Las Vegas Set To Host The NFL Draft In 2020
The NFL recently announced that Las Vegas will host its first NFL Draft in 2020.
The draft will precede the Oakland Raiders relocating to Las Vegas. The unnamed Las Vegas stadium is slated to open July 31 of that year — just in time for the Raiders to kick off national football season.
The location of the NFL Draft in Las Vegas
Since the new football stadium won’t be finished in time for the 2020 NFL Draft, there’s plenty of speculation on where it will be held.
It’s possible that the timing is a coincidence. The information regarding the NFL looking for a national casino partner leaked out on the same day of the draft announcement.
MGM Resorts International is already an official gaming partner of the NBA, MLB  ;and NHL. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see them ink a similar deal with the NFL.
If MGM Resorts is a partner, it would also offer the NFL several locations to host the draft. The casino operator owns the closest casinos to the new stadium with Mandalay Bay and Luxor. They also operate T-Mobile Arena, the Park Theater, and Toshiba Plaza, which is located in between the two venues.
It almost makes too much sense for MGM Resorts International and the NFL not to become partners.
Beyond the data, the official partnerships previously have included reciprocating marketing agreements where both parties agree to market one another. This seems to be a perfect match between all of the venues and the potential for sports betting platform MGM Resorts can offer the NFL.
NFL Draft betting
This will be the first time the NFL Draft is hosted in a city with legal sports betting.
Wagering on the NFL Draft in the US is still relatively new. The Nevada Gaming Control Board allowed casinos to offer NFL Draft wagers in 2017 and 2018.
Not all Nevada sportsbook operators have offered wagering opportunities for the NFL Draft. Those that did offer wagering on it were limited to just more than 30 different prop bets in 2018.
Unlike the offshore sportsbooks, Nevada sportsbooks were required to stop taking wagers on the NFL Draft the day before the event took place.
That restriction didn’t slow down enthusiasm for betting on the NFL Draft in Nevada. Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports operations at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, tells Playin USA that “the response has been very positive” for both years they’ve offered NFL Draft proposition bets.
Kornegay expects that to continue in 2020 when the NFL Draft is hosted in Las Vegas. He added, “with the event being held in Las Vegas, we can only believe interest will increase.”
