MLB turns to betting and F2P to mitigate ticket sales losses
Boston Red Sox exec lobbies in Massachusetts House of Representatives for end of July legal betting launch
Major League Baseball (MLB) and its teams are turning to betting and free-to-play games to keep fans engaged as they try to recover lost revenue from games being played without fans.
The MLB will launch in-app games and contests for cash prizes and points linked to games being played, a report in the LA Times said.
“There’s no sports betting element in any of our apps,” said Chris Marinak, MLB executive vice president of strategy, technology and innovation.
“It is important we stick to gaming,” he told the newspaper.
a baseball hitter
It is estimated that up to 40% of the league’s revenue comes from tickets and concessions and with no fans allowed for the entire 2020 season, significant capital will be lost.
Back in August 2019, MLB signed a deal with betting tech supplier Swish Analytics to produce F2P games via its real-time prediction platform, but the firm declined to comment on what the product would look like or what the timeline would be.
It also partnered with Sportradar on a virtual betting game allowing players to make in-play bets using real historical data.
Meanwhile, Boston Red Sox SVP for legal and government affairs David Friedman this week rallied for the Massachusetts House of Representatives to introduce mobile betting into its economic recovery development bill.
Testifying before a special House committee considering policy changes to help the state recover from the Covid-19 fallout, Friedman said: “Our revenues have fallen off a cliff.
“The direct financial impact and revenues of sports betting for teams is relatively modest,” he added.
“We won’t be running a sportsbook ourselves but, today, every single extra dollar of advertising and sponsorship revenue is extremely important for us.”
He urged the House to have a bill prepared by July 31 so operators could take baseball bets in the state before the end of the season.
PointsBet secured the MLB’s first official betting partnership this month with the Detroit Tigers, ahead of Michigan’s upcoming mobile betting launch.