The MLB is leading the charge from a partnership perspective as the sports betting industry continues to evolve in the US, as revealed in the MLB 2022 Marketing Partnerships Report released last week.

According to the report, 13 MLB teams hail from states where retail and online betting have been legalized. In states where online gambling approval is still pending, teams have inked in-venue signage assets to stake their claim as future official partners to sports betting brands.

Take the Chicago White Sox, for example. Illinois’ first retail sportsbook debuted in March 2020, and the team unveiled teaser signage with Caesars Sportsbook in September 2021. Following the state’s legalization of online sportsbooks in March 2022, the White Sox named Caesars Sportsbook its official sports betting partner.

The deal includes the following assets:

• Entertainment content, such as the “KLINKO Challenge”

• 1st & 3rd base digital ads

• Outfield wall signage

• Backstop rotating banner ads

• Digital ads in the outfield’s mid-upper level

• Ribbon board digital ads

• Inner bowl signage

• Digital ads on the Videoboard

• Stadium concourse TV commercial

• Exterior ground rotating billboard

During the 2022 season, the Houston Astros, Cleveland Guardians, and St. Louis Cardinals were just a few teams that followed the White Sox’s lead, selling outfield wall signage in anticipation of online betting’s imminent legalization in their home states.