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The National Football League will be partnering with Caesars Entertainment, which owns three Atlantic City properties, to make the international gaming giant its first-ever “Official Casino Sponsor of the NFL,” the two organizations announced Thursday.The National Football League will be partnering with Caesars Entertainment, which owns three Atlantic City properties, to make the international gaming giant its first-ever “Official Casino Sponsor of the NFL,” the two organizations announced Thursday.

Through the deal, the NFL, previously a staunch opponent of lifting a near-nationwide ban on sports betting and then of legalizing it in New Jersey, will give Caesars exclusive rights to NFL trademarks including “Super Bowl” and “NFL Draft” in the United States and United Kingdom, excluding its casino sportsbooks.

The multiyear sponsorship begins during the 2019 NFL playoffs. NFL fans will have wide-ranging access to Caesars’ casino properties, celebrity chefs, entertainment and other luxury amenities to provide them with “unique experiences.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to work with one of the world’s largest gaming and entertainment companies,” Senior Vice President of NFL Partnerships, Sponsorship and Consumer Products Renie Anderson said in a Thursday statement.

“Combining the NFL with Caesars’ expertise in world-class entertainment will provide our fans unique experiences both here in the United States and abroad,” Anderson added.

Caesars owns two New Jersey properties with sportsbooks: Bally’s Atlantic City and Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, in addition to Caesar’s Atlantic City.

“All of us at Caesars Entertainment are thrilled to be the first-ever casino partner of the NFL, the most prominent sports league in North America,” said Caesars Entertainment President and CEO Mark Frissora said in a statement.

Since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May striking down the near-nationwide ban on sports betting, patrons have wagered close to $1 billion in New Jersey.

Professional leagues, including the NFL, Major League Baseball and National Basketball League, were in favor of upholding the 1992 federal law which outlawed sports betting in all but a handful of states.

In the weeks following the court’s ruling, the NFL lobbied for so-called “integrity fees” to be built in New Jersey’s sports-betting laws, which opponents in the state Legislature dismissed as a money grab.