Pennsylvania’s newest online sportsbook has a big-league partner.
On Tuesday, FOX Bet announced a new multiyear partnership with Major League Baseball. It makes the FOX Bet mobile sports betting an authorized gaming operator of MLB in the United States.
Official data the crux of the deal
As part of the agreement, FOX Bet has the right to use MLB’s official data feed and League marks across its FOX Bet sports betting app. it will also appear on FOX Sports Super 6, FOX Bet’s free-to-play game available nationwide.
CEO of FOX Bet Robin Chhabra commented:
“We continue to see a great appetite for the Fox Bet app as well as Fox Sports Super 6. Having a partnership with MLB enables us to use official MLB data and league marks, providing a better experience for our customers and comes just in time as the League Championship Series and the World Series kick into high gear.”
The deal comes about 11 months after MLB and Fox Sports announced they extended their national television rights agreement. The deal runs through the 2028 season and is worth $5.1 billion.
Fox Bet in PA, NJ, and plans for more
Fox Bet launched in PA on Sept. 5, five days after it went live in New Jersey. It marked a historic moment in the new world of legal sports betting. It is the first American sports media company to leverage its brand to launch a sportsbook.
Fox Bet’s sports wagering partnership in the United States is between The Stars Group and Fox Sports, a unit of Fox Corporation. Fox Bet, The Stars Group’s US sports betting business, is currently operating in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There are plans to expand the business nationwide as additional states legalize online sports betting.
MLB Executive Vice President, Gaming & New Business Ventures Kenny Gersh said:
“Adding The Stars Group and Fox Bet to our authorized gaming operator program continues our vision for ensuring we are serving fans with opportunity and choice. Our official data feed, including real time and reliable game statistics, and league marks will enable The Stars Group to build unique and engaging gaming products around our sport.”
The Stars Group and MLB will also collaborate on responsible gaming and partner on best-in-class practices to protect the integrity of MLB games.
Partnerships between sportsbooks and professional leagues
FanDuel, DraftKings, and MGM Resorts are also authorized gaming operators with MLB.
A 2018 Supreme Court ruling rid the sports betting ban outside of Nevada. That paved the way for partnerships between professional sports leagues and sportsbooks.
At first, leagues called for integrity fees as part of state sports betting legislation, but sportsbooks and state regulators groused at the idea. Eventually, the leagues started to focus on private business deals centered around official data. While most US sportsbooks are under no legal obligation to use a particular source of data, there are business benefits to having an official deal with the majors.
For leagues and sportsbooks, a partnership is profitable for both parties. Sportsbooks use the official data as a marketing tool and then play up the appeal of an official partnership with a league. The league turns a profit from the data and financially benefit from sports betting without being directly involved in the betting itself.
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