NBABet Launched by National Basketball Association During Playoffs
The National Basketball Association has already dipped its toes into the sports betting world. Last year, the NBA debuted betting-focused telecasts on its League Pass for games at the Disney World bubble.
The league continues to make strides in the sports betting industry through a new initiative called NBABet during the 2021 playoffs.
What is NBABet?
The NBABet initiative will undoubtedly get people to wager the league during the playoffs. The first part of NBABet is a 30-minute weekly tv show presented by BetMGM that will focus on wagering markets for the playoffs.
The first show aired on Friday, and it received rave reviews from basketball fans and bettors. The show is scheduled to run through the first two rounds of the playoffs. However, if ratings are high, the NBA will continue the program through the Finals.
Additionally, the league also introduced @NBABet on Twitter. The Action Network, a worldwide sports betting analytic leader, will run the account. The account will showcase highlights and graphics dedicated to NBA wagering.
The account does not have 1,000 followers currently, but it’s proliferating. As the NBABet initiative grows, the account will be viral amongst the betting community.
There will also be a section of NBA.com dedicated to betting that will launch in the second round of the playoffs. Sports betting media companies like The Action Network, Yahoo Sports, and Bleacher Report will help fill the betting content on the site.
BetMGM is the official sportsbook partner of NBABet, so the platform’s odds will be exclusive to the initiative.
Comments from the NBA
This move by the NBA was a monumental move for sports betting. The other major sports leagues will follow this path in the coming seasons as sports gambling grows in popularity.
Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA’s senior vice president, spoke to the media after the league announced NBABet.
“We’ve consistently had the view that sports betting should be an opt-in experience. And the creation of NBABet gives us the ability to do that. We’ve created an environment in NBABet where we can serve betting content to the fans that want it, while not pushing it to the fans that aren’t interested.”
Fans have the choice to consume the wagering content with NBABet, which is an excellent part of the initiative. In 2014, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver supported regulated sports betting in a New York Times op-ed, so it’s no surprise that the league announced NBABet.
The NBA also did not step outside of their bounds for the betting content on the site. The league outsourced the media to respected betting sites like The Action Network and Bleacher Report’s betting experts.
Kaufman Ross also explained the rationale behind this decision.
“So we thought the best way to bring the content to our fans was to partner with best-in-class experts in the space to give that analysis, make predictions and talk about value in the marketplace. We’re fortunate that we have great content partners in Turner Sports, Yahoo, and Action Network. We thought by partnering with them, we can combine the expertise and credibility they have in the sports betting landscape with the unique assets that the NBA has to offer and really create a differentiated experience. And we felt it was best to lean on those third-party experts for that analysis.”
Basketball betting will certainly grow because of NBABet. It will be interesting to see the rating for the initiative after the first two playoff rounds.
