Peter V’landys reveals the real reason behind his push for Las Vegas NRL game to start 2024 season

Footy boss Peter V’landys has revealed the real reason why the NRL wants to start the 2024 season with a blockbuster clash in Las Vegas, and as always with the racing supremo: it’s all about gambling.

V’landys, the chairman of both the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL) and Racing NSW, has not followed other sports bosses Down Under when it comes to reducing sports betting sponsorship due to the harm gambling can cause.

In fact, he wants to step it up.

The NRL is seriously pursuing the idea of ​​holding the first game of the 2024 season in the glitzy city of Las Vegas.

The Rabbitohs and Sea Eagles are front runners to play in the clash thanks to their ties to blockbuster actors Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, respectively – but playing Stateside isn’t really about tapping into their star power.

It’s not even about growing the game Down Under, where the base is struggling and the football clubs from the bush keep dropping like flies.

It’s about tapping into the $30 billion sports betting industry in the US, which continues to grow exponentially as more states legalize betting – and V’landys thinks keeping the game in Sin City won’t even cost the NRL anything.

“They are (the US) looking for bets outside the time zones. Rugby league is the perfect competition for that,” he told the The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘In my opinion, there are two parts from which we can generate extra income: the temporary employment subscription, but if we can place that with a gambling operator, you can get twice as much income. If you bet on the product, you subscribe to the broadcast.

“We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to launch our season. If we do this right, it will cost us nothing. You get so much money from sponsors.’

NRL supercoach Wayne Bennett backed the call, but after a number of failed attempts to break into the US market, Dolphins mentors also want the league to tap into the undisputed potential of American athletes who can make a huge impact in the game.

“The Vegas double header is great. I love it. Sensational. But leave something. Leave five or $10 million or whatever the figure is to set up leagues and employ rugby league people to train Americans in an NRL Academy,” he told News Corp.

“There’s no point in having a double header if we come back 15 years later and think it’s all going to be magical again.

“Previous trips to America have ended in disaster, so let’s get serious this time.”

With the Super Bowl being held in Las Vegas next year, a season opener for the NRL would be one of the biggest sporting events in the world in the weeks following.

The ARL char said the “silence” in Sin City will give the NRL more “bargaining power,” and believes 5,000 Aussies will travel to take in the whole experience, though given flights start at $2,000, as well as accommodation, food, drinking and all the gambling that V’landys expects them to do is quite prohibitively expensive for a working-class game.

Nevertheless, V’landys remains steadfast in his belief that this is the best way for the NRL to increase its coffers, despite the enormous financial difficulties facing the grassroots and bush.

When presented with the fact that choosing either side to go American would cost between $5 million and $15 million, V’landys said he believed “it doesn’t cost anything” and that tapping into the lucrative American gambling market would ultimately pay off. would disappear. anyway to struggling bush footy clubs.

For the long-time race and sports manager, linking the future of the game to gambling is a brilliant way forward.

Rugby league is a tribal entertainment product. What bets do is add a little more entertainment to the already fantastic product. If I bet on a first try scorer, it gives you a little more fun (of the game),’ V’landys said.

“It’s part of a huge revenue base … we’ve reduced $15 million a year of stakes to $50 million a year.”

It is a major linchpin of the approach of many leagues in Australia and around the world, such as the AFL and EPL, who are looking to reduce their reliance on gambling sponsorship.

The EPL bans sports betting companies from being featured on the front of players’ jerseys from the 2025–26 season (eight clubs currently have betting sponsors on the front), following the lead of other major European leagues such as Serie A and Lsa Liga , who have already done so.

Many AFL clubs take it a step further and even have their own problem gambling awareness programs.

Outgoing AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan even admitted that “there is probably too much” sports betting advertising in the league.

That’s an idea Kai Cantwell, CEO of Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA), said Australia needs to keep pushing.

“We (RWA) recognize that further reform of gambling advertising is necessary and have already begun working with relevant media and sports organizations to ensure we can make recommendations to the government for evidence-based and sustainable reform,” he said.