Monumental Sports & Entertainment Chair & CEO Ted Leonsis expects sports venues to eventually become "casinos of a sort -- open nearly around the clock to capture a coming mania for legalized sports betting," according to Erik Brady of USA TODAY. Leonsis said, "You will see buildings like Capital One Arena being reimagined. So we want people ... look at our buildings as really alive, dynamic sports cathedrals." Leonsis sees sports teams "increasing in value as they begin to partner with tech companies for advanced sports betting." He said, "I don’t see ever the teams having a piece of the money, or frankly even the leagues being in the sports betting business and getting a piece of what’s called the handle. But who you partner with, be it a DraftKings or a casino or international player or some new company or it’s not wild to think that a really big financial services or big data partner could enter the business to be a partner with us." Leonsis: "Five years from now, it could be an Amazon is streaming and your subscription is part of Prime, and they have your credit card on file and you’re able to bet live through an Amazon. And you would have never envisioned that something like that could happen" (USATODAY.com, 11/15).
