‘NBA League Pass’ Integrates Betting Experience Ahead of Playoffs

Posted on: March 19, 2024, 10:34h. 

Last updated on: March 19, 2024, 12:23h.

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With just a month remaining before the NBA playoffs tip off, the league and its sports betting data partner, Sportradar, have unveiled a sports betting integration for NBA League Pass.

NBA League Pass Sportradar emBET
NBA League Pass now has emBET integration available for subscribers in legal sports betting states. Sports betting data distributor Sportradar is behind the emBET product. (Image: Sportradar)

League Pass is the NBA’s direct-to-consumer subscription service that provides customers with live and on-demand coverage of every single game. The product is available through cable, satellite, and streaming television providers.

The NBA told Casino.org today that emBET, Sportradar’s streamed content service, has been integrated into League Pass. Subscribers physically located in legal sports betting states now have the option to enable live odds on the screen while watching NBA games.

Integrating emBET is consistent with the NBA’s vision to create hyper-personalized and customized viewing experiences within NBA games,” said Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA’s executive vice president of media and gaming. “For NBA fans who want to wager on our games during live action, they can now elect to receive contextualized betting information directly on NBA League Pass.”

The odds are provided by DraftKings and FanDuel, which are the NBA’s two official sports betting partners.

Watching and Betting

Sports betting is legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C. The industry continues to expand and welcome new bettors to the ballooning market. Oddsmakers in the United States took a record $121 billion in bets on sports last year, a 30% year-over-year increase.

About a quarter of the U.S. adult population reportedly bet on sports last year. The latest trend in the emerging industry is integrating betting into the sports viewing experience.

The emBET integration allows NBA League Pass viewers to seamlessly place a bet on the game they’re watching via DraftKings or FanDuel. On television, the person watching the game can scan a QR code to be taken directly to a bet slip on the bettor’s preferred sportsbook app.

NBA League Pass being viewed on mobile devices like a smartphone or tablet has the easier option of simply touching the displayed odds on the screen and being taken immediately to the bet slip.

“emBET is an exciting innovation for NBA fans, making in-play betting more engaging and immersive,” said Patrick Mostboeck, Sportradar’s senior vice president of audiovisual. “Through our exclusive partnership with the NBA, we’re committed to developing next-generation, value-added products and services, like emBET, to drive fan and bettor engagement.”

The NBA League Pass sports betting integration follows a similar product announcement from Comcast. The telecommunications giant last week revealed the integration of DraftKings odds into its Xfinity X1 cable service.  

Sportradar Exclusive NBA Data Partner

Sportradar is a Switzerland-based company that gathers and analyzes sports data and then disseminates that information to bookmakers around the world.

Sportradar teamed up with the NBA in 2016, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting that had limited single-game betting to Nevada. Since then, Sportradar has possessed the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the NBA’s official data.

Along with the NBA, Sportradar holds distribution rights for the NFL, NHL, and NASCAR. Sportradar’s high-profile investors include Michael Jordan and Mark Cuban.

The firm generated revenue of nearly $1 billion during the 2023 fiscal year, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of about $180 million.