Delta Air Lines is venturing into sports betting as a new frontier in generating revenue. They announced a partnership with DraftKings at CES in Las Vegas. The airline isn’t yet providing details on what the new gambling integration will look like.
PaxEx Aero suggests it could mean onboard gambling through the airline’s inflight entertainment system, but I do not think so. That would be illegal.
I’m hoping that I misheard the part where Bastian described it as part of the “gaming” offerings on the in-seat IFE. I am not a fan of this at all. If people want to gamble on their personal devices that’s one thing. But pushing it into the IFE platform is a morally questionable choice to me.
Delta Can’t Currently Offer Legally Onboard Gambling
For 32 years, however, it was legal for foreign airlines flying to and from the U.S. to offer inflight gambling. And some have experimented with it.
- In 1981 Singapore Airlines engaged in a two month test offering slot machines on the Singapore – San Francisco route. They proved so popular that the machines in the back of the cabin caused egress and service issues, with too many passengers congregating. The light weight machines that were selected (lighter weight means less fuel burn) weren’t sturdy enough either.
In fact all seven slot machines broke on their inaugural run. Singapore Airlines revisited the idea in the late 1990s.
- Swiss tried seat-based inflight gambling in the 1990s but ended the option when the crash of Swissair Flight 111 in 1998 was linked to arcing in the wiring of the inflight entertainment system. New systems have been greatly improved over the last 20 years.
- Ryanair announced in 2005 that it would offer inflight gambling, with CEO Michael O’Leary going so far as to suggest passengers would eventually fly free with the airline making money off games of chance. The effort never came to fruition.
However 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 sits. The Las Vegas airport has generated over $1 billion in gambling revenue.
Las Vegas Airport
US-registered cruise ships got the ability to offer gambling with 1991’s United States-Flag Cruise Ship Competitiveness Act. TWA and Northwest Airlines lobbied for airlines to receive a similar exemption. However the government protected them from an uneven playing field in a different way — the Gorton amendment (49 USC 41311) prohibited gambling not just on US-registered aircraft but on any plane flying to or from the U.S. This may not be legal under US aviation treaties, but it has not been tested. Swiss operated under an exemption to the Gorton amendment.
While the Gorton amendment says that foreign airlines may not “install, transport, or operate, or permit the use of, any gambling device on board an aircraft in foreign air transportation” the FAA has said that it’s permissible for an aircraft flying to the U.S. to have an installed gambling device as long as it is deactivated for the flight.
Inflight Gambling Almost Was Legalized In The ’90s
The Department of Transportation studied inflight gambling in 1996, largely concluding it was fine, but stopping short of recommending legalizing the practice. The Clinton Administration at the time was proposing a national study on the effects of gambling and DOT held off from pre-empting this.
Delta Could Earn Billions If The Law Changed
In 1996, DOT 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 is nearly 1,000 aircraft.
What To Expect From Delta-Draft Kings Partnership
It’s now possible to earn Marriott points through BetMGM so I expect this to look more like SkyMiles-earning for sports betting, although a much more innovative approach would be to offer SkyMiles redemption for gambling as well.
Like swapping Uber for Lyft, this hardly seemed worthy of a CES presentation at The Sphere, but like most things Delta the announcements are reasonably good but fall far short of the stories they prefer to tell.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Delta test the waters in conversation with a Trump administration over online gambling. The President-elect himself was in the casino business at one point. However Las Vegas gaming companies are effective lobbyists against the expansion of gambling by other players and would likely oppose this.
Can US airlines get any more tacky? Just what I want some hopped up moron next to me going nuts (and being loud about it) playing Black Jack. And one wonders why airports have become Youtube entertainment of imbeciles acting crazy and getting arrested. Case in point the story before this of a JetBlue passenger deploying the emergency exit to get away from his girlfriend.
Maybe Delta can put slot machines in their lounges.
It’s a brilliant idea. Delta has captive customers who are locked in a metal tube for hours who can gamble and get frequent flier miles with every bet. Draft Kings offers an escape. And they will make billions in the process.
https://brothke.medium.com/why-you-should-never-sign-up-for-an-online-casino-sportsbook-free-offer-3e6b99b013d?sk=1894df090436026b7f2a69e5b0e8ebde
Thanks to the proliferation of online gambling, as long as the airlines offer onboard WiFi… then you already can gamble while flying.
