The NBA is leaning into live sports betting even harder, launching the ability to bet on games through the League Pass app on Tuesday.
Per the Sports Business Journal, the NBA is partnering with Sportradar to launch the emBet feature that will allow fans to bet on games through either FanDuel or DraftKings.
The NBA and Sportradar began work on this back in October.
“As more of our fans consume content on digital platforms it unlocks new ways for them to interact with our games,” said Scott Kaufman-Ross, EVP of media and gaming for the NBA. “In this case, it’s a step toward integrating the experience of watching and betting together, in an opt-in fashion, which we think will be great for engagement.”
Users will need to opt-in to be able to see the betting overlay, and in non-sportsbook states, the odds will be visible, but bets cannot be placed. At the start, only moneyline, point spread, and game total odds will be available.
Notably, the bets won’t be made in the League Pass app itself. Instead, clicking on one of the betting links will open up the respective app and a betting slip in the app.
The NFL and FanDuel cut a similar deal with Genius Sports last November, allowing fans to watch live games in the FanDuel app and bet on them.
Back in 2021, when Sinclair was in the early stages of launching what would become Bally Sports+, the company was quite bullish on in-app betting. Even before the app launched, they were optimistic about live betting, including floating the idea of pitch-by-pitch prop bets. However, the feature never ended up launching.
[Sports Business Journal, image via NBA/SBJ]
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.