The NHL changed its mind on gambling, entering into a partnership with MGM on Monday.

“I believe there was an opportunity here since it was happening anyway,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.

In other words, there was money to be made. That came after the NBA made MGM its gaming partner in July. There are a few truths about the NFL, and these are two of them: They have treated gambling and Las Vegas like a terrible evil, and they love nothing better than money.

The second one might be winning out.

The New York Jets and MGM have a new gaming partnership, which ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported. On the surface it’s minor. Fans can play a game on the Jets app named I Called It, in which fans can predict what will happen next in the Jets game. It’s not a gambling game. It’s a free game for prizes. The game is sponsored by MGM’s app, Play MGM. New Jersey, where the Jets play, quickly acted to make sports gambling legal.

Just another time-wasting game on your phone, right? No big deal. It’s no big deal, until you factor in the NFL’s history with casinos and gambling. Like Bettman said, it’s happening anyway. And the NFL knows there’s an opportunity.

The Jets-MGM agreement is new for the NFL

The news that states were allowed to decide themselves whether to make sports gambling legal was met with finger wagging from the NFL. Roger Goodell put out a statement asking Congress to enact standards. The NFL’s stance has always been that people will think games are fixed. It ignores that gambling already happens, a lot of it is illegal, and it’s much safer for leagues to work with legalized sports books to avoid game fixing.

That’s why the Jets dipping a tiny toe into the water is significant. It’s impossible to believe the Jets did this on their own without talking to the NFL about making a partnership with one of the largest gambling companies in the world. For the NFL, this looks like the first trial balloon. It would be easier for the NFL to do something league-wide, similar to the NHL, and basically look like hypocrites after decades of denouncing gambling, if they slowly ease it into our consciousness. That’s fine, because most fans do enjoy gambling on football in some form and the league will be appealing to its fans when they give up this facade. It’s not like anyone will be surprised when the NFL does a 180 now that there might be a chance to make money off of gambling.

The Jets’ deal is more than just the game. There will be MGM signage in the stadium, ESPN reported, and the studio where television and digital content is filmed will be sponsored by the casino business. Also, ESPN said Jets season-ticket holders and team rewards members can “win premium entertainment experiences and get free hotel rooms” at MGM properties. MGM can use the team’s logo at the Borgata casino, just not in any way associated with sports gambling.

Is NFL starting to relax views on gambling?

Whatever the final outcome, Wednesday’s news was significant for anyone who has followed the gambling scene and its relationship to the NFL. The NFL has considered gambling so toxic, it once made Tony Romo cancel a fantasy football event because it was happening in a Las Vegas convention center that was attached to a casino. Compare that with Wednesday’s news that you’ll soon be able to predict what will happen to the Jets in a guessing game that’s sponsored by MGM.

And it’s not like MGM is hiding the benefit for the company, in a quote provided to ESPN.

“We can promote our app and our casino, which is valuable to us because it could lead to a sports betting customer, even though the NFL won’t allow us to have a specific call to action,” MGM president of interactive gaming Scott Butera told ESPN. “We love the demographic that Jets fans provide. They have high household incomes in an area where sports betting is now legal.”

The game itself the Jets will offer as part of the partnership doesn’t change much. But, in a very slight but important way, a lot changed on Wednesday.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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