GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 13 - June 2010
by J. Todd, Executive Director, APCW I f you know anything about American sports, you know that baseball is often called America’s pastime. But the true passionofmost sports fans in theUnited States is American football, specifically theNational Football League. TheNFLmakesmillionsofdol- lars every year. Sure, some of that money comes from ticket revenues, concession sales and merchandising. But the bulk of that money comes from TV contracts. Lots of peoplewatch NFLgames.Somearewatching because their favorite team is playing. But there’s alsoahuge group of people watching be- cause they’ve gotmoney riding on theoutcome. More money changes hands (from fantasy leagues, three- team parlays and traditional old straight wagers) based on theresultsofNFLcontests than any other league in the United States. More than $90million iswageredon theSuperBowl— just onegame—everyyear. You would think that the NFL would welcome a regulated sports betting environment to ensure the integrity of its con- tests. This is a league, after all, that started producing injury reportsso thatLasVegassports books could produce an accurate line for each game. But no, these hypocritical jackasses have done everything in their power toblock theexpansionof regulated sports betting. The NFL has led the pro- fessional sports leagues’ crusade against online sports books, and now, they’ve succeeded in blocking Delaware from al- lowing single-gamewageringon sports. Yousee,Delaware isoneof just fourstates where sports betting isn’t illegal. Under a 1992 law, statescanallowsportsbetting if they did so between 1976 and 1990 (only Delaware, Nevada, Oregon andMontana did so). Delaware offered parlay bets on sports in 1976, and the state’s governor, JackMarkell, decided to open up sports betting to raise revenue and close a bud- get gap last year. Surprise, surprise, theNFLand therestof theprofessional sports leagues cried foul. They sought an injunction to stop the state, and when they lost, they cried all theway to the ThirdCircuit Court of Ap- peals inPhiladelphia, where theywon an injunction to stop single-game wagering. (The court did listen to some reason; parlay betting was allowed as the court ruled that Delaware could resume the same betting scheme it had in 1976.) Delaware appealed to the Su- preme Court, but in earlyMay, thecourtannounced that itwas siding with the NFL and the rest of the frauds who are rak- ing in the profits from the in- terest gambling creates in their games, but decrying the prac- ticeas “tainting thegame.” So congratulations, NFL. Your shameless contradictory stance on sports betting wins you a spot on theWall of Shame. No doubtyour loveofmoneywould have you looking to sign an ex- clusive endorsement deal with anonlinesportsbook if the fed- eral government ever decided to regulate the industry. WALL OF SHAME 60 APCW’sWall of Shame
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