Crash, bust for ‘blitzed’ Jets player
ALBANY — Major League Baseball wants state lawmakers to help it cash in on sports betting in New York.
Baseball officials — including former Yankees manager Joe Torre — urged legislators Monday to adopt legislation that allows, but tightly regulates, sports gambling in New York and directs 0.25% of every sports bet taken by the casinos to sports leagues.
“The sports betting business is built on our games,” said Morgan Sword, senior vice president of league economics and operations for MLB. “There would be no sports betting were it not for the leagues.”
Sword said legalized sports gambling will bring significant risks and costs to the professional leagues, and they need to be compensated.
“We are going to have to hire more people, perform investigations, monitor millions and millions of points of data from betting that is happening all over the United States, and that’s going to be a significant cost,” Sword said, adding that a betting scandal “or even the appearance of a scandal could irreparably harm the brands of the leagues.”
Sword did not give an estimate on the actual costs sports gambling would generate for baseball and a league spokesman said no such estimate was available.
Sword said baseball also wants the state to limit what types of bets can be made, including no gambling on minor league games and a ban on certain in-game bets, such as whether a first pitch will be a ball or strike.
The visit by Sword and Torre (photo inset) came in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last month striking down a federal ban that had prevented New York and other states beyond Nevada from offering sports gambling. Under existing state law, New York’s four commercial casinos can begin offering onsite sports gambling as soon as the Gaming Commission gives the OK. But lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow them to offer online platforms and betting kiosks at racetracks and other venues. Actress Cynthia Nixon, who is challenging Gov. Cuomo for the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor, on Monday urged the Legislature to move cautiously on the issue of gambling — and to think twice about giving sports leagues a share. “I certainly don’t think the revenue from it should go to sports teams. I think it should go to New York State,” Nixon said.
The 0.25% share of bets sought by baseball could translate into a potential windfall for MLB and the other sports leagues. An American Gaming Association study released last month found that sports gaming could produce more than $287 billion in bets nationwide, including nearly $19 billion in New York.
Baseball’s request is similar to what would be provided under a sports gambling bill introduced earlier this year by state Sen. John Bonacic (R-Orange County), head of the Senate’s Gaming Committee, and another bill being drafted by Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee Chairman Gary Pretlow (D-Westchester County). “I do believe they are providing the content and they should get something for it,” Pretlow said. A JETS draft pick was busted on drunken driving charges after a car crash in New Jersey over the weekend, authorities said.
Christopher Herndon IV, a former University of Miami standout tight end drafted by the Jets in the fourth round, was driving west on Interstate 80 in Rockaway Township at 4:45 a.m. Saturday when he slammed into another car, state police said.
Herndon (photo), who was behind the wheel of a Nissan Armada, totaled a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Albert Elliott, 76, of Manalapan, said Sgt. Lawrence Peele, a New Jersey State Police spokesman.
Elliott suffered a bruise and a gash to his arm, Peele said. He was towing a trailer that carried a vintage railroad motorcar. A railroad motorcar is a vehicle about the size of a small car that can be driven on railroad tracks.
Troopers at the scene suspected Herndon was drunk. His blood alcohol tested above New Jersey’s 0.08% legal limit.
Herndon, 22, was charged with driving while intoxicated and traffic offenses, Peele said.
“We’re aware of the situation and have no further comment,” a Jets spokesman said.