How Yankees, Mets Plan To Incorporate Sports Betting During Live Broadcasts

The 2024 MLB campaign marks the first season in which New York baseball fans can bet legally on NY sportsbooks. And the Yankees and Mets have a real shot at qualifying for the 12-team playoffs. 

As of Tuesday morning, the over/under for the Bronx Bombers was  across NY sportsbooks, while Jacob deGrom’s shoulder injury dropped the Mets from 90.5 wins to . 

Caesars’ head baseball trader Eric Biggio said on Monday:

“I don’t see (Jacob) pitching until at least the All-Star break, so that’s at least 15-16 starts right there, and thought that was worth a three-win difference.”

Excitement builds with new acquisitions

Mets’ fans could see marquee free-agent signee Max Scherzer make his debut on Friday. And fellow offseason acquisitions Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar should be upgraded in the lineup, complementing Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso. 

Read More: Caesars-NY Mets partnership bringing Caesars Sportsbook to Citi Field this year.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, trade acquisition Josh Donaldson will get his first taste of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry in The Bronx, weather permitting. 

The Yankees odds to win the World Series are , while the Mets sit at .

Gerrit Cole (+350 and +450) and Scherzer (+450 and +700) are the AL-NL Cy Young favorites, though you cannot bet on individual player future awards in NY due to state regulations that prohibit bets on awards that require a vote. 

PointsBet odds integration available soon

Mets and Yankees telecasts on SNY and YES Network will have an increased presence around the sports betting space. As part of SNY’s partnership with PointsBet, viewers should start to see odds integrations tied to live betting while watching Mets’ broadcasts.

According to a spokesperson:

“PointBet’s Odds Factory proprietary technology platform, which powers live in-play betting during NFL, NBA and NCAA basketball games, will be integrated later in this season.”

On YES Network, there won’t be anything content-related as it pertains to sports betting, though operators FanDuel, DraftKings and Bet365 (New Jersey) will have a presence in the network’s Yankees’ coverage. 

Pick-N-Play a sort of free training for fans

Also, fans will be able to participate in the Yankees’ version of the YES app’s Pick-N-Play free single-screen live prediction game that was just introduced for the network’s Nets’ telecasts. A spokesperson said that Pick-N-Play could be up for Thursday’s Opening Day if not shortly thereafter. 

Pick-N-Play, in partnership with Simplebet, appears to be a free-to-play spring training of sorts. Eventually, customers could have a single-screen live sports betting experience down the road for real money, assuming latency issues and media rights fees are worked out. 

PointsBet CMO Kyle Christensen had envisioned a similar experience to playin-ny where Mets’ bettors could live bet on the PointsBet NY app on a pitch-by-pitch, play-by-play, inning-by-inning basis.

For example, one possibility would include whether deGrom would strike out the side. The deal with SNY would also enable PointsBet to feature live MLB betting content in the Mets’ in-studio shows before and after games.

Yankees, Mets ownership all in on NY sports betting

Yankees’ president Randy Levine has made no secret of his desire to expand the franchise’s footprint in the sports betting space as is allowed under the New York State Legislature. 

They would like to put a retail sportsbook in Yankee Stadium if and when state regulations allow it.

The Yankees have also had talks with multiple sportsbooks about partnerships. They have had a partnership with FanDuel, so that’s certainly one possibility.

It’s also worth noting that Mets’ owner Steve Cohen had exploratory talks with Las Vegas Sands about the possibility of building a casino next to Citi Field. So Cohen appears to have an appetite for gaming himself.