Nationals: Get ready to gamble at Nationals Park next year

If fans are allowed to attend games at Nationals Park next year, they’ll be able to place bets on all the action.

Get ready to do a little gambling the next time you attend a Washington Nationals game at Nationals Park. BetMGM has partnered with the team to provide fans with an optional betting app, betting windows and betting kiosks at the stadium. Just another way to enhance the fan experience while taking in a baseball game.

Somewhere Pete Rose is either thinking, “why couldn’t they have offered this sooner” or “jokes on them, I was placing bets from the stadium in the 80s”.

Sports betting is seen to be a $150 billion industry, on the conservative side. Gambling has long been a form of entertainment, and as long as they have been playing the game of baseball, odds are money has been wagered on the outcomes.

I think this is a great move by by the Nationals, showing they are catering to ever-evolving baseball fans. There once was a day when stadiums were built with baseball being the main attraction. Nowadays, stadiums are built for the fan experience. Shopping, and themes, and family-friendly restaurant areas, and stadiums with swimming pools and pools full of cownose stingrays. Come for the entertainment, stay for the baseball.

Why not allow the fans the chance to make a buck or two, or several hundred, on the game they paid a chunk of change to watch.

From Lindsay Berra of Baseball America:

"Legalized betting through sports books like MGM, FanDuel and DraftKings is also considerably safer than bets made before PASPA was overturned, when sports bettors were placing wagers all across the country whether they were in a legalized state or not. Bets made through bookies or with an offshore website are inherently dangerous."

For those fans who get a little adrenaline rush from placing bets on games, they will get the opportunity to do so on-location at Nationals Park. For someone who throws down money on games already, this may not make a difference. Though, for someone who wants to make a quick dollar and make the baseball game a little more interesting, it’ll will prove to be enticing.

Baseball is long trying to speed up the game, create more action and pull in a younger crowd. This is a good way to do so. While betting will take place at Nationals Park for the 2021 season, there are only a few stadiums to date who are offering a sportsbook inside their arena.

All told, another reason I hope fans are allowed back into stadiums this upcoming season.