Redskins to offer gambling-focused preseason telecasts

The Washington Redskins will become the first NFL team to have a gambling-focused telecast of their games, offering cash prizes to viewers who correctly predict in-game outcomes during the preseason.

The telecasts on the regional cable network NBC Sports Washington will follow a formula established by the Redskins’ NBA neighbors, the Washington Wizards. The Wizards, however, offered the free-to-play contests during the regular season, while the Redskins will have them only during the four exhibition games, when NBC Sports Washington has TV rights.

The network will continue to offer a traditional telecast on its main channel, while the gambling-focused telecast will air simultaneously on its secondary channel, NBC Sports Washington Plus.

Starting the interactive telecasts now allows the network to be ready when legal online or mobile sports betting becomes available in its area, said Damon Phillips, the network’s general manager. The network in theory could accept real-time wagers on proposition bets offered during the telecast if it partnered with a sportsbook.

For now, the games are free to play and the network will give away $1,000 to one winner per quarter of each game.

“We think this is the way of the future. There’s going to be a gamification of television broadcasts, and this is one of the first examples of it,” Phillips said.

The District of Columbia Council has legalized sports betting in Washington, although regulations have not been finalized and no sportsbooks have opened. Bills have been introduced to legalize sports betting in Virginia and Maryland.

Delaware and West Virginia, which are in the NBC Sports Washington viewing area, are among the 10 states that already have legal sportsbooks. Neither state has online or mobile betting, however.

Redskins spokeswoman Jessie Johnson said the NFL is aware of the telecasts and has no objection.