Madison Square Garden Sports (MSG Sports) and Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG Entertainment) have declared their support for the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) ‘Have A Game Plan. Bet Responsibly’ campaign.
Launched as part of the AGA’s Responsible Gaming Education Week in September, the initiative is an extension of the Have A Game Plan project that went live in late 2019 to educate sports fans on the principles of responsible sports betting.
The campaign focuses on four core principles of responsible wagering, including setting a budget and sticking to it, keeping betting social, knowing the odds and only playing with trusted, regulated operators.
MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment will activate the campaign in-arena and through digital media with National Basketball Association (NBA) team the New York Knicks and National Hockey League (NHL) franchise the New York Rangers, as well as on-air through the MSG Network.
MSG Sports owns both the Knicks and Rangers, as well as host of other sports assets, while MSG Entertainment runs a series of major venues, including New York’s Madison Square Garden, the home of the Knicks and Rangers.
“With the continued growth of legal sports gaming throughout the tri-state area, it’s a priority for MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment to ensure that fans and viewers have access to educational resources on how to wager responsibly,” MSG Entertainment’s executive vice president of marketing partnerships, Ron Skotarczak, said.
“Providing a platform to amplify Have A Game Plan is essential to our strategy and supporting future growth in this industry.”
AGA senior vice president Casey Clark added: “MSG is a fixture in the New York sports market, and we are proud to have them join Have A Game Plan. MSG’s unique activations further support our goal of convening the sports betting ecosystem around a common message to advance responsible gaming.”
MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment join a host of other brands in supporting the campaign, which, since its initial launch in 2019, has secured the support of golf’s PGA Tour, Nascar, the NHL and National Football League teams the New York Jets and Washington Football Team, among other sports organizations.
The AGA also has the backing if gambling operators such as DraftKings, Entain and FanDuel, as well as more recently Rush Street Interactive (RSI) and MGM Resorts and BetMGM.