The three parties will work together to develop these new sportsbooks- one will be in the State Farm Stadium while the other three will be on tribal property. But this deal is not unique. Many tribes and professional sports teams are already signing deals with gambling service providers to cash in on the new sports betting market.
According to recent legislation passed in the State, there are ten licenses for the region’s ten sports betting teams. Ten licenses will be issued to different tribes, and ten more licenses will be available for horse tracks and off-track betting.
Gila Rivers runs three different casinos on their property. They plan to open a fourth location on their tribe. BetMGM will provide mobile sports betting services for Gila Rivers. BetMGM is the sports-betting division under the MGM Resorts umbrella.
Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, believes that a deal with Arizona Cardinals and the Gila Rivers Casino will bring many Arizona sports fans to their platform.
Sports betting in Arizona is expected to start this year before the football season. The three casinos of Gila Rivers will be operating sportsbooks as soon as the State-wide legalization of sports betting is implemented. The State Farm Stadium sportsbook is not expected to start operations before 2022. But Arizona has not just introduced sports betting. They have also amended their gambling compact with the tribes to introduce more slot games and table games.
The final deadline for applying for sports betting licenses closed this Monday, and the final license approvals are expected to be announced by August 16th. With multiple sports betting operators investing in Arizona, the State’s sports betting market is now set to explode completely.
