By
Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
Much
has been made of NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s recent New York Times op-ed
piece on legalizing sports betting.
While Mr. Silver tries to distinguish New Jersey’s attempt (something he
still, apparently, opposes) by calling for a new federal law, rather than New
Jersey’s state law changes (as New Jersey tries to comply with a federal
appeals court decision on the issue), the reality is that his comments only
help New Jersey in their efforts to allow you to bet $20 to win on an NFL team
every weekend.
HOW
DID ALL OF THIS COME ABOUT?
Viewed
to be the most progressive of commissioners of the four major sports, Adam
Silver made comments back in September at a Bloomberg News Sports Summit that
called for the legalization of sports betting in America. Interestingly, he talked about people who
make a “gentleman’s bet” or a “small wager” as getting more “engaged” in the
game upon which they are betting. Of
course, these bets are illegal (hold your laughter) and are but a small part of
the 400-500 billion dollar gambling industry (legal and illegal) in America.
Last
week, Silver contributed to the snowball that is legalizing sports betting by
writing an op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled, simply, “Legalize Sports
Betting.” In it, he lays out his framework for having legal sports betting
throughout the country.
The
op-ed piece gets a little fuzzy when he tries to distinguish what New Jersey is trying to do from
what he envisions would be the correct way to do it. But the reality is, New Jersey is simply
trying to follow the language of a Third Circuit (federal appeals court)
opinion that, essentially, told New Jersey how they might be able to have
legalized sports betting even with the existence of the 1992 Professional and
Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”).
While
Silver seems to call for the repeal of PASPA, the reality is that New Jersey is trying to work
within the framework of the law as it now exists. While most knowledgeable people believe this
framework is changing, New Jersey is trying to be first
among states, which, as of now, don’t have legalized sports betting.
WHAT
IF NEW JERSEY ALREADY HAD IN PLACE ALL OF THE “STRICT
REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AND TECHNOLOGICAL
SAFEGUARDS” OF WHICH ADAM SILVER SPEAKS?
The
part of his op-ed piece that has received little, if any, play in the media is
Adam Silver’s laying out of specific regulations, requirements and safeguards
to protect legalized sports betting.
Of
course, he doesn’t seem to be aware that all, or virtually all, of his
suggested safeguards are already in existence – in New Jersey. Maybe you need to have knowledge of the
casino industry or horse industry (this writer has been personally involved in
the horse industry – on and off the racetrack – for over three decades) to
understand this, but such safeguards already exist in New Jersey.
For
example, Silver wants “mandatory monitoring and reporting of unusual
betting-line movements.” No
problem. Racetracks in New Jersey (and virtually
everywhere else) have long had the ability to detect unusual betting patterns
in horse races. Certainly casinos in Las Vegas have the same thing for
betting on football and other games.
Silver
wants “a licensing protocol to ensure betting operators are legitimate.” No problem.
All casino and racetrack employees (including betting tellers, security
guards, grooms, trainers, drivers, vendors, etc. at the racetrack) go through a
rigorous licensing procedure in New Jersey that includes
fingerprinting, etc. This is already in
effect in New Jersey.
Silver
wants “minimum-age verification measures.”
No problem. Presumably, this is a
sophisticated way of saying “Do you have ID?”
That question, of course, has been asked forever at casinos and, to a
lesser degree, at racetracks in New Jersey.
Silver
wants “geo-blocking technology to ensure betting is available only where it is
legal.” This wouldn’t seem to be a
problem, especially if such betting was legal within the confines of a state,
say, for example, New Jersey. If not already in existence, it could easily
be provided for people in a specific geographic area, like a state.
Silver
wants “mechanisms to identify and exclude people with gambling problems.” Again, that’s not a problem, on its face, but
a bigger problem on the overall scheme of things for obvious reasons. We all see the “if you have a gambling
problem, call this number” or “gamble responsibly” caveats on lottery
commercials in all states that have a lottery (the worst regressive tax ever
put on poor people – but that’s beyond the scope of this article). While casinos and racetracks do the same
thing with warnings and phone numbers, the reality is, if you want to get a bet
down and you are on some kind of “do not bet” list, you’ll find a way
(relative, bookie, friend, etc.) to get that bet down.
Finally,
Silver wants “education about responsible gambling.” Again, no problem. There are programs throughout the states,
including New Jersey, to attempt to deal
with these problems. Education is just a
click away on your computer, is available at Gamblers Anonymous, etc.
To
sum up, everything Adam Silver wants is pretty much already available in New Jersey.
PRESUMABLY,
HIS COMMENTS HAVE ALREADY BEEN FILED WITH JUDGE SHIPP IN THE NEW JERSEY CASE
Since
the NBA is a plaintiff in the New Jersey federal case to stop New Jersey from having limited
($100 max bet) sports gambling in New Jersey, Adam Silver’s op-ed
piece should be filed with Judge Shipp as evidence that a commissioner of a
major sport is on board with legal sports gambling. While Adam Silver attempts to make a
state-federal distinction, the reality is that New Jersey is already trying to
work within the existing federal framework and has all, or virtually all, of
the safeguards and regulations that Adam Silver seeks to make sports betting
legal.
And
while the NFL, at least for now, seems to oppose Silver’s views, hopefully the
lawyers for New Jersey have pointed out to Judge Shipp the hypocrisy of the
NFL, as Washington’s NFL team just entered into an agreement with FanDuel (the
huge fantasy gambling site) and the NFL continues to put out weekly “injury
reports” (gold to gamblers legal and illegal).
Indeed,
the injury report was created over 50 years ago, with one of the reasons for
its creation being to prevent gamblers from getting “inside information” on
injuries that could influence the outcome of a game. Now, at least in theory, everybody who wants
to know (i.e., gamblers, including fantasy players) can find out about NFL
injuries every week.
WHAT
ABOUT THE HYPOCRISY OF THE NBA?
Well,
it’s not so long ago that an NBA referee did 15 months in prison for betting on
and attempting to fix NBA games, some of which he officiated.
He
certainly wasn’t betting $50 to win on the Lakers at Monmouth Park.
The
notion of “irreparable harm,” espoused by Judge Shipp in his decision barring
(at least temporarily) Monmouth Park from taking sports bets, is based, at
least in part, on the false premise that legal gambling, in addition to illegal
gambling, will create more opportunities to have fixed games.
Of
course, there is absolutely no evidence of this. When an industry has 400-500 billion dollars
per year bet, an additional (you fill in the blank) x millions/billions more
won’t raise the chances of a fix any more than there already is such a chance
(whatever that is).
In
addition, the NBA has also entered into its own four-year agreement with
FanDuel. While it’s “legal,” it’s
gambling-based, no matter what descriptions are used about it.
CONCLUSION
Like
it or not, we live in a world where a number of states allow the legal sale of
marijuana despite it being in conflict with existing federal law. New York City now will not arrest you
if you are caught carrying a limited amount of pot (although they still will
arrest you if you smoke it in public).
It
seems pretty clear to many (including the NBA commissioner) that sports
gambling is coming. There’s no reason
why New Jersey shouldn’t be first on
the list to monitor it, regulate it and do it.
©
COPYRIGHT 2014 BY STEVE KALLAS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
