NHL Finds Room To Add FanDuel As An Official Sports Betting Partner

FanDuel has entered into a deal to become an Official Sports Betting Partner and the exclusive Daily Fantasy Partner of the National Hockey League. On November 5, it also announced a new partnership with the New Jersey Devils.

At the league level, FanDuel will be able to use “official category designations” to promote its sports betting features in jurisdictions where sports betting is currently legal. Those jurisdictions are currently Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia and New Mexico.

FanDuel’s NHL deal follows a similar one announced at the end of October between the NHL and MGM Resorts International, which also gives MGM Resorts the right to call itself an “Official Sports Betting Partner.” FanDuel is trying to catch up to MGM Resorts, which already brokered a similar deal with the National Basketball Association in August.

The NHL and its individual teams seem to be quite alright with diving head first into new sports betting partnerships, which is a quick turn from a not-so-long-ago position that hockey does not lend itself to gambling in the same way as other professional sports.

In September 2016, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated, “gambling for us is probably an entirely different focus than, say, football or basketball, either at the pro or at the college level. We’re about one percent of the book. Our game doesn’t lend itself to gambling in the same way that football and basketball do.”

FanDuel’s new deal with the Devils gives FanDuel additional rights. Expect to see the FanDuel Sportsbook logo on the ice at the Prudential Center as well as the Devils’ social and digital channels pushing FanDuel marketing campaigns to followers of the team.

“Our partnership with the New Jersey Devils allows us to be on the ice during the action and in-game messaging is the perfect way to reach hockey fans during the games,” says FanDuel COO Kip Levin.