National Rugby League Plans U.S. Betting Expansion, Including Games In Las Vegas

The National Rugby League (NRL) is going all in on the United States sports betting market. The Australian league is planning on playing some round one matchups in Las Vegas in 2024, with further details expected in the next month.

Overall, the NRL is looking towards the potential revenue that online sports betting could provide through a number of different avenues. The NRL is currently in the midst of Week 9 of the season, which will end with the Sunday, April 30th showdown between the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and St. George Illawara Dragons. Week 10 will then start out on May 5th when the Bulldogs take on the Canberra Raiders.

NRL Planning On More Future Sports Betting Involvement

As sports betting continues to grow throughout the United States, more sports leagues want to get in on the action. According to The Guardian, executives with the NRL are working on holding games in Las Vegas next year, with individuals looking to travel to the city within the next month.

From there, further plans will be hammered out, with no major announcement made as of yet. This would add another major sporting event to the betting-focused area, with Las Vegas Raiders, Las Vegas Aces, and Vegas Golden Knights game being a major draw alongside UFC fights, Formula 1 races, and plans for the 2028 men’s college basketball Final Four.

The overall plan is to become involved in U.S. sports betting, with a prospective hundreds of millions of dollars available for the league. Potential revenue is a major motivational factor, as sponsorships, betting profits, and broadcasting would be driving elements.

Peter V’landys, the Australian Rugby League Commissioner, has made it clear that he wishes to be more involved with the rapidly growing U.S. sports wagering market. V’landy’s become the league’s Commissioner in 2019, shortly after the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was overturned in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Since then, the country has seen sports wagering become a multi billion-dollar industry annually, with more states continuing to launch betting markets. Support for this growth has come from other Australian sports betting operators, despite the fact that they cannot take wagers on international sporting events.

Clayton Larcombe, the PAC Capital chief investment officer, believes that sports betting operators in the United States are interested in partnering up with more Australian leagues, and that the platforms are content with spending on marketing deals.

Betting Partnerships Plentiful With U.S. Sports Leagues

It’s no surprise that the NRL wants to get involved in U.S. sports betting. Plenty of major leagues throughout the country have made deals with mobile betting apps. The NFL, for example, has ongoing deals with FanDuel Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, and BetMGM Sportsbook. Interestingly, the FanDuel and BetMGM deals both involve expansion into the Canadian market.

The NBA also has plenty of sports wagering partnerships itself, including deals with DraftKings Sportsbook, Bet365 Sportsbook, and Bally Bet Sportsbook. The UFC (partnered with DraftKings Sportsbook) and MLS (partnered with BetMGM Sportsbook) are some of the only U.S. leagues with just one sports betting operator partnership.