Chantel Rodriguez

Staff Writer 

cvr5570@psu.edu

A decade-long pushback on sports gambling has changed how National Football League opening weekend will be broadcast mainstream on all platforms today and in the future. In embracing a once forbidden taboo, the mass football audience will now be eager to tune it and watch the in-game advertisements that will legally televise different betting app services.

Dan Lovinger, executive vice president of advertising sales for NBC Sports Group, explained that this year alone, the sports betting companies catering to NFL fans have already doubled in bets from last year’s opening season. They have processed 58.2 million transactions in the United States as of the opening weekend. GeoComply Solutions, stationed in Canada, uses geolocation to validate bettors using their gambling services and to confirm they are in a state where it’s legal. 

“We expected high volumes, but what we have seen has surprised us nonetheless,” explained Lindsay Slader, managing director with GeoComply Solutions. 

With adding sports betting advertisements to prime time tv, they’ve also added a list of celebrities to star and direct in the advertisements to grow more interest from the fan bases.  

A-list celebrities such as Ben Affleck, Martin Lawrence, and Jamie Foxx showcased in commercials during the NFL gaming broadcasts. They praised it  as the “easy, one-click away betting with services like WynnBET, DraftKings, FanDuel, or BetMGM accounts.”

Wynn Interactive, or WynnBET, an online gaming betting service, had the opportunity to appoint Ben Affleck as the director and star while co-starring next to Shaquille O’Neal for their debut advertisement. The company is estimating a cost of more than $100 million on advertising throughout the 2021-2022 NFL season. 

“Over the next ten years, this will be an opportunity of over $1 billion for the league and our clubs,” explained Christopher Halpin, the director of strategy and growth for the NFL

Sports betting companies such as FanDuels and DraftKings have already seen a massive spike after the interest built up from advertisements. Throughout the September 9th weekend, DraftKings’ and FanDuel’s investment for advertising has gone up by 98 percent. 

FanDuel expresses their desire to become “the next iconic sports brand in America,” as mentioned by Andrew Sneyd, senior vice president of brand marketing. 

Altogether, gambling companies have spent $7.4 million on advertisements during the first week of prime-time games. “The dollars are starting to add up,” said John Bogusz, who is the executive vice president of sports sales and marketing for CBS Sports.

One thing that can be clear is that there is a monopoly for advertising bets nationally to target audiences where it is legal. With the barriers of sports betting let down indefinitely, the NFL will do everything in its power to keep pushing forward with its new initiative ideas for the future of sports betting advertisements.