Casino Industry Says NBA Trying To 'Skim' Money From Taxpayers Under Sports BettingBasketball League Wants A Cut Of Gambling Dollars |
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At least one of the major American sports leagues wants a cut of the massive untapped sports betting market. However, the casino industry is calling it a dirty play.
The U.S. Supreme Court surprised many when it decided last year to hear New Jersey’s arguments for why a 1992 federal law that effectively banned sports betting outside of Nevada should be deemed unconstitutional. As a result, some gambling-friendly states are looking to stay prepared ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that’s expected by mid-year.
The Garden State’s neighbor, the state of New York, held a hearing Wednesday to discuss a potential future with regulated sports betting nationwide. New York has both tribal and commercial brick-and-mortar casinos, but the betting could be allowed over the internet too.
At the hearing, the National Basketball Association, which for the past several years has supported sports betting reform, said that the leagues should get a piece of the action. It’s common knowledge by now that gambling helps increase viewership, but that’s apparently not enough for the New York-based NBA.
The NBA said in written testimony that it supports “a federal framework” that would allow all 50 states to offer sports betting, under “strict regulatory requirements and technological safeguards.” However, it’s not clear that Congress could pass a sports betting bill, so the Supreme Court striking down the prohibition might be the only immediate outcome.
Regardless, the NBA is worried about costs associated with “compliance and enforcement, including bet monitoring, investigations, and education.”
“To compensate leagues for the risk and expense created by betting and the commercial value our product creates for betting operators, we believe it is reasonable for operators to pay each league 1 percent of the total amount bet on its games,” the NBA said. “This approach draws from how sports betting is legally regulated in some other international jurisdictions.”
The NBA also wants to control what types of bets are allowed. For example, the NBA said that bets on who commits the first foul of a game “are more susceptible to manipulation” than others. The leagues don’t have such power over the regulated sports betting industry in Nevada.
After the public meeting, the American Gaming Association, the commercial casino industry’s top lobbying group on Capitol Hill, blasted the idea of giving the NBA a share of the winnings.
“We are pleased that the National Basketball Association today joined with the gaming industry in support of vigorously regulated sports wagering," AGA President and CEO Geoff Freeman said in a statement. "We can all agree that the 25-year ban on sports wagering has been a failure in every regard. Now, let’s get real about eliminating the illegal market, protecting consumers and determining the role of government – a role that most certainly does not include transferring money from bettors to multi-billion dollar sports leagues.”
The AGA news release said that the NBA’s proposal is to “skim money from American taxpayers.” According to the group, tax revenue from sports betting, regardless of the state, will be used to fund “vital community services.” Taxes would vary by state.
The AGA pointed out that Nevada sports books only retain about five percent of the handle in the form of gaming revenue. So, the one percent “integrity fee” would amount to as much as 29 percent of revenue, according to the lobbying group.
The current market for sports betting is estimated at $150 billion, nearly all of it coming through illicit channels. The AGA said that the NBA is already using resources to confront the problem and monitor any suspicious activity. It added that the integrity fee would make regulated sports betting less attractive to consumers because odds from legal bookmakers would be “distorted.”
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