Sarah Feldberg
When the NHL awarded Las Vegas an expansion team in 2016, no one could have predicted the historic success that the Golden Knights would bring to the city and the Strip. No one could have imagined the tragic shooting Oct. 1 that rocked both the nation and the tourist destination, and no one could have guessed that the rallying point for a Las Vegas desperately in need of hope and healing would be a new hockey team in its first year on T-Mobile Arena ice. And certainly almost no one predicted — because there are people who make these kinds of prophecies and people who wager on them — that the Golden Knights, who started the season at 500-1 odds to win the championship, would end up playing the Washington Capitals for the Stanley Cup, losing at the end of a record-breaking run.
Today, Las Vegas, which long coveted major league professional sports, is undeniably a big-league town. The Raiders stadium is scheduled for completion in June 2020, and the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, owned by MGM Resorts, played their first home game at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on May 20. Already the city has been awarded the 2019 WNBA All-Star Game, and even LeBron James stopped by recently, borrowing the Aces' court for a workout alongside Dwyane Wade.
People have always come to Las Vegas to bet on sports, but now they're coming to attend games, too. And the latest development in the city's big-league boom is an interesting one: a partnership between MGM Resorts and the NBA.
Last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced MGM Resorts as the first official gaming partner of the NBA and WNBA. The deal follows a Supreme Court decision this spring that opens the expansion of sports betting beyond Nevada.
"Over the next several years almost every state in the U.S. will allow its residents to gamble on sports," MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren said on "The Dan Patrick Show." "Knowing that, MGM wanted to be a leader in sports betting and reached out and worked with the NBA to become their official sports betting partner."
The deal enables MGM to use NBA and WNBA branding in its U.S. resorts and to receive data directly from the league for sports betting operations, so gamblers can make considered decisions with stats directly from the league. The NBA will promote MGM on its digital platforms, including NBA TV and the league's app, website and social channels.
The league and the gaming and resorts company will also collaborate on a digital content series and share anonymized data to develop best practices for protecting games from fraud.
The NBA has long acknowledged the power of sports betting, so it makes sense that Silver would take the leap to forming a partnership with a major player in the gaming space. As owners of the WNBA's Aces, MGM is a fitting company to fill that role.
On "The Dan Patrick Show," Murren also teased that Las Vegas and his company would likely have more sports-related news soon.
"There'll be other league relationships; there'll be other opportunities to work with partners overseas for example. It's a pretty young industry in the U.S., at least legally," he said, referring to sports gambling.
And there could be an NBA team in Las Vegas' future. "I think it's highly likely that a team, or multiple teams, will be looking to move over the next three years, Murren told the Las Vegas Sun. "We know who they are, that's why I think it's highly likely. I would expect Las Vegas will have an NBA team within the next five years, if not sooner."