The New York Yankees Partner with MGM Resorts, Betting Updates
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00:00All right, welcome back in Newswire here on the Sports Grid Network on this Monday now, July the 15th, and we've got certainly a few very interesting headlines from over the last week or so regarding the expansion of gambling here and with maybe one of the all-time greatest franchises across professional sports.
00:25And we welcome in our good friend Mike Mazzeo here of the Legal Sports Report to kind of shed some light on this story here, Mike, regarding the partnership possibly of MGM Resorts and the New York Yankees.
00:40What's going on with this?
00:42Joe, thanks so much for having me here.
00:46Yeah, so MGM Resorts and the Yankees have a partnership.
00:49It's centered around MGM Resorts' Empire City Casino property in Yonkers.
00:54As we know, that has long been considered one of the favorites to get one of the three downstate New York casino licenses.
01:01It's currently a video lottery terminal.
01:03They hope to turn it into a full-scale casino.
01:05That process has taken, I think, longer than everybody expected, still maybe a year or two away from it all settling down.
01:11But this is a partnership where Empire City Casino will have some signage at Yankee Stadium during games and then some broadcast visibility as well at select home games.
01:22The Yankees broadcast on Yes Network.
01:24So again, they have grand ambitions, MGM, of trying to get into the New York market in a bigger way than they are now.
01:30Yankees are obviously one of the most iconic franchises, one of the most historic franchises in sports.
01:35So a partnership that probably makes sense for both sides.
01:38I think they're going to also offer some fan experiences from BetMGM Rewards members through Yankees games.
01:44I think somebody said throwing out the first pitch at one of the games and especially watching batting practice as well.
01:49So a partnership we've seen before.
01:51The Yankees have three sportsbook partnerships, FanDuel, DraftKings, Bet365.
01:57So they're certainly very invested, like a lot of other North American professional sports teams, in sportsbook partnerships.
02:02Now adding a casino partnership, Empire City also has signage at Citi Field with the Mets.
02:07So they've got grand ambitions.
02:08And we'll see how that partnership kind of shakes out, Joe, in terms of if MGM does get the full-scale casino, how much the Yankees will be involved.
02:15I believe some Yankee players will be headed over to that casino to greet fans and stuff like that.
02:21So a partnership they hope will be for the long haul and potentially even more things to come for MGM with their bid here in New York for a full-scale casino.
02:31So the partnership the Yankees have had already, I'm guessing, are non-exclusive, right?
02:36Is this with MGM going to be totally exclusive and we won't be talking about any other books associated with the Yankees?
02:45No, I mean the sportsbook ones, right, FanDuel, DraftKings, Bet365, those are multi-year deals.
02:50They're still active.
02:51And so this will be a casino partnership activation.
02:54You see, you know, when you go to a Yankees game, you see the FanDuel signage, you see DraftKings, you see Bet365, and then on the S Network or broadcast, those books are mentioned.
03:01So I would assume that would be the same case here with MGM, Empire City.
03:06Yeah, yeah, exclusive.
03:07I can't, not with the Yankees.
03:10We have another very interesting story as well that came up regarding the Fanatic Sportsbook in Massachusetts.
03:19We've got some fines and investigations going on.
03:22What is this all about, centering around college sports?
03:27Yeah, Joe.
03:27So a $2 parlay, five-leg parlay on college sports featuring a prohibited game in Massachusetts.
03:34You can't bet on in-state college teams in a non-tournament event.
03:39So a five-leg, $2 parlay turns into a $15,000 fine.
03:42The IEB looked into it, and the Gaming Commission agreed with the IEB's fine of a recommendation of $15,000.
03:52Fanatics had a similar fine, $10,000, for allowing a $50 college bowl bet on Boston College.
04:01They wiped out both bets before they were settled, but still had to pay $25,000.
04:06So, you know, if you're a sportsbook out there, be very careful with what you're offering.
04:11They're certainly not the only sportsbook in Massachusetts that has been docked for this, Joe.
04:15All their three in-person sportsbooks at their casinos also got docked.
04:20I think $50,000 got combined.
04:22I think it was 2023 for various in-state colleges prohibited bets that they offered.
04:28So this is not a problem that should be happening, but has happened with other sportsbooks.
04:33And now, you know, Fanatics takes $52 in bets and pays out $25,000 in fines.
04:38So again, probably a score is not going away.
04:40A lot of, you know, state regulators set rules, and they want sportsbooks to follow them.
04:46And if you don't, you've got to pay a hefty fine.
04:49But certainly, you know, Fanatics and others make way more than $25,000 in the state.
04:52So probably not that big for them, but something that shouldn't be happening.
