Delta Air Lines to partner with DraftKings: Could gambling with SkyMiles be on the horizon?

On top of announcing new Bluetooth-capable seatback screens and new partnerships with Uber and YouTube, Delta Air Lines revealed a head-turning partnership during its star-studded spectacle at Las Vegas' Sphere last week.

The airline will soon launch a new partnership with online sports betting giant DraftKings, Delta CEO Ed Bastian announced during his keynote speech at CES, one of the world's largest consumer electronics shows.

"From fantasy sports to online adventures, gaming has become a regular part of the daily lives of millions of our customers. And you shouldn't have to hit pause just because you're in the sky," Bastian told the Sphere audience.

Does that mean you could soon wager, say, 20,000 miles on a team to win the Super Bowl?

Not quite. Or, perhaps more accurately, not yet.

The DraftKings deal "will build on" the carrier's existing portfolio of inflight games, Bastian said.

Using the airline's free "Delta Sync" Wi-Fi, customers today can play New York Times games like Wordle or try their hand at Delta's Sky Hopper game, which allows Delta SkyMiles loyalty members to compete for a shot at up to $400 in Delta gift cards.

It's not yet clear what exactly this "collaboration" between DraftKings and the Atlanta-based carrier will entail from the outset.

"Specific details on the agreement and the type of DraftKings offerings coming to Delta Sync [Wi-Fi] will be shared when they're finalized," a company spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.

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But the airline's top communications executive did offer an enlightening glimpse into what Delta envisions for the partnership in the long term. And it could — hypothetically, the carrier said — someday involve gambling with Delta's frequent flyer miles.

"The DraftKings announcement we made: If you played that forward — and I'm not saying this is where we're going — but if you played that forward, international flights could have gambling. International flights could gamble with SkyMiles as a currency," Delta's chief communications officer Tim Mapes told TPG in an interview.

Legal hurdles surround inflight gambling

There are plenty of legal and regulatory considerations that could surround a deeper Delta-DraftKings tie-up.

Longstanding U.S. law has prohibited airlines from installing or allowing gambling devices on commercial flights.

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As such, Delta tells TPG it is not currently exploring ways to let passengers gamble on board.

Yet Delta does seem to be considering its long-term options for getting in on a lucrative industry — and, perhaps, finding a way to incorporate its vast ecosystem of miles held by its millions of frequent flyers.

"You have a currency in SkyMiles, and you have all these different means to accumulate, redeem, find new ways of valuing that currency or elevating the utility of that currency in ways that people really enjoy," Mapes said. "Whatever that is is where we will go, because it will be the customers' preference that guide us."

No SkyMiles gambling planned so far

Certainly any deeper partnership between the airline and DraftKings — including one that involved gambling frequent flyer miles — would be likely to draw at least some attention from lawmakers and regulators alike.

After all, recent years have seen Congress, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau deepen their scrutiny of airlines' highly lucrative loyalty programs and credit card portfolios.

How regulators might ultimately view a deeper Delta-DraftKings tie-up remains to be seen.

At the same time, it's worth noting that airlines widely expect the Trump administration to take a less stringent regulatory posture than the Biden administration.

Not to mention, sports betting has proliferated into a multibilllion-dollar industry in the wake of a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Today, discussion about betting odds figures into mainstream analysis of nearly every major sporting event.

Far less new, of course, is gambling at airports. It's long been legal in local jurisdictions where the practice is permitted. Look no further than the bevy of slot machines and other casino games found inside the terminals at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas.

Bottom line

For now, expect some sort of Delta-DraftKings game offerings — minus actual wagers — on board.

And, should gambling with frequent flyer miles ever become a reality, we'll surely be there urging you to consider the value of your hard-earned miles before putting them up as part of a wager.

In the meantime, we'll be watching how the early iteration of Delta's DraftKings partnership evolves.

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