By Arnold Dixon
The transition away from cable TV coverage of sports to streaming has begun and will escalate next fall.
Thursday Night Football will move exclusively to Amazon, where no one but Prime subscribers will be able to — legally — watch it.
By the time that happens, sports gambling will — also legally — be available in more than half of the states in the U.S. via in-person wagers or bets made via mobile devices.
Given those developments as well as the rise of cord-cutting and the increase of sports leagues offering their products on-demand via subscription services, the unholy trinity of sports books, professional leagues and content providers are inching toward a delicate marriage.
In November, The Verge reported that “Disney, DAZN, FuboTV, Sling, and others have either launched betting companion features or have expressed an interest in entering the space in the US,” with a number of those services having integrated betting functions into app interfaces already.
