Redskins to Launch Predictive Gambling-Oriented Telecast

• Washington Redskins and NBC Sports affiliate announce the launch of a predictive gaming television feature
• Prizes will include tickets, official memorabilia and cash prizes for each quarter
• Cash prizes can reach up to $1,000 and will be given to players who predict correctly on various aspects of the games

NBC Sports Washington has confirmed that the Washington Redskins are to become the first NFL team to launch an interactive predictive-gaming television broadcast feature, which will offer both cash and memorabilia prizes to viewers who are able to predict correctly on various game and player performance turn-outs.

The Redskins will become the first NFL team to have a gambling-focused telecast of their games, offering cash prizes to viewers who correctly predict in-game outcomes during the preseason. https://t.co/folyVzMAOy

— NBCWashington (@nbcwashington) August 7, 2019

A New Rush to the Game

The name of the feature is “Predict the Game” and it will prompt viewers to predict on various game aspects. Those who participate could be asked up to 80 questions in total for the entire game and in return, those who accumulate enough points will be selected to win or share a cash prize of $1,000 for each quarter. Other prizes, such as official memorabilia or tickets for upcoming games will be given out at random.

In order for viewers to participate, they would have to register an account on the NBC Sports Washington website. Answers can be submitted via desktop or mobile devices.

The telecast will be part of the NBC Sports Washington cable network and follows the formula established by the Washington Wizards. Although, while the Wizards offer free-to-play competitive matches for the entirety of the regular season, the Redskins will keep their new feature going only through the four pre-season games due to the extent of the TV rights of NBC Sports Washington.

The gambling-oriented feature will be broadcasted on the secondary channel – NBC Sports Washington Plus – while the network will continue to broadcast its standard program on the main channel. Damon Philips, general manager of the network, explained that the results from the Wizards’ alternate telecast, which was utilized for eight of their games during this season, show a spike in rating and fan engagement.

The Future Holds More and More Interactive TV

“We think this is the way of the future. There’s going to be a gamification of television broadcasts, and this is one of the first examples of it,” Phillips said.

In its history up to this point, the NFL has usually been strongly opposed to betting on its games. This, though, is slowly changing as more and more states begin to embrace the gambling industry and examples of strong partnerships are coming to light. Such are the ones formed between the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball and Sportsbook operators in states with the proper legislation. Given that Caesars Entertainment became the first casino sponsor to work with the NFL, and the drastic change of attitude towards online gambling in the whole of the United States, the future of sports broadcasts is just about to step over to a new horizon.

Polishing the formula for interactive telecasts at this point is an innovatory step for NBC to prepare for the near future when online betting becomes legal. So far 10 states in the country have developed a full-scale legislation on sports betting and 8 more recently approved sports betting bills.