This week, FanDuel became the first legal US sportsbook to offer live streaming of a professional sporting event from America. FanDuel Sportsbook now offers live streaming of NHL games directly within the app as part of a new partnership with IMG Arena.
Watching live NHL games on the FanDuel app
FanDuel Sportsbook will feature up to two live NHL game streams each day throughout the regular season. The games are only viewable in states where legal sports betting with FanDuel is available. In able to view the stream, customers must have a funded FanDuel sportsbook account or place a wager on the event.
The FanDuel Sportsbook app is currently available for wagers in the following states:
New Jersey sports bettors will be able to wager on NJ Devils games with FanDuel but they won’t be able to watch those games inside the same app. Likewise, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins fans won’t be able to watch their favorite teams games when they’re available for streaming in the FanDuel app.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Nashville Predators live at FanDuel Sportsbook in Pennsylvania. You can watch the game and place bets in the app. pic.twitter.com/jXuHG15z7j
— Katie Kohler (@kkohler1129) March 3, 2020
The Edmonton Oilers played the Nashville Predators on the first night in-app streaming was available inside the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Residents with active accounts in the four states above were able to view the first in-app NHL stream at FanDuel.
The NHL games streamed by FanDuel will rotate each night and will feature out of market teams. Blackouts will apply to local teams and national broadcasts.
FanDuel first but not last
Last year, FanDuel became the first US sportsbook to offer this in-app streaming of live sports in the US. This deal with IMG Arena to show live NHL games takes streaming to another level by broadcasting live major professional league sports for the first time.
“As we continue to innovate and expand nationwide, the ability to further enhance the live game and live betting experience is increasingly important to our customers,” said Niall Connell, GM and SVP, FanDuel Group. Connell continued, “Our goal is to become a one-stop-shop for all sports and betting content, and live streaming professional sports like hockey is one of the many ways we are reaching that goal.”
In-App streaming is new to US sportsbooks but it’s incredibly popular in Europe and around the world. In 2019, 56 million unique viewers around the globe collectively watched more than 10.5 billion minutes of IMG Arena content.
This could be just the beginning of US sportsbook apps streaming live events. IMG Arena has the right to provide any legal US sports betting operators with live streams of select out of market NHL games. FanDuel could be the first of many sportsbook apps to offer NHL streaming.
There could also be deals for other sports in the works. Last year IMG Arena signed a global deal with Scientific Games to offer comprehensive shot-by-shot data, live streaming and interactive course visualizations from both the PGA Tour and European Tour.
