Leagues Are Fooling Themselves About Gambling
Now that the United States Supreme Court has rejected Delaware's appeal of a ruling that prohibits the state from accepting any sports wagers other than NFL parlays, the other three major sports leagues and the NCAA can rest easy, knowing their respective sports have once again been saved from the perils of gambling.As is usual, when the Delaware bill was up for discussion, all of the leagues and the NCAA argued against it, claiming that it would have a negative impact on the integrity of their games, which certainly don't need gambling because they are so entertaining. Really?
I suppose David Stern will try to say that a number of people watched Game 2 of the playoff series between the Celtics and the Cavaliers right down to the final buzzer because garbage time in the NBA is something that every fan wants to see. It couldn't have had anything to do with the fact that the game was hovering close to the over/under.
The next time television viewers are treated to another 34-7 butt-kicking on Monday Night Football the league can continue to tell us people enjoy watching third-stringers try to run out the clock and weren't really watching to see if the game went over 44 points.
The National Football League can talk all it wants about how its surveys show that very few of its viewers bet on games or the NCAA can continue to insist that gambling has done nothing to help with the enormous popularity of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Perhaps there are actually people out there who buy into it. I'm not one of them.
The leagues, particularly the NBA and NFL, have to be aware that gambling plays a role in their success, especially the NFL. If they believe otherwise, they are simply fooling themselves.
Double Standards?
Despite the non-gambling posture, the NFL and the NBA have had no problem licensing their logos to states for lottery purposes. You can buy $5 scratch-off tickets celebrating the Boston Celtics winning the 2008 NBA title and in 2009 there were 20 deals between NFL teams and states for lottery games. There would have been even more, but the Miami Dolphins felt they should have received more money than Jacksonville or Tampa Bay and nixed a deal with the Florida Lottery.Perhaps the leagues aren't opposed to gambling as much as they are opposed to not receiving a cut of the take, which is why they are so quick to try and veto any gambling expansion.
