Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

The NFL Has Erased the Line Between Sports and Gambling

Its lucrative partnerships with DraftKings and others mark sharp reversals of the league's longstanding opposition to mingling the two.

September 10, 2021 at 11:00 AM UTC

By Timothy L. O'Brien

Timothy L. O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

Who’s your money on?
Photographer: Mike Stobe/Getty Images North America

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The National Football League returned for another season last night. With its full game slate launching Sunday, the NFL’s business partners, including the gambling mavens over at DraftKings Inc., are excited.

“FOOTBALL IS BACK,” DraftKings tweeted, touting its new partnership with the NFL and a $1 million sweepstakes that customers who download its mobile app can enter for free. DraftKings, a leading operator of fantasy sports leagues and digital betting platforms based in Boston, has been on a roll. It recently said it plans to buy Golden Nugget Online Gaming Inc., a cyber-casino and sports-betting operation, for $1.6 billion.