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The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board expects the state’s first online sportsbook to begin live testing sometime in the next two weeks. That means, before the end of May, either Pittsburgh’s PNC Park or Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park will become the first MLB stadium to host fans legally betting on baseball from their seats.
Mobile sports bets are already being accepted in New Jersey, Nevada, and West Virginia, but none of those states are home to major league franchises. Now, either the Phillies or Pirates are set to make history.
Major League Baseball is often held to a different standard than other sports because of its traditional image as national pastime. Fairly or not, the memories of the 1919 Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose’s fall from grace still linger. Former commissioner Bud Selig said in a 2012 deposition that gambling was “evil, creates doubt and destroys your sport.”
But MLB is entering this new era willingly. The league has had a partnership with daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings since 2013 and, most notably, MLB partnered with MGM Resorts on an official gaming partnership last November. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the advent of in-ballpark betting at SportTechie’s State Of The Industry conference. He emphasized the league’s Sports Betting policies regulating commercial activities and insuring the integrity of games.
“Mobile is a reality,” Manfred said. “It is going to be the predominant vehicle by which people engage in Sports Betting. It’s kind of like analytics, you have to accept that reality. Then I think what you try to do is build in limitations around what the clubs can do so that mobile activity that is going to go on in the stadium doesn’t become all-pervasive. We’re a family entertainment product.”
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board expects the state’s first online sportsbook to begin live testing sometime in the next two weeks. That means, before the end of May, either Pittsburgh’s PNC Park or Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park will become the first MLB stadium to host fans legally betting on baseball from their seats.
Mobile sports bets are already being accepted in New Jersey, Nevada, and West Virginia, but none of those states are home to major league franchises. Now, either the Phillies or Pirates are set to make history.
Major League Baseball is often held to a different standard than other sports because of its traditional image as national pastime. Fairly or not, the memories of the 1919 Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose’s fall from grace still linger. Former commissioner Bud Selig said in a 2012 deposition that gambling was “evil, creates doubt and destroys your sport.”
But MLB is entering this new era willingly. The league has had a partnership with daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings since 2013 and, most notably, MLB partnered with MGM Resorts on an official gaming partnership last November. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the advent of in-ballpark betting at SportTechie’s State Of The Industry conference. He emphasized the league’s Sports Betting policies regulating commercial activities and insuring the integrity of games.
“Mobile is a reality,” Manfred said. “It is going to be the predominant vehicle by which people engage in Sports Betting. It’s kind of like analytics, you have to accept that reality. Then I think what you try to do is build in limitations around what the clubs can do so that mobile activity that is going to go on in the stadium doesn’t become all-pervasive. We’re a family entertainment product.”
