Delta Air Lines Announces Deal with DraftKings, But What Actually Is It?

Posted on: January 9, 2025, 04:07h. 

Last updated on: January 9, 2025, 04:09h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Delta Air Lines is partnering with DraftKings in a deal that has many industry watchers – both of the gambling and transportation variety – scratching their heads.

Delta Air Lines, DraftKings, Ed Bastian, inflight gambling
Delta CEO Ed Bastian delivering his keynote speech at CES inside the Las Vegas Sphere on Wednesday, where he announced a mysterious new deal with DraftKings. (Image: CES/YouTube)

The announcement was made by Delta CEO Ed Bastian during a keynote presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Wednesday, which is currently in full swing in Las Vegas. Bastian’s speech at the Sphere focused on how technology was driving the customer’s inflight experience, and midway through included the following announcement.

“Since we’re here in Las Vegas, the gaming capital of the world, it’s only fitting to announce a collaboration with DraftKings, one of the world’s leading online gaming platforms, for the Delta Sync experience,” Bastian said.

From fantasy sports to online adventures, gaming has become a regular part of the daily lives of many of our customers, and they shouldn’t have to hit pause just because they’re in the sky. Our partnership with DraftKings will build on the games portfolio that we already offer today…”

He can’t be talking about inflight gambling, can he?

Section 41311 of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act states: “An air carrier or foreign air carrier may not install, transport, or operate, or permit the use of, any gambling device on board an aircraft in foreign air transportation.”

That means gambling is prohibited not only on any US carrier anywhere, but also on any flight that begins or ends in the United States.

Cards in the Air?

Bastian is perhaps purposefully vague about the terms of this deal, which has not yet been officially announced by DraftKings, although the company’s CEO, Jason Robbins, was in the audience nodding along appreciatively.

It’s likely that, for now, the agreement involves some kind of cross promotion where passengers can register inflight for DraftKings for play-money games. Maybe they will also be able to earn airmiles through the DraftKings reward program.

It also means that should inflight gambling become legal in the near future, everything will be in place for a quick and potentially very lucrative rollout.

In 1996, a study by the US Department of Transportation determined that airlines could generate $1 million per aircraft per year (around $2 million in today’s money) by offering gambling, or $1.3 billion per year for an 800-plane airline (Delta has almost 1,000).

These figures were sufficiently eye-popping at the time to spark a concerted effort by a coalition of international airlines to lobby Congress to repeal the ban on gambling. Could a fresh lobbying push be in the offing, this time from Delta and DraftKings?

Casino.org has contacted DraftKings and Delta Air Lines for comment.

Potential Turbulence

The first experiments with inflight gambling began in 1981 when Singapore Airlines installed slots aboard its Boeing 747s. They were discontinued after they caused egress and service issues, with too many passengers milling around the machines in the back cabin, according to airline blog View From the Wing.

Today, in the UK, which has no mid-air gambling prohibition, Ryanair and other budget airlines sell instant-win scratchcards as a lucrative sideline but have stopped short of full-blown inflight gambling.

That’s because gambling is a well-known “mood modifier” and there is a risk losers could get aggressive, putting crew and other passengers at risk.