UNLV testing out new source for NIL funding: Las Vegas casinos
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UNLV Rebels forward Keylan Boone (20) interacts with fans as he and his brother Keylan Boone (20) leave the court after the Rebels beat the Colorado State Rams in an NCAA basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024.
Tonight, a UNLV fan will have a chance to win up to $150,000 by making a halfcourt shot during the team’s showdown against San Diego State at the Thomas & Mack Center. It promises to be a high-stakes spectacle.
But the stakes may be even more elevated behind the scenes: The promotion is serving as a “test run” for a plan to change the face of NIL funding for the Scarlet and Gray.
Name, image and likeness deals, or NIL, allow players to accept money directly from donors, and it has quickly become a leading factor in roster building in men’s basketball and football. UNLV is no exception; it is believed the basketball program has several players earning tens of thousands of dollars in NIL money this season, and NIL money played a big role in keeping star receiver Ricky White on the Rebels football team.
As Wyoming basketball coach Jeff Linder said before his team’s matchup with UNLV last week: “(UNLV has) a lot of talent. You know there’s a lot of money on that floor.”
In order for UNLV to compete at the Division I level in the long term, everyone seems to be in agreement that it’s going to require a lot of NIL resources.
So the big question is, where is that money going to come from?
For the past three years, the Friends of UNILV collective has been building a donor network with the goal of sustainably funding the basketball and football programs. That meant soliciting individual donors, but there may be a more lucrative way to build elite athletics programs.
The whale, to borrow a phrase, is the casino industry. If the Friends of UNILV were able to tap into the deep pockets of Las Vegas casinos, the collective could make better offers to top-tier players and potentially build powerful rosters, year in and year out.
The problem, according to Friends of UNILV chairman Bill Paulos, is that casinos are not allowed to donate directly to NIL collectives.
“I was in the gaming business for 50 years,” Paulos said. “Giving to a specific player or specific team is just a no-no. The Gaming Control Board says, ‘How can you do that and take bets on that school, too?’ And rightly so.
“What we figured out is, then maybe they can help us sponsor some promotions we’ve got planned.”
And there it is. The workaround could vault UNLV to the next level in NIL, and it’s being test-driven tonight with what the collective is calling $150,000 Half-Court Madness.
The Palms is sponsoring the promotion by putting up the prize money, but that’s not all the company is doing.
It’s a bit convoluted, but here’s how it works: If a UNLV fan wants to enter their name to possibly be chosen for the halfcourt shot, they can head to the Friends of UNILV website and donate (for every $1 spent, the donor earns one entry for the drawing). The Palms is then offering vouchers, matching all donations up to $100, which can be redeemed for food, beverages and free play at Palms properties within a week of purchase.
That means if a UNLV fan wanted to donate, say, $50 to the basketball program, they could do it through the NIL halfcourt shot promotion, and in return they would receive a $50 voucher to The Palms. For potential donors who plan to be at The Palms in the near future, it’s essentially a free donation.
It’s a way to allow a casino to invest in NIL, and if it works, it’s difficult to overstate how important it could be to the future of UNLV sports.
UNLV coach Kevin Kruger has no qualms about casinos getting involved in the NIL space — a far cry from the public perception when he was a Runnin' Rebel in 2007-08.
“I remember my year here, we couldn’t play in anything with a sportsbook,” Kruger said. “There was always this huge fear that we were going to be walking from the elevator to the floor and somebody was going to grab them and make them throw the game. Obviously, we’re way past that. There’s no stigma now about casinos and sportsbooks and college athletes.
“I think the more we can continue to marry the two and continue to merge the casinos and the supporters of this city with UNLV, the better.”
Two weeks out from the San Diego State game, Paulos said the contest had raised more than $10,000 in donations. He hopes to pass the $50,000 mark by today. All of the money collected will be earmarked for UNLV basketball players.
