The NBA has been very open about its desires to legalize gambling for NBA games. The NBA has outlined a plan for all leagues to benefit from lea glazing this multi-billion dollar industry. Dan Spillane, an attorney for the NBA, testified in front of a New York State Senate committee to lay out exactly what the NBA’s price would be. “We have studied these issues at length,” Spillane said in his statement to lawmakers. “Our conclusion is that the time has come for a different approach that gives sports fans a safe and legal way to wager on sporting events while protecting the integrity of the underlying competitions.”
The NBA’s request would bring in a ludicrous amount of money to the league which it can use to expand technology within the game. The NBA’s asking price is 1% of all the bets placed along with other regulations, this doesn’t seem like much but when you look big picture its massive.
NBA Adam Silver has said that there is upwards of $400 billion bet illegally on sports each year. So for argument’s sake lets say $100 billion was bet on NBA games that means the NBA would receive $1 billion in gambling fees on top of the other regulations and fees companies would pay them. Silver is on the forefront of the legalizing gambling train because he sees the amount of revenue that it can bring in for the league. Many leagues have been against it and spent millions of dollars trying to halt gambling in its tracks, but Silver is the opposite. Silver will lead the flip or philosophy for all leagues. “States like New York and others have reacted by moving forward to discuss and advance new laws that could immediately there after permit legal sports betting,” Spillane said. “We cannot sit on the sidelines while this activity is occurring.”
The NBA also wants to make gambling more accessible for fans by adding kiosks and allowing bets to be placed via smartphone instead of having to go to a casino or a racetrack. The convenience of being able to place a bet wherever you are will allow for more wagers to be placed and more money to be made by the NBA. I am all for the idea of legalizing gambling if I ran a sports league, it’s not like making it illegal is going to stop people from doing it so you might as well get in on some of the action!
