MGM’s data deal with startup football league raises eyebrows

The first Sunday of legal wagering on National Football League games outside Nevada brought plenty of excitement, but much of Monday’s talk was about a casino operator’s ties to a completely different league.

New Jersey sports bettors got their seventh digital wagering option on Monday via the first stateside appearance of 888sport, the sports betting brand of UK-listed online gambling operator 888 Holdings.

The new 888 sports product is available via desktop and mobile devices and is powered by European betting tech provider Kambi, which providing similar NJ betting backbones for DraftKings and PlaySugarHouse. Kambi and 888 have been linked since 2013, when 888 debuted its first Kambi-powered sportsbook.

888 CEO Itai Freiberger called the New Jersey wagering launch “a major milestone” for his company, which now offers sports, casino and poker products in New Jersey. Freiberger says 888 is hungrily eyeing expansion into other US states that may eventually realize that online gambling doesn’t actually carry cooties.