“This is the first trial test,” Paulos said. “As we progress and get better at what we do, these promotions will get better. I’m very happy with the response. I’m very happy with how many emails have been opened, and our click-through percentages have been great. We need people to donate.”
Paulos credited Palms general manager Cynthia Kiser Murphey, a UNLV alum, for being open to the idea. The Palms is putting up $100,000 to the winner if the half-court shot is made, plus another $50,000 in equivalent prizes, including a stay at the resort's fanciest suite.
The key is getting people used to the idea of donating in return for vouchers. It’s a blueprint that, if successful, could be duplicated across various UNLV sports.
Shayne Odum is the general manager of Blueprint Sports, a company that serves as a clearinghouse between NIL collectives and universities (NCAA rules forbid schools or coaches from directly engaging in NIL deals). Odum envisions similar promotions working in other formats.
“We definitely want to do this in the future,” Odum said. “We could do this for football. It could be a $150,000 field-goal kick. It could be a different casino partner. It could even work better for football. We could be doing it for golf, soccer, baseball, softball. All in all, it has produced more benefits than we anticipated, outside of the money we raised. We are in prime position to do this more throughout the year with other sports.”
The Friends of UNILV began in 2021 by focusing on men’s basketball and football, but has now expanded to include women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s golf and women’s volleyball.
Men’s basketball and football are the highest revenue sports and require the most NIL funding for player payrolls. Other sports require modest financial commitments, but consistent donors can be hard to find.
Odum believes this version of NIL solicitation casts a wider net, opening a gateway to more potential small donors.
“It’s a test run of how we can work with organizations in the gaming industry,” Odum said, “and it’s also a way of bringing fundraising into the digital realm. For so long at UNLV, it’s been the traditional call a donor, schmooze the donor, and then at some point in the relationship you’ve established, it turns into a donation. This brings the process into the digital age. We’re sending you codes, links, emails. You see it on social media and websites. It puts the power in the donors’ hands. We’re not imposing; we’re giving you the ability to give whatever you like. Whether it’s a hundred dollars, a thousand, ten thousand, great. We’re not trying to target a specific audience based on income. This makes it possible for everybody in Southern Nevada to participate, regardless of income.”
Overall, Paulos projects the Friends of UNILV to distribute approximately $1.5 million to UNLV athletes this year.
Odum said fans are becoming more comfortable with the idea of paying student-athletes, and that the Friends of UNILV has seen its number of donors increase “15 to 20 percent” since beginning the halfcourt shot promotion.
“It’s been smaller donations, and I look at that as a positive because that is a demographic that we have been lacking,” Odum said. “Prior to me getting here, what I noticed is we had great support, but it seemed to come from larger donations. One of our goals is wanting the entire fan base to get involved with NIL at whatever level they can. We don’t want fans and alums to feel like it’s only for the top 10% of fans and donors to carry NIL. Everybody is part of this growth. Anybody that can give $5, $10, we’re appreciative.”
Today’s game figures to be a big one for the Scarlet and Gray, as Kruger’s resurgent squad continues to chase an NCAA Tournament bid. In the long term, however, what happens at halftime may turn out to be even more important.
Paulos believes the fundamentals of the promotion make sense, and that people will eventually embrace it as a way to build a strong NIL foundation.
“Our core donors are very supportive and they’re there,” Paulos said. “We just need to get out to the general population. We need to do a better job of advertising our athletics at UNLV. We just haven’t done that as well lately. Since the new athletic director has been in, they’ve done a much better job of that. For this, we’re only asking for 25, 50 or 100 bucks, and you get that back by going to The Palms. It’s a good deal.”
As for the fan who is chosen at random to attempt the life-changing shot? UNLV freshman point guard D.J. Thomas, who has made 27 3-pointers this season, said he and his teammates will be rooting for the halfcourt heave to hit nothing but net.
His advice for the shooter was simple.
“Honestly, it has some luck to it,” Thomas said. “You’ve just got to have good touch.”