04:57Yeah, that's a pretty big gaffe with the, you know, the laws being the laws and the rules being the rules there for Fanatics.
05:05But I don't think they'll make that mistake again, Mike.
05:08I think that is for sure.
05:10We also are hearing about, well, an interview that Rob Manford did with the Dallas Morning News,
05:17where he talked about Major League Baseball and its rule, or actually its relationship with sports betting and gambling.
05:28What did you take away from this interview with him?
05:33Yeah, Joe, I think it was just surprising.
05:34He said gambling's been happening before, and now we're able to catch it.
05:39It wasn't really happening back then.
05:40But, you know, you look at the names, right, like you talked about before our segment.
05:43Pete Rose, Jules Joe Jackson, the Black Sox Scandal in 1919.
05:47So this stuff's been happening.
05:49They feel like they're better equipped to catch it now.
05:51Whether they should have gotten a financial relationship with the sports books.
05:53I mean, you could ask the same question of the NBA, NFL, NHL, all the major sports leagues, should they have done this.
05:59But it's here now.
06:00And so integrity is the foremost concern.
06:02And a lot of people are questioning that, given all the scandals, right?
06:04There's Mercano.
06:06There's Pat Holberg, one of the best umpires in MLB suspended right now.
06:09We don't exactly know what he did, but he's been disciplined.
06:11And he has an umpire to gain this year.
06:13Shohei Otani's interpreter.
06:15The four minor league players, besides Mercano, that got hit.
06:18So, you know, it goes down the list.
06:21We saw John J.
06:21Porter just plead guilty, right, to wire fraud charges in the NBA.
06:25He's been banned for life.
06:26So this stuff is not going anywhere, unfortunately.
06:29And you hope that it's not a bigger team-wide event, which could potentially take down the entire industry.
06:34But certainly something MLB continues to monitor.
06:37Education, very key there.
06:39And I think, you know, it's something that these leagues have to deal with.
06:43They hope it doesn't happen.
06:44And then I think the other thing Manfred said was he doesn't expect federal oversight.
06:48You know, whether we get these huge scandals and that changes, we'll see.
06:51But he said, you know, states are making a ton of money on this.
06:54And given the political climate, doesn't think federal oversight's coming any time soon.
06:58But we've seen Senator Blumenthal, Tonko.
07:02You know, there's a lot of federal legislators that have taken an interest in this, whether it's, you know,
07:07college betting and, you know, Charlie Baker trying to get rid of prop betting with college athletes.
07:13But, you know, this is a hot-button topic that, you know, isn't going anywhere.
07:18And baseball's got to deal with it.
07:20And you kind of reap what you sow, right?
07:21They, you know, are allowing legalized gambling to have relationships as the Yankees have with the three sportsbooks.
07:27They're not the only team that has that.
07:28And again, you want to, you know, nip these in the bud, all these gambling scandals.
07:34So education is key.
07:35And you hope there's not that one guy out there of the, you know, over what, 750 active players, coaches, GMs, execs.
07:43You know, down to the team of Seuss or the interpreter in Shohei Ohtani's case.
07:46You hope everybody knows not to do this and don't want to make a bad example with the government looking over everything.
07:53And they've done a pretty good job of that, right?
07:56I mean, that was always the biggest fear was the integrity of the game.
07:59And that's always going to come above anything else or anyone else, which is what made the Shohei Ohtani situation just so crazy.
08:08Because, you know, one of your biggest stars, you can't have any integrity issues, right?
08:14With Major League Baseball.
08:15And they've done a pretty good job to this point.
08:19Yeah, just unfortunately, it feels like it's one name after the other.
08:22They really had that strict.
08:22They had an umpire.
08:23They had an interpreter.
08:24They had a, you know, active MLB player.
08:26They had minor league players.
08:27I mean, it never ends and you hope it's not to the Ohtani level.
08:31You know, NFL had it with Calvin Ridley.
08:32He was a pretty big star player.
08:34Served his suspension, came back, was a productive player and hopefully won't do this again.
08:37So, yeah, education key, Joe.
08:39And, you know, you want to make sure your fans when they're betting on these games, know they're not rigged.
08:42And that's something that, you know, the leagues have to deal with, given their financial relationships.
08:48Absolutely, correct.
08:49A lot of money at stake and I think everyone has done a pretty good job of policing this.
08:54And, you know, self-responsibility is a pretty good thing here when it comes to professional athletes.
09:00Mike, I appreciate it.
09:02As always, my friend, enjoy the week here.
09:06Of course, we'll talk more when it comes to everything to do with the legal sports report here on Newswire.