NBA assesses legal sports betting
The NBA has addressed the possibility of a legal sports betting industry countrywide and proposed measures.
US.- The National Basketball Association (NBA) has addressed the possibility of a legal sports betting industry in the United States, introducing a project to regulate the sector. Last year NBA VP and assistant general counsel Dan Spillane said that the NBA had plans to lobby Congress for federal changes and regulations to betting law regardless of the outcome of New Jersey’s case that seeks the repeal of the PASPA Act.
“We have studied these issues at length,” Spillane said in a statement yesterday. “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.”
New Jersey’s case is primarily centred around the fact that there is a US$150 billion illegal sports betting market in the United States each year. PASPA, a sports protection act that was passed in 1992, prevents states from offering gambling lines on sports. Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana were granted special exemptions as all four of those states were offering some variation of sports lotteries back in 1992.
As the case is now being evaluated by the US Supreme Court, legislators are waiting for the resolution in order to plan the future of the industry. Meanwhile, the NBA has requested several laws be put in place to obtain benefits from the potential operations. In addition to other regulations, the sports league’s priority is to receive one percent of every bet made on its games.
