Ex MLB official said sports betting is inevitable
The former MLB commissioner said that there’s now way to avoid a legalised sports betting market in the United States.
US.- Fay Vincent, a former Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner, said to ESPN that the legalisation of the sports betting industry seems like an inevitability and that it will change sports as people know it.
“I know that [gambling] is precisely why these prices are going up. I’ve been really astonished and can’t believe, with the amount of money that’s going to flow to sports if gambling is permitted, that it’s not a subject of interest. And no one seems to be paying attention,” said Vincent to the sports news outlet. The official that was in charge from 1989 to 1992 supported the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that restricted sports gambling to Nevada in 1992. Currently, the act only allows sports betting operations in Oregon, Delaware, Montana and Nevada.
“In those days, we were very adamant against betting, because we had just been dealt and were dealing with the Pete Rose case. We saw the risks and the danger of corruption, and we saw that the mafia was involved in some of the things we investigated. It’s dangerous, and it’s still dangerous. But I think the American public wants to bet, and it’s already betting,” he added.
Last week, National Indian Gaming Association has joined the legal battle to implement a federal legislation on sports betting industry. According to local press, the major representative of tribal casino operators became this week part of supporter group, American Sports Betting Coalition. Several national groups have joined the battle in the last few months.
Moreover, Fay Vincent said that whilst the doesn’t know how the feds or the states are going to act, the money will come to the leagues one way or another. “It will go to the teams. The unions are going to want a cut of it. The amount of money is going to mean enormous increases in players’ compensation, and officials, too; I mean the entire sporting world is going to benefit enormously.”
