NBA Commissioner Adam Silver makes an unexpected announcement supporting sports betting.
I've borrowed the title of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's
New York Times op-ed because I completely agree with it. Silver, the head of the most progressive and forward-thinking league in the country, argued:
[D]espite legal restrictions, sports betting is widespread. It is a thriving underground business that operates free from regulation or oversight. Because there are few legal options available, those who wish to bet resort to illicit bookmaking operations and shady offshore websites. There is no solid data on the volume of illegal sports betting activity in the United States, but some estimate that nearly $400 billion is illegally wagered on sports each year. [. . .]
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. [. . .] I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.
Sounds like common sense. In fact, it sounds like the type of common sense that is behind the argument for legalizing marijuana use. Because it
is common sense.
I'll discuss why on the other side.
Let me start with a full disclosure: I am a sports bettor. I have been, in one form or other, since I was 15 years old. Of course I didn't have a bookie, at least not then, but I wagered a dollar or two on NFL pools and the like. In college, I placed bets with bookmakers. When I started working after law school, I would place bets with a bookie whom I would settle with once a week at some construction site or other (my bookie was in the construction business.)
But the big revolution was, as in many things (see porn), the emergence of the World Wide Web. Sites like Bodog started popping up. Intrepid bettors led the way in its use and then many of the rest of us followed. But the government didn't like it, and like the annual Super Bowl Day raid of bookies (at least it was an annual rite in New York), the government would jump up to go after onine betting sites, including poker sites.
It's been a ridiculous battle, strangely fought at the behest of vested interests and, curiously, at the behest of the major sports leagues in the United States. As recently as this June, the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert. to the state of New Jersey's petition to have heard its appeal in NCAA v Christie.
The professional sports leagues (including the slave labor professionals at the NCAA) opposed the New Jersey law. But now the NBA is breaking ranks. Maybe it can be the start of something. And it needs to be, as the ban on sports betting (outside of Nevada) is outlandishly stupid policy.
Like the War on Drugs (and Prohibition before it), these policies do nothing to reduce gambling. Instead, it merely funnels the sports gambling business into criminal channels. In that sense, the government and organized crime are on the same page about sports gambling, keeping it illegal so that organized crime can keep the business.
From their own business perspectives, professional sports leagues are simply missing important revenue streams, as professional leagues the world over have embraced legalized sports gambling and are making hefty amounts of money from it (through sponsorship sales and revenue sharing.)
Finally, sports bettors are being served poorly because the benefits of government regulation have been denied to them (benefits like certainty of payment, government oversight of practices, etc.) Of course, John Galt just wants the government out, but sane people who gamble on sports will welcome the government oversight role.
It's past time to make sports betting legal. And oh, by the way, here are my picks for today's games:
Indianapolis Colts -10 over Washington Redskins; Cleveland Browns +3 over Buffalo Bills; New York Giants -3 over Jacksonville Jaguars; Green Bay Packers -3 over New England Patriots; San Diego Chargers +6 over Baltimore Ravens; Cincinnati Bengals -4 over Tampa Bay Buccaneers