The NFL, a league once stridently opposed to gambling, estimates it will generate $270 million in revenue this year through agreements with casino companies and sportsbook operators. That figure potentially surges to $1 billion during the current decade.
Since the the 2018 Supreme Court ruling on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), the most popular US sports league has increasingly warmed to betting. That represents a dramatic turnabout from the days when former Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Green Bay Packers legend Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions All-Pro defensive tackle Alex Karras for betting on games.
You can definitely see the market growing to $1 billion-plus of league opportunity over this decade,” said Christopher Halpin, an executive vice president for the NFL, in an interview with the Washington Post.
As the Post article points out, the NFL didn’t simply run blindly into its embrace of sports wagering. The league researched fans’ attitudes toward betting, discovering that half are either active or aspiring/casual betters, while another 30 percent are ambivalent towards betting. Conversely, the percentage of “active rejecters” — fans strongly opposed to betting — was 20 percent when the league initially researched the matter. But that figure has since tumbled to 12 percent, according to the Post.