Whether that’s a good idea or not is an entirely separate matter. Seeing as folks are already acting erratically enough as it is on airplanes *gestures broadly at all of Gary’s typical posts*, maybe we should not add gasoline to this fire.
Delta certainly is a leader in the race to the bottom
Should be allowed once an airplane gets above a certain altitude or, if only offered on international flights, once you are beyond the national border. This is a prudish restriction. It is all about personal accountability. If you don’t want to gamble (or drink, chase women, do recreational drugs, etc) that is fine but don’t tell me what to do with my life
Gambling is a zero sum game, or actually a negative sum game. Money transfers hands, with some expenses incurred, and nothing of value is created. Poor people disproportionately gamble, which means the government, or actually taxpayers, have to subsidize their existence, not to mention all the other terrible human behavior gambling attracts.
State run lotteries are probably the worst offenders in terms of preying on the poor. The world would be a better place without gambling.
@Mantis – many things are bad for some people but the government doesn’t prohibit them. I can easily afford my gambling and don’t feel a it sorry for those that can’t manage their finances or lifestyle. Don’t take things away from me because it hurts others. That is their issue, not mine!
Delta can bet on whether their flights will be on time or late.
In addition to in-flight gambling, will Delta Air Lines offer premium in-flight prostitutes to Delta Diamond Medallion elites to enhance the profit opportunities and return on investment of the stockholders.
What’s next? Crap tables on a crappy airline?
@ Mantis. You state with gambling, ” nothing is created”. Tell that to the person that wins.
Just what many of us need (sarcasm). I can see passengers in the aisle and middle seats continue to gamble and those of us sitting in the windows seats unable to get off the airplane.
DL probably won’t have a FA making the rounds, bottles in hand, asking if a customer would like a fresh drink … gambling on planes is inevitable, there’s too much money to be made, those with casinos spread it generously to lawmakers.
even if it takes legislative changes to make this happen, DL’s biggest move is locking up the partners it needs to make it happen when it can.
and y’all were so convinced that UA was going to catch up to DL’s revenues and profits. the profit margin on gambling will make Amex blush.
@JOHN, nothing is created. Money is transferred from bettors to those who own gambling outlets, including, of course, governments. I will certainly preferentially fly those airlines that don’t do this.
Don’t want to gamble, don’t gamble. Don’t want to drink, don’t drink. Let people do what they want if there is no “second-hand smoke.”.
@Retired Gambler
Agreed that people should be free to make their own decisions, if they bear full responsibility of the outcomes, as in a truly free society.
However, that isn’t the case.
Taxpayers bear the cost of those who cannot control their gambling behavior. Lotteries prey on welfare recipients. Casinos prey on desperation. Both will be dependent on government when they inevitably waste their money on gambling.
Gambling doesn’t create economic growth, it reduces it by cannibalizing other recreational spend while adding many more negative costs to society.
@Mantis
Well, well, well, good sir, for once, we agree, on gambling, of all things. Remember this day.
I’m familiar with the Swissair 111 crash. But I don’t understand why I often see that crash linked to inflight gambling.
Yes, the cause of the disaster was arcing in the wiring of the IFE system, but what does that have to with inflight gambling? The IFE installation was rushed and was poorly designed. The system bypassed the cabin power distribution system (CABIN BUS) and was known to get excessively hot.
The content of the IFE system (i.e., movies, TV shows, gambling) would have had no bearing on the system itself. If it’s a poorly designed system that gets hot and has bad wiring, it’s probably going to malfunction regardless of what is displayed on the seatback screen.
Tim Dunn
Your mother likely doesn’t let you gamble, so this should impact you either way
Gambling is a vice. A defect. Earning money off of a pathetic human failing,.as society suffers, Is grotesque.
Sitting next to a gambler on a flight, as the seat back blares garish enticements, would be like being hogtied to an alcoholic in a Southeast Asian bordello.
F#$k that noise.
Flights are for travel. Not addictions.
I would love for some live table game action in the air. How cool to be able to split aces and eights at 35k feet?