i really wonder if and how long it will take MLB,NFL,and the NBA to really crack the whip on this issue.
NBA, other leagues need to confront gambling issue
Isn't it about time that we modernize our views toward sports betting?
The latest news out of Phoenix is that the voice of hallowed Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky can be heard on wiretapped conversations with his assistant Rick Tocchet, who is accused of helping run a $1.7 million bookmaking operation. Investigators say a half-dozen players currently in the NHL placed bets with the ring, which is connected with organized crime in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. They add that Gretzky, who has denied making bets, is not a main focus of their investigation.
While nothing of that scale has yet to hit the NBA, the league is going to be forced to deal with the new universe of sports betting head-on next February when its All-Star Weekend moves to Las Vegas. Consider this a positive development.
If gambling didn't exist, professional sports would be as popular as the opera. It has always been and always will be true that gambling -- regardless of whether you like it or not -- makes the games far more important than they would be otherwise. Yet all of the leagues continue to pretend that sports betting doesn't exist, driven as they are by memories of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, Paul Hornung's '63 NFL suspension for betting on his own Green Bay Packers' team, Michael Jordan's known associations with gamblers and other derelictions.
Yet the public climate has changed. Gambling has become a universally-accepted entertainment, with casinos popping up throughout the country and government-run lotteries operating in almost every state. This isn't to say that's a good thing -- on the contrary, it's a cynical development -- but there is no denying that gambling is more pervasive than ever.
So why do the leagues deny it? Instead of ignoring the issue, they should deal with it head-on. They need to assert some control over their relationship with sports betting.
Because wagering on sports is illegal in every state but Nevada (with a couple of limited exceptions, like scratch cards), thousands of illicit bookmakers have been encouraged to make themselves available offshore, on the Internet and in American neighborhoods for people who want to bet on games. These bookies as a whole gross far more cash than any pro sports franchise can generate. And none of the money is taxed.
The only state that regulates sports betting is Nevada. In Las Vegas, the legal sports books regularly assist authorities in rooting out and arresting illegal bookmakers.
And yet NBA commissioner David Stern says that he won't put a franchise in Las Vegas so long as it is legal to bet on NBA games in that city.
The truth is that thousands of daily bets are placed illegally on the Lakers, Knicks, Bulls and every other NBA team. Sports betting is everywhere; only in Vegas is the betting supervised and regulated.
Let's assume three things about the NBA: It fears a betting scandal, it realizes that betting will never be eradicated and yet it secretly craves sports betting as an engine that drives its business. If you're afraid of gambling, yet you accept its permanence as well as its necessity, then Las Vegas is the safest place to have an NBA team; it's the only major city that oversees sports betting.
But the NBA's approach to a possible Las Vegas expansion is proof that the league's relationship with sports wagering is out of touch with reality. And the NBA isn't alone. Because the leagues have refused to publicly address the issue of gambling, they're still operating under mores and dictates that no longer apply.
Next year's All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas should serve as the forum for a public discussion of sports betting in the modern era. The NBA and other leagues would be better served by dealing with this issue up front on their own terms, rather than to wait for it to be raised by illegal bookmaking operations and embarrassing wiretaps, which is the predicament now blighting the NHL.
Here's my own theory: The next big sports league to threaten the big three (football, baseball and basketball) will be an industry that exploits a loophole enabling it to incorporate betting as a legal component of its games. The nature of the sport will be irrelevant. It could be lacrosse, it could be some hybrid invention. If fans can bet on the outcome as openly and as easily as they buy a hot dog and a beer, it will become the fastest-growing sport in America.
Isn't it about time that we modernize our views toward sports betting?
The latest news out of Phoenix is that the voice of hallowed Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky can be heard on wiretapped conversations with his assistant Rick Tocchet, who is accused of helping run a $1.7 million bookmaking operation. Investigators say a half-dozen players currently in the NHL placed bets with the ring, which is connected with organized crime in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. They add that Gretzky, who has denied making bets, is not a main focus of their investigation.
While nothing of that scale has yet to hit the NBA, the league is going to be forced to deal with the new universe of sports betting head-on next February when its All-Star Weekend moves to Las Vegas. Consider this a positive development.
If gambling didn't exist, professional sports would be as popular as the opera. It has always been and always will be true that gambling -- regardless of whether you like it or not -- makes the games far more important than they would be otherwise. Yet all of the leagues continue to pretend that sports betting doesn't exist, driven as they are by memories of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, Paul Hornung's '63 NFL suspension for betting on his own Green Bay Packers' team, Michael Jordan's known associations with gamblers and other derelictions.
Yet the public climate has changed. Gambling has become a universally-accepted entertainment, with casinos popping up throughout the country and government-run lotteries operating in almost every state. This isn't to say that's a good thing -- on the contrary, it's a cynical development -- but there is no denying that gambling is more pervasive than ever.
So why do the leagues deny it? Instead of ignoring the issue, they should deal with it head-on. They need to assert some control over their relationship with sports betting.
Because wagering on sports is illegal in every state but Nevada (with a couple of limited exceptions, like scratch cards), thousands of illicit bookmakers have been encouraged to make themselves available offshore, on the Internet and in American neighborhoods for people who want to bet on games. These bookies as a whole gross far more cash than any pro sports franchise can generate. And none of the money is taxed.
The only state that regulates sports betting is Nevada. In Las Vegas, the legal sports books regularly assist authorities in rooting out and arresting illegal bookmakers.
And yet NBA commissioner David Stern says that he won't put a franchise in Las Vegas so long as it is legal to bet on NBA games in that city.
The truth is that thousands of daily bets are placed illegally on the Lakers, Knicks, Bulls and every other NBA team. Sports betting is everywhere; only in Vegas is the betting supervised and regulated.
Let's assume three things about the NBA: It fears a betting scandal, it realizes that betting will never be eradicated and yet it secretly craves sports betting as an engine that drives its business. If you're afraid of gambling, yet you accept its permanence as well as its necessity, then Las Vegas is the safest place to have an NBA team; it's the only major city that oversees sports betting.
But the NBA's approach to a possible Las Vegas expansion is proof that the league's relationship with sports wagering is out of touch with reality. And the NBA isn't alone. Because the leagues have refused to publicly address the issue of gambling, they're still operating under mores and dictates that no longer apply.
Next year's All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas should serve as the forum for a public discussion of sports betting in the modern era. The NBA and other leagues would be better served by dealing with this issue up front on their own terms, rather than to wait for it to be raised by illegal bookmaking operations and embarrassing wiretaps, which is the predicament now blighting the NHL.
Here's my own theory: The next big sports league to threaten the big three (football, baseball and basketball) will be an industry that exploits a loophole enabling it to incorporate betting as a legal component of its games. The nature of the sport will be irrelevant. It could be lacrosse, it could be some hybrid invention. If fans can bet on the outcome as openly and as easily as they buy a hot dog and a beer, it will become the fastest-growing sport in America.