on the industry, the talks about paying integrity fees have floundered. Furthermore, AGA has outlined the lack of a framework that would channel the money collected via integrity fees to the benefit of anti-gambling NGOs and other initiatives fighting addiction.

AGA SVP Sara Slane commented on the partnership between Caesars and the NFL, “The NFL’s official partnership with Caesars Entertainment is a perfect example of the value of contractual relationships between leagues and the casino gaming industry.”

Ms. Slane has been a proponent of this sort of co-existence between operators and mainstream sporting bodies for a long while. She further stressed that by hammering out such partnerships, gambling can achieve a level of authentic entertainment.

The partnerships now in place between gaming companies and each of the four major American sports leagues enrich the fan experience and validate gaming’s role as a form of mainstream entertainment. – ASA SVP Sara Slane

Each of the four main gaming bodies in the United States has teamed up with a gambling operator, including:

• The NFL and Caesars Entertainment
• The NBA and MGM Resorts
• The NHL and MGM Resorts
• The MLB and MGM Resorts

Understandably, the partnership between the NFL and a gaming operator would bring in the biggest benefits for everyone, as the Football League is the largest sporting body in the country. Greater fan engagement can drive significant results for the NFL, with an estimated $1.75 billion each year going in the way of the National Football League.

Though the NFL is now partnering up with a major gambling operator, the League is still very much wary of partnerships that may cast it in a bad light. Acting on this, the NFL questioned a partnership between the Jets and 888 Holdings.