The Arizona Cardinals have agreed to have the Gila River Hotels and Casinos as their official casino and hotel partner this National Football League season.
Details of the partnership include contests as well as hotel rooms that would be themed after the NFL squad. In addition, all through the season, the three hotels in the Gila River chain, which are situated in the Phoenix area, will conduct various kinds of promotions that would strengthen the partnership even more.
The Gila River Indian Community-owned properties will also be broadcasting every single Cardinals game this season. The hotel and casino group already has an identical partnership with Arizona’s Major League Baseball squad, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Kenneth Manuel, the CEO of Gila River Hotels and Casinos, said there is a close bond between the community members and the Arizona Cardinals. To emphasize this, he even talked about the amount of support they try to give to the Cardinals, saying there are always “more than 300 Gila River Indian Community member fans in attendance”
“It has been an honor to present our nation’s colors before each of those games,” Manuel said.
Legal sports betting has yet to made legal in the state. There was a glimmer of hope at the start of 2019 that a bill could be pushed through, but this did not materialize. Senate Bill 1158 was proposed in January and has been in committee ever since.
The bill was generous to the tribal gambling interests in the state. However, of the 16 tribes in Arizona that are in control of the casinos, only the Navajo tribe have given its backing.
As there are no commercial casinos in Arizona, legal sportsbooks would likely be exclusively offered at the tribal facilities in the state. Whatever the case may be, any such legalization bill would have tribal exclusivity and rights at the head of its proposal.
Since September of 2018, the NFL has permitted teams to acquire official casino sponsors once they are not promoting sportsbooks. Since then, a number of sides have jumped at the opportunity.
Not long after, the Dallas Cowboys announced that they have finalized a partnership with the WinStar World Casino Resort in Oklahoma. And just recently, the Baltimore Ravens inked a deal with Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino, while the Green Bay Packers also settled on a sponsorship deal from the Oneida Nation tribe of Wisconsin.
The soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders has also entered into a 15-year partnership with Caesars Entertainment, while the Buffalo Bills finalized a deal with Seneca Resorts and Casinos.
