The Sporting Blog (where you’ll have to sit through the usual snarkiness about Delaware) has been following the sports betting drama here and found themselves asking the same questions we do:
Why then, are professional sports leagues trying so hard to block this from happening? Late last week, there were reports that a federal appeals court will expedite a hearing on the litigation between Delaware and the entire American sports world, including the four major leagues and the NCAA. Originally set to be heard in December, an appeals court will review the case starting August 24.
Why would the leagues be so adamant about blocking Delaware from having sports gambling in the first place? You can make the case for the NCAA in that the organization, while making money hand over fist, claims to maintain an amateur, non-profit status. Add to the fact that Delaware has several universities and colleges that play NCAA-sanctioned sports and a clear conflict of interest arises.
But Delaware has no professional sports teams (save minor league baseball). And sports gambling is already legal in this country and has been a multi-billion dollar, taxable business. So what’s the big deal?
So they asked the NFL and got this answer (there’s more at their blog):
“We oppose further state-operated gambling on individual NFL games because it presents a threat to the integrity of those games and to the long-term relationship between the NFL and its fans,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told me via email.
“If you make it easier for people to gamble then more people will. This would increase the chances for people to question the integrity of the game. Those people who are upset will question whether an erroneous officiating call or dropped pass late in the game resulted from an honest mistake or an intentional act by a corrupt player or official.”
This is pretty much the standard answer from the NFL here and this has never made any sense to me. People question the integrity of the game when there are real signs of corruption of conflicts of interest from players, owners or officials. A legal game is much more above board and provides a method to at least track back questionable activity. Besides which — whenever I watch the sports talking heads having on about football games, a discussion or at least a report of the point spread is a part of it. Wonder why the NFL doesn’t mind advertising the point spreads but doesn’t want people to bet.