Spanish gaming company, Codere SA (CDR:MCE), has partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA), in a multiyear deal making it the league’s first official gaming partner in Mexico.

According to the official press release from NBA Communications…

The new partnership between the Alcobendas-headquartered multinational firm and the NBA, announced on December 12, 2018, will be promoted in retail locations across the country between the U.S. and Central America, on the online platforms of the NBA, inclduing NBA Mexico social media platforms, the NBA App and NBA.com, as well as on Codere’s assets.

“respecting the rules of the game is part of our DNA”

Marketing Director for Codere, Ángel Fernández, said, “Our partnership with the NBA reinforces our values and leadership position of trust and fair play. Respecting the rules of the game is part of our DNA, and our partnership with the most competitive league in the world exemplifies that.

“Together, we are thrilled to offer better experiences to our clients and add more excitement to the game, if that’s even possible,” added Fernández.

For its part, Vice President & Managing Director NBA Latin America, Arnon de Mello, explained, “Codere is one of the largest gaming operators in Mexico and our new partnership will offer more ways for our passionate fans to connect and experience the excitement of our game.”

Third consecutive season of regular-season games:

Under the terms of the agreement, Codere will become an Associate Partner of the 2018 NBA Mexico City Games, which saw two regular season match-ups during the 2018-19 season for the Orlando Magic who played the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, December 13 and the Utah Jazz on Saturday, December 15 in Mexico City at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico.

The games will realize three seasons in a row that the NBA will play a pair of regular-season games in the capital city as well as the 27th and 28th games in the country since 1992, the largest amount of NBA games that have taken place in any country beyond the United States and Canada.

Best-in-class practices:

Official NBA branding and betting data will be used by Codere across its digital sports betting and land-based offerings throughout Mexico. And in an effort to safeguard the integrity of the league’s games, the partnership will also see both entities work together on best-in-class practices.

According to the news release, fans located in Mexico are able to obtain additional NBA information on Twitter (@NBAMEX), Facebook.com/NBA_Mexico and at NBA.com.

PAPSA unconstitutional:

Since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), which essentially limited sports betting to one state (Nevada) for the last 25 years, was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court on May 14, 2018, and as more states legalize sports betting, a string of similar partnerships have been established between major North American sports leagues and leaders in the gaming industry. The NBA, most notably, has embraced the new legal betting climate in the US.

The timeline according to NBA Communications is as follows:

  • July 31, 2018, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver (pictured, left) and MGM Resorts International Chairman & CEO Jim Murren announced a new multi-year partnership making MGM Resorts International the official gaming partner of the NBA and WNBA. MGM inked similar deals with the National Hockey League (NHL) in October, and Major League Baseball (MLB) in November.
  • November 28, 2018, the NBA announces its first betting data partnerships in the U.S., giving sports data companies, Sportradar and Genius Sports, non-exclusive rights to distribute official NBA betting data to licensed sports betting operators in the U.S.
  • December 7, 2018, Supermatch and the NBA announced a new multiyear partnership making Uruguay’s national lottery operator, Supermatch, the first official gaming partner of the NBA in the country and the league’s first in the category in Latin America.
  • December 11, 2018, the NBA announced that it had signed a multi-year partnership with online gambling operator, The Stars Group, officially designating, what is the parent company of PokerStars, an authorized gaming operator of the league. The partnership marks The Stars Group’s first with a professional sports league in the U.S.
  • December 12, 2018, Codere and the NBA announce new multi-year partnership.

NBA and FanDuel tie-up:

And just today, the NBA and FanDuel announced an expanded multi-year partnership making the New York City-headquartered daily fantasy sports provider an Authorized Gaming Operator of the NBA, while remaining the NBA’s Official Daily Fantasy Partner, operating both the Official Daily Fantasy Game of both the NBA and the WNBA.

Same song different tune:

The league hasn’t always been an advocate of legalized sports betting, former NBA Commissioner David Stern, who retired in 2014, was among a group of powerful men who joined forces in 1991 to petition a Senate subcommittee to stop the spread of the practice. Those efforts resulted in PASPA also known as the “Bradley Act,” being enacted by the 102nd United States Congress on October 28, 1992.

Echoing his successor, in 2015 Stern did not mince words while attending a forum on the future of sports media in New York City, when he declared, “There should be federal legislation that says, ‘Let’s go all the way’ and have betting on sports. It’s OK. It’s going to be properly regulated.”