NBA and FanDuel Add Sports Betting to Existing Partnership

The NBA and FanDuel Sportsbook have announced they will be expanding their existing relationship originally formed for fantasy sports to include sports betting. The expanded agreement will make FanDuel an “authorized gaming partner of the NBA” to give FanDuel marketing rights and access to official league data.

In a press release, FanDuel explained the new, multi-year agreement authorizes FanDuel to use NBA imagery for its sports betting operations and to rely on official data from the league in order to settle wagers and provide in-play NBA betting.

Additionally, FanDuel and the NBA stated they will work together in order to promote responsible gambling and to protect the integrity of NBA competition. Neither FanDuel nor the NBA disclosed the financial terms of the deal.

FanDuel CEO Matt King had this to say about the agreement:

“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.”

Here’s Scott Kaufman-Ross, NBA Head of Fantasy & Gaming:

“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. 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.”

Not A First for FanDuel NBA Partnerships

Tuesday’s announcement is not unexpected considering FanDuel NBA partnerships go back a good stretch of time. The two organizations first reached an agreement back when FanDuel was purely involved in daily fantasy sports and was just about to engage in a high-profile advertising battle for supremacy against rival fantasy site DraftKings.com.

FanDuel and DraftKings both struck a number of deals with major sports leagues as well as with individual teams. In 2014, FanDuel snagged the NBA to become the league’s official, exclusive daily fantasy partner.

That deal also involved cross-promotional advertising in addition to giving the NBA an undisclosed equity stake in FanDuel. The NBA has since divested itself of that equity stake in light of FanDuel entering the sports betting business.

More recently, FanDuel Sportsbook struck similar deals with the NHL as a league and the New Jersey Devils specifically. Both of those deals give FanDuel a major inroad into the NHL as it seeks now to expand its sports betting offering. The agreement with the NHL also includes a combination of marketing rights and access to league data.

Since entering the sports betting business, FanDuel has been busy ramping up its operations. After launching a mobile sportsbook in New Jersey, FanDuel opened a retail sportsbook in West Virginia which will likely expand to offer online betting in the future. FanDuel has also stated it intends to open an online casino at some point.

Meanwhile, the NBA has also been busy reaching deals of its own with other gaming companies. Over the last few months, the NBA has signed similar marketing and data sharing agreements with BetStars, Sportradar and Genius Sports, and MGM Resorts International.

The NBA has been one of the most active leagues in lobbying for legislation that would make it mandatory for sports betting operators to buy official data from the leagues, but these deals in states without such requirements show that legislation may not be necessary. However, Senators Chuck Schumer and Orrin Hatch are rumored to be close to submitting a federal bill that would include such a provision.