Here’s How Delta Will Integrate Gambling Into Seat Back Entertainment This Year

by Gary Leff on January 10, 2025

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian announced a partnership with DraftKings at his CES speech in Las Vegas. I assumed that – since inflight gambling is illegal under the Gambling Devices Act of 1962 – this would look something like earn Delta SkyMiles for sports betting through DraftKings. After all, you can earn Marriott points with BetMGM already today.

While Delta has been quiet about the particulars, Bastian actually said that their DraftKings partnership is going to integrate with their inflight entertainment system.

We continue to find new partners to bring into our ecosystem. Well, since we’re here in Las Vegas – the gaming capital of the world – it’s only fitting to announce a collaboration with DraftKings, one of the world’s leading gaming platforms, for the Delta Sync experience. From fantasy sports to online adventures, gaming has become part of the daily lives of millions of our customers. And you shouldn’t have to hit pause just because you’re in the sky.

This sounds to me like two things.

1. Delta is going to offer inflight gaming without monetary bets which are illegal. That means giving (selling) access to Delta customers, so that DraftKings can build its client base that will then gamble with real money on the ground.
2. Potentially lobbying a Trump administration and Republicans in Congress for a change in law. Department of Transportation research suggests that an airline the size of Delta (or United or American) would earn over $1 billion a year from inflight gambling.

This first piece, that we’ll likely see first – gambling games without real money at stake – is consistent with what Bastian said next: “Our partnership with DraftKings will build on the games portfolio that we already offer today via Delta Sync and our seatback screens – while using the deep expertise that Jason (CEO of DraftKings) and his team have developed over the past decade.”

According to a Delta Air Lines spokesperson,

Delta is excited to collaborate with DraftKings as we build out the gaming portfolio on our Delta Sync experience. Specific details on the partnership and how DraftKings will appear on Delta Sync will be available at a future date.

There’s a billion dollars of revenue here that’s just out of reach for each major airline. Delta is going to be first among peers at beginning to tap a small fraction of it. It’s hard to imagine that their government relations team won’t be salivating at the possibility of accessing the rest.

The next opportunity too, by the way, is gambling using frequent flyer miles instead of money. I was approached by a team working on the idea 10 years ago. My feedback at the time as that programs weren’t ready to consider it. Much of the taboo there seems to be gone, for better or worse.

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