Arizona Cardinals First NFL Team To Have Retail Sportsbook At Stadium

The Arizona Cardinals will officially become the first team in the NFL to have a retail sportsbook inside their stadium, reported ESPN.

Sportsbook operator BetMGM made the announcement on Monday about the partnership with the Cardinals and Gila River Hotels & Casinos. The partnership will give them access to the state's online sports betting market.

In the partnership State Farm Stadium will have a retail sportsbook on-site in Glendale. This is expected to be in place before the beginning of the 2021 NFL season.

Arizona, Illinois, and Washington, D.C. are the only places at the moment where on-site sports betting facilities are allowed. The Phoenix Suns announced earlier this year that they would be putting a retail sportsbook in their arena as well.

The Cardinals' big announcement comes after the NFL's move toward sports betting. Originally the league opposed sports betting and even fought in court for six years to prevent it outside of Nevada.

In 2018, however, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the NFL and demolished the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. Since then, 29 states and the District of Columbia have passed sports betting legislation.