No I don’t. I love to say it.

Me, April 2, 2015:  I’m telling you, when online sports gambling becomes legalized in the US, which it will, and someone asks, “But who will handle all the transactions?!” it will be Draft Kings and FanDuel who step forward and raise their hands and point out that they already have millions of credit cards securely on file. We can do it. Cha-fucking-ching.

Sixers CEO Scott O’Neil, yesterday: “Will they be usurped if and when gambling is made legal in the U.S.? No. That is the entry point. I don’t want to speak for DraftKings, but if I was them, I would focus on database and relationship marketing, knowing the preferences and interests of customers. I would be understanding what his or her interests are, what he likes to bet on, when he bets, how he likes to bet. I would be building out profiles, data, and information, so when the thing [legalized sports gambling] is flipped on, I would flip my switch and I would be in the pole position.”

That’s Sixers, Devils and Prudential Center CEO O’Neil positing that Draft Kings (and FanDuel) will be in a great position to handle online sports gambling if and when it gets legalized… which is what I’ve been saying for almost a year.

O’Neil seems to be on a bit of a media tour – perhaps because the season is about to start, perhaps because he enjoys it as sport – and spoke to Philly.com and Philly Mag this week. He told Philly Mag that the Sixers wanted to use invisible ink to put their non-sponsor’s name on the court. And in the interview with Philly.com (I love how the Sixers always speak to business writers and publications, not the sports guys– working at a level way above most of their heads), he spoke about gambling, daily fantasy, and team partner Draft Kings. Oh, and he also talked about the PartyPoker sponsorship which is, curiously, no more.

Yeah, this lasted less than two years

Yeah, this lasted less than two years

Scott?

Sixers CEO Scott O’Neil confirmed late Wednesday that the Partypoker sponsorship had ended. He declined to explain the decision other than to say that even multiyear partnerships such as this one have “triggers” that allow for “adjustments based on market opportunity.”

Someday, sports gambling – online and otherwise – might be a hot market opportunity nationally, as it is now in Las Vegas and in countries such as the United Kingdom.

But today, the hot sports-market opportunity is the explosion of advertising for daily fantasy sports. And the Sixers were the first NBA team to sign a sponsorship deal with DraftKings. The other major player in the field, FanDuel, has Comcast among its investors.

…

O’Neil imagines a future where fantasy sports, legal sports gambling, technology, and media are even more intertwined than they are now – with much of it available on a smartphone. He predicts that sports betting will be legal within the next decade and he hopes it is well-regulated. At least until sports betting is fully legal, casinos want some of the daily fantasy pie.

Bingo. O’Neil told Philly.com what he told us last year – that online sports betting will inevitably be legalized – but this is the first time I can recall him connecting that eventuality to Sixers-partner Draft Kings. It’s not surprising, though. Joshua Harris and his Apollo Global Management are partners in publicly traded Caesars Entertainment (which of course declared bankruptcy earlier this year), so he undoubtedly has interest in the space, and now that he owns two sports teams and has partnerships with PartyPoker (still with Devils) and Draft Kings, and his CEO is publicly campaigning for legalized sports gambling, it’s not that much of a leap to see that the Sixers (and Devils…) want to be on the leading edge of the new frontier in sports. And Harris is exactly the sort of billionaire who can lobby for the change.

Side note: Create your Week 7 Draft Kings lineup using this link, because I want a piece of this delicious pie.