Bettman cited technological advancements as one of the reasons for the FanDuel dealgetty images
In announcing a multiyear deal making FanDuel the exclusive official DFS partner of the NHL, Commissioner Gary Bettman continues to move in the "opposite direction of the league’s anti-gambling stance," according to Jon Gold of BETCHICAGO.com. Despite past protests from Bettman and his fellow commissioners about the "damage to the integrity of the game that legalized sports betting would cause," and despite the leagues' lawsuit in '12 to "halt sports betting in New Jersey, Bettman was ready to turn a new leaf" yesterday. Bettman said, "My concerns were one, would it change [the] environment at games themselves, and two, what would it do to the position of athletes as role models as opposed to devices for betting? Those concerns, whether or not they’re legitimate, they’re irrelevant once the Supreme Court ruled." He added, "You can either put your head in the sand or you can embrace it." FanDuel CEO Matt King said, "This is just the evolution of sports. We got into the business to disrupt how people consume sports and to make that better. We want the ability to work with partners and create the flexibility to create innovation." Gold notes Bettman repeatedly touched on the "technological advances" that helped make a deal like the one with FanDuel possible. He pointed out that the league’s "investment in data technology, such as the kind that will be shared with FanDuel and its DFS and betting users, began as broadcast enhancements." King said that FanDuel was "most interested in partnering with leagues that didn’t just want a cut of the multi-billion-dollar pie, but those willing to invest their time, energy and brainpower into it as well" (BETCHICAGO.com, 11/6).
PIECE OF THE PIE: In New Jersey, Stephen Edelson writes the NHL-FanDuel deal is "beyond disingenuous." Consider that the NHL was one of the leagues which for six years "funded legal efforts to thwart New Jersey’s bit to legalize sports wagering in the state, claiming it would be the ruination of sports as we know it by messing with the 'integrity' of the games." Now, after "costing New Jersey taxpayers millions of dollars, both in legal fees and years of lost tax revenues and jobs by conspiring to put off the inevitable, Bettman and the NHL have decided they want a piece of the action." The type of deal that was announced yesterday is what "should be happening now, driving the sports betting model as the industry matures in the state." Edelson: "But you can’t just ignore how we got to this point. And the numbers produced so far hammer home just how much the state lost" (ASBURY PARK PRESS, 11/6).
