The National Football League's three official sports betting partners — FanDuel, DraftKings, and Caesars — saw their five-year contracts, first signed in April 2021 with a combined value of nearly $1 billion, expire at midnight on March 31 without renewal. This marks the first April since 2021 that the NFL has entered without a single official sportsbook partner, a void that coincides with heightened legal scrutiny over live wagering practices.
Data Pricing Dispute Stalls Negotiations
Negotiations with FanDuel and DraftKings stalled over a price hike for official streaming data distributed through Genius Sports, the league's exclusive real-time data provider, according to an SBJ report confirmed by NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk. Caesars was not expected to renew regardless of the data dispute. Genius Sports, which processes over 98% of legal U.S. sports bets on NFL games, extended its exclusive deal with the league through the 2030 season in June 2025. The NFL was the largest shareholder of Genius Sports from 2021 to 2025, receiving 22.5 million shares under the original contract and subsequent extension. It remains the second-largest shareholder today.
The league told SBJ it remains open to "various partnership structures," signaling a possible shift to a single-operator exclusive deal instead of the three-partner model used since 2021. With FanDuel and DraftKings controlling roughly two-thirds of the U.S. sports betting market, alternatives to replace their spending are limited.
Microbetting Lawsuit Draws Parallels to Tobacco Litigation
On March 24, the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) at Northeastern University filed a product liability lawsuit in Philadelphia, naming the NFL, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Genius Sports as defendants (Caesars, the third former partner, was not named). The suit alleges the companies designed and distributed online sports betting platforms intentionally made addictive, focusing on microbetting — rapid in-play wagers on individual plays (e.g., whether the next play will be a pass or run, if a third-down conversion will succeed) settled within seconds. This product relies on the same Genius Sports data pipeline at the center of the partnership pricing dispute.
Filed on behalf of two Pennsylvania residents who claim to have developed severe gambling addictions, the lawsuit explicitly draws parallels to tobacco industry litigation. It alleges DraftKings and FanDuel used AI-driven push notifications and personal VIP hosts to escalate betting behavior, even after one plaintiff indicated they wanted to stop. "Following the tobacco industry, the online sports betting industry has developed a highly addictive, hard-to-resist product bombarding consumers with dozens of betting opportunities every minute of the day," said Andrew Rainer, head of PHAI's legal division. DraftKings, FanDuel, and the NFL did not respond to requests for comment, according to the Boston Globe. A Genius Sports spokesperson declined to comment on the litigation.
Industry Context and Regulatory Moves
According to the American Gaming Association, U.S. sports betting generated a record $16.96 billion in revenue in 2025 from $166.94 billion in total wagers. The NFL remains the most-bet sport in the country. Separately, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order banning government employees from using insider information to bet on prediction markets, highlighting growing regulatory attention on novel wagering forms.
The expiration of the NFL's partnerships and the looming microbetting lawsuit could reshape the landscape of U.S. sports betting, as the league navigates between lucrative revenue streams and increasing legal exposure.