Last season, around $30 billion was wagered on the NFL alone in the booming sports betting market. To keep that side of the sport streamlined, the league announced a new multiyear deal with betting operators.
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“NFL said it has reached commercial agreements with three sports betting operators ahead of the 2026 season: DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics Betting and Gaming,” ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on X.
The league’s previous partnerships with FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars expired in March, leaving the sportsbook category vacant for months. Now this new agreement brings DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics Betting and Gaming together under a multiyear deal, giving the NFL a full slate of official partners just in time for the 2026 season.
DraftKings and FanDuel have been partnered with the league since 2021, and Fanatics Betting and Gaming joins as the newest sponsor as per the X post. All three companies will now have access to NFL data, including real-time, official play-by-play statistics, proprietary Next Gen Stats and BetVision, delivered through Genius Sports.
In 2025, the networks and platforms that feature NFL games saw a surge of 7%, or $5.9 billion, just through advertising. And the three partners will have a presence across all NFL-owned digital media properties, giving them the advantage of being advertised across those platforms.
On top of that, the partners will get premium VIP hospitality setups and heavily branded footprints at major league events like the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft. Plus, unofficial sportsbooks will be stopped from using the league shield logo, team names, or player jerseys; that right will be reserved for the parties to the agreement.
It is not disclosed how much the deal is worth, but according to Sports Business Journal, the earlier deal was worth around $200 million annually. With three operators now in the fold, the commercial stakes are only higher.
The agreement was reportedly in talks for months but hit a temporary snag due to Genius Sports providing live streams of games through BetVision for users placing wagers on the platforms. The betting parties could watch it on the FanDuel or DraftKings apps with a real-time stats overlay, which made the whole experience feel seamless.
However, Genius Sports raised its pricing for these data and video feeds. Because the NFL required sportsbooks to pay Genius Sports separately to offer BetVision, DraftKings and FanDuel balked at the price hike and hesitated to sign a new deal, allowing Fanatics to jump in as a third major partner.
This deal puts everything under the same umbrella. Fans who want to place a legal bet can do so while buying a jersey and collecting digital cards, all in one ecosystem. It is a one-stop shop designed to keep the fan inside the NFL’s own world from start to finish.
There are concerns that this legalization and streamlining of betting in sports leads to the integrity of the game being questioned. This was one of the major reasons NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was against it. In 2017, he made that pretty clear when the Las Vegas Raiders were being shifted from Oakland to Las Vegas, the betting capital.
“I would probably tell you that I think society has probably had a little bit of a change with respect to gambling in general,” Goodell told reporters at a league annual meeting in March 2017. “I think we still strongly oppose it in that room, and otherwise, legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that.”
But things changed in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutional. That allowed U.S. states to regulate betting, and the floodgates opened.
Even though it is legalized, it raises concerns about fan behavior toward the sport. A sport that people view as a recreational or family activity they do together turns into a way of making money and adding stress. The casual Sunday ritual becomes a financial obligation, and that shift changes how fans watch the sport.
According to a study of electronic health records across the U.S., since 2018, gambling disorders have risen over 60% in states where sports betting is legalized. Another study shows these disorders have risen from 3.0 per 100,000 to 4.8 per 100,000, according to Epic Research.
It not only becomes an addiction, but it has also led to a surge in online hate for the players, where they receive death threats over disappointing fantasy and betting outcomes. Last year, Arizona Cardinals running back Emari Demercado tweeted that fans “[fans] don’t treat us like humans; we’re just pawns in the games they watch.”
The partnership allows fans to bet, but players, coaches, officials, and staff have to go through annual training on the league’s gambling policies. So they are not allowed to indulge. But it creates a conflict of interest and becomes extremely difficult to keep a check on, especially when so much money is moving around the game.
Recently, the league suspended Arizona Cardinals personnel executive Ryan Gold indefinitely for supplying confidential, non-public inside information regarding 2026 draft selections by Arizona. In 2023, 10 players were suspended for betting on the games.