Official betting is where sportsbooks partner with leagues to display odds for all the different teams and games. This is an important step in promoting sports betting to the masses, as well as ensuring accuracy in the odds. It also creates a natural alliance between a sportsbook and its fans. You can see this in action with the many sponsorship deals between sportsbooks and teams, as well as on TV, where you’ll often see advertisements for the various sportsbooks available in legal states.

In the US, Major League Baseball (MLB) recently announced a new pact with daily fantasy sports firm FanDuel. The multi-year deal makes the New York-based company a co-exclusive official sports betting partner of MLB. It adds to FanDuel’s existing roster of US sport partnerships, which includes a similar pact with the National Football League (NFL), the NBA, the NHL, the PGA Tour and the WTA.

A number of states have legalized sports betting since the Supreme Court overturned PASPA in 2018. Nevada was one of the first, offering both retail and online wagering in 2021, with DraftKings, FanDuel and BetRivers all opening up shop.

Ohio was another state to move quickly following the Supreme Court decision. The state voted in favor of sports betting and lawmakers passed legislation allowing it to happen in 2021, with retail sportsbooks going live in November and online in January of 2022. The state law requires a minimum of four and as many as 12 online sportsbooks to operate.