[NYTimes] Commissioner Silver: "Allow gambling on pro games"

Legalize and Regulate Sports Betting

Quote from NY Times Op-Ed piece written by Adam Silver:

BETTING on professional sports is currently illegal in most of the United States outside of Nevada. I believe we need a different approach.

For more than two decades, the National Basketball Association has opposed the expansion of legal sports betting, as have the other major professional sports leagues in the United States. In 1992, the leagues supported the passage by Congress of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or Paspa, which generally prohibits states from authorizing sports betting.

Outside of the United States, sports betting and other forms of gambling are popular, widely legal and subject to regulation. In England, for example, a sports bet can be placed on a smartphone, at a stadium kiosk or even using a television remote control.

In light of these domestic and global trends, the laws on sports betting should be changed. Congress should adopt a federal framework that allows states to authorize betting on professional sports, subject to strict regulatory requirements and technological safeguards.

These requirements would include: mandatory monitoring and reporting of unusual betting-line movements; a licensing protocol to ensure betting operators are legitimate; minimum-age verification measures; geo-blocking technology to ensure betting is available only where it is legal; mechanisms to identify and exclude people with gambling problems; and education about responsible gaming.

Let me be clear: Any new approach must ensure the integrity of the game. One of my most important responsibilities as commissioner of the N.B.A. is to protect the integrity of professional basketball and preserve public confidence in the league and our sport. I oppose any course of action that would compromise these objectives.

But I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.
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Wow, what a fascinating turn of events.

It wasn't long ago (2007) that the Tim Donaghy betting scandal rocked the NBA.

How soon until the league expands and delivers an NBA franchise to Las Vegas?

 

Totally agree. Pretty sure Vegas has obtained proposals/blueprints for at least 10 stadium concepts. Just waiting for Silver's blessing to build.

 

Will Other Leagues Join N.B.A.? Don’t Bet on It



Quote:

"... the N.B.A. announced that it took a stake in the daily fantasy sports site FanDuel, which allows players to play in money tournaments and bet among each other. That arrangement could be expanded. The league’s spokesmen said the N.B.A. would continue to oppose the New Jersey case because without a comprehensive fed era framework, New Jersey’s approach was “illegal as well as bad public policy.”

On Friday, the other leagues stood firm in their defense of Paspa. Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the N.F.L., said Silver’s view “doesn’t change our stance that has been articulated for decades: no gambling on N.F.L. games.”

Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner of the N.H.L., was more nuanced. “That was Adam’s opinion, and certainly one he and the N.B.A. are entitled to,” Daly wrote in an email. “That does not mean we share it. I think there are several assertions he relies on that we might question, or certainly would want to test further, and there are other considerations not mentioned that we think are relevant. It is a complex issue and, at least from our perspective, one that does not lend itself easily to a simple ‘agree’ or ‘disagree.’ ”

Those in the gambling industry, of course, are cheering Silver on. “We agree with Commissioner Silver that a legal and regulated sports betting industry, like we have in Nevada and elsewhere in the world, is the best way to protect the integrity of sporting events,” said Joe Asher, the chief executive of William Hill US in Nevada.
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Totally agree, which is why statements like this (in the NYT article) are a head scratcher.

Embracing gambling is different, though, because it may erode the moral authority of leagues, according to Jodi Balsam, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and a former lawyer for the N.F.L. The growth of the Internet has made sports gambling far easier and has forced the leagues to protect the integrity of their sports by, for instance, publishing injury reports.

But encouraging consumers to gamble is a slippery slope for the leagues, Balsam said, because it will be harder for them to prohibit players from gambling.

“There is a morality tale here because once you endorse legalized sports gambling, it’s harder to police your own employees and players,” she said. “It’s the moral authority of losing control.”​

If players want to shave points (or fake injury), they have all the incentive to do so already. What difference does it make if the NBA office endorses legalized gambling?

IMO, it's just a cop-out.

 

David Stern backs Silver's betting stance

The former commissioner said he is thrilled with how his successor has done in his place, and supported Silver's desire for Congress to adopt a federal framework to change the laws on sports betting and allow states to legalize, regulate and monitor sports betting outside of Nevada.

"I agree with Commissioner Silver that it's time," Stern said at the 14th annual Cal Ramsey Distinguished Lecturer Series in Sports Management at New York University. "Especially in the day and age of fantasy [sports], daily fantasy [leagues]. ... It's still a game of skill and has its own set of issues with algorithms and bet large sums, but it's time."

Because fans don't walk out of the Garden saying, 'Oh my God, it's too bad the Knicks won but they didn't cover [the betting line],'" Stern said. "But now there is so much written, done, daily fantasy [leagues], etc."

"I think it was clear where we were heading," Stern added later when asked to elaborate. "The course was set. But it was left for Adam to make a direct statement of where it was going, and I think he did the right thing and I am very supportive of that."​