Leagues partnering with casinos is a slippery slope
Earlier in the NFL season, the Jets announced a partnership with MGM. After that, a plane flew over MetLife stadium to protest the arrangement citing MGM’s July lawsuit against the victims of the Las Vegas massacre.
This week, Major League Baseball announced its own agreement with MGM.
Money can have that effect. The U.S. sports gambling market could be worth $4.9 billion annually by 2023, according to the UK-based H2 Gambling Capital’s May report.
Last May, when the Supreme Court opened the door for states to legalize sports gambling, it started a foot race for all the revenue a new and legitimate betting market can bring. A market once ruled by bookies and underground networks could soon be ready for prime time, and the league that actively shuns Pete Rose is now embracing a casino company with massive profits on the horizon.
When teams and leagues are willing to change course after decades of disciplinary history or overlook a truly odious decision to sue people who had been shot by a sniper at an MGM property, what else are they willing to ignore?
In the rush to get in on the ground floor of partnerships, to protect logos and data, the bottom line is front and center. But there are other considerations when it comes to sports betting. And to be fair, baseball has instituted new integrity guidelines in an awareness of potential conflicts.
“I think that we have ensured ourselves on the integrity front by updating our policies,” Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Making clear what employees and players can and cannot do, on the one hand, and on the other hand, developing clear guidelines for the commercial activity that Central Baseball, meaning Major League Baseball, will engage in, and similarly, the kind of commercial activities that will be allowed on the club level as well. It’s more than just making a business deal. It’s having in place a set of policies for the industry that give us comfort on what is always our most important issue. That is integrity.”
But if Facebook has taught us anything in the last year, it’s that an industry doesn’t effectively regulate itself. Sports gambling in this country is in its infancy now, but that will change. Imagine a time when your stadium