Last week’s news that Apple was launching a sports app was met with muted enthusiasm from the sportsbook world. “Enthusiasm,” because when you click on a game, odds pop up courtesy of DraftKings. “Muted” because … that’s all that happens. There’s no DraftKings logo, no click-through to place a bet, nothing except the odds.

As a result, no one in the industry thought this was a game-changer. Most thought it was barely even part of the game.

But buried in a CNET.com feature on the news was something that went wholly unreported in the industry: Comments from Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services.

“Whether we let you tap on it to go to DraftKings or not … we’ll decide that later, we just decided right now we just want to show the odds and see,” Cue said. “We’re not against [betting].”

While not a full-throated endorsement of DraftKings, sports betting, and “tapping on it,” it was probably the next best thing. 

Again, these comments were overlooked by the industry at large.

And it begs the question: What happens to DraftKings and the online sports betting industry in general, if A) Apple Sports takes off like Apple News (which has well over 100 million active users per month and B) DraftKings, already entrenched as a market leader, becomes a single tap away?

For the answer, we’d need an honest-to-goodness crystal ball. Obviously, there’s no sure way to know what would happen.

But the upside is clearly very, very high.

“You have the cult following of Apple where it leads to its users staying within the ecosystem for everything,” said Brendan Bussmann, the managing partner of B Global Advisors. “As the app expands to more leagues and teams, the opportunity continues to grow within that ecosystem, create the synergies with TV, and then transition those users that desire to wager the ability to do so. If you can create a complete experience that then transfers over to DraftKings, it could be a big opportunity for both entities.”

Chris Grove of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming sees the partnership, even at this stage, as a major opportunity for DraftKings.

“The Apple partnership is a substantial net positive for DraftKings,” Grove said. “It’s a PR coup and helps to make the case that DraftKings is the Apple of sports betting. DraftKings needs to continue to sell a story of winning the U.S. market – not tying with FanDuel, but winning – and capturing these kinds of scarce partnerships will certainly help with that story.”

For Grove, he sees the partnership as a long-term play.

“I wouldn’t expect much immediate customer acquisition or reactivation lift,” he said. “But this long play is about much more than the numbers for DraftKings.”

It’s hard to express how dominant Apple is in the daily life of American consumers. Honestly, I’m an outsider; I’m an Android guy.

But my 14-year-old son has an iPhone, can’t fathom why I don’t, and is actually kind of a one-man research team when it comes to Apple use and the idea of “long plays.”

For example, he couldn’t care less about the world at large. He’s not a fella with a take on Ukraine, or the war in the Middle East, or who our next president will be. His interests seem to be — in order — girls, hanging out with friends, torturing his sisters.

Apple News — the free version — came pre-installed on his phone. I asked if he ever used it, expecting the answer to be, “I didn’t even know I had it.”

His answer surprised me. He told me he does use it when he gets an alert that’s of interest to him. 

If my kid is somewhat interested in the Apple News app, then it’s safe to call it a pretty big hit.

Now transfer this idea to Apple Sports and if it starts coming pre-installed on phones. And if it gets a hundred million users (or more) a month. And if sports fans, and marginal sports fans, use it. And if DraftKings becomes the sportsbook you can “tap” through to. 

All of a sudden, DraftKings could be seen much like Kleenex, Band-Aid, and ChapStick. The brand and product become one.

It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. The Apple stamp of approval is unquestionably massive.

“The entrance of Apple into the sports betting conversation is just another example of the acceptance among companies outside the space and the general public,” said Jordan Bender, an analyst at Citizens JMP. “The DraftKings integration is just another way for the company to gain brand recognition on a large scale, similar to the recent BetMGM integration with X several weeks ago. The odds integrations have been around since the formation of the sector, yet DraftKings inking a deal with Apple highlights the effectiveness behind this type of marketing spend, and we believe it comes at a more economical rate compared to past years.”

Of course, if the “click-through” comes to be, it probably won’t come cheap.

“If it goes beyond, there would need to be some sort of financial relationship,” said Jason Snell, the former editorial director of Macworld magazine and noted Apple expert. “I can see why Cue would describe it as experimental and them having a wait-and-see attitude right now.”

For now, that’s exactly where we are. But the idea of Apple Sports taking off in a big way is definitely on the table, and if DraftKings is along for the ride, well, this partnership has the potential to be an honest-to-goodness game-changer. 

Wait and see indeed.