While federal law currently prohibits inflight sports betting, Delta airlines CEO Ed Bastian took to CES this week to announce a tie-up between the airline giant and DraftKings.
Whether Bastian meant that passengers would be able to bet from their seats remains an open question, but under the Gambling Devices Act of 1962 (also known as the Johnson Act, 15 USC 1171) gambling is illegal on US commercial aircraft. Gambling is legal in airports if it’s legal in the jurisdiction where the airport is located. The Las Vegas airport, for example, has generated over $1 billion in gambling revenue.
In 1996, the US Department of Transportation concluded that airlines could earn $1 million per aircraft per year by offering gambling, $1.6 million in 2020 dollars or $1.3 billion per year for an 800 plane airline. (Airlines have argued that the potential economic impact is even greater than this.) Delta’s fleet contains about 1,000 aircraft.
As airlines look for new revenue sources, it's not surprising that airline execs are looking to cash-in on passengers stuck on tarmacs with nothing else to do.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian: “From fantasy sports to online adventures, gaming has become a regular 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. Our partnership with DraftKings will build on the games portfolio we already offer today via Delta Sync and our seatback screens while using the deep expertise that Jason [Robins, DraftKings co-founder and CEO] and his team have developed over the past decade.”
