NFL may end sports betting critics

Roger Goodell, National Football League Commissioner, has eased up his position towards sports betting once the Raiders landed in Nevada.

US.- As Las Vegas will host the newest stadium of Raiders, officials of the National Football League (NFL) and representatives of the football team are debating the possible impacts of the gaming industry on the sports integrity. Whilst the NFL used to be one of the major opponents to legal and unauthorised industries, Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, has eased up his position towards the activity.

This week authorities of the NFL and Las Vegas revealed their joint plan for the installation of a new stadium for Raiders team by 2020. About the possibility of Raiders’ presence on the local sports betting industry, Goodell showed his resilient position and assured the entity would not probably changed its view on the issue.

However, the local press revealed a later quote where he said they may not interfere with bookmakers’ portfolios “in large part because you have the regulatory environment there, which actually could be beneficial in this case.” And he added: “We’ll study it further, but I think at this point in time that’s not our position.”

Apparently, latest Goodell statement was made during a meeting in Phoenix with the owners, the following day that the approval of the relocation was set. As Nevada is the only state that has legalised and made effective the sports betting industry so far, the NFL Commissioner had been showing a softer speech about the gaming sector. “We’ve always said we were going to maintain the integrity of the game by making sure there was a separation between sports gambling and the NFL,” Goodell stated to ESPN a few weeks ago. “We recognize gambling occurs out of the market place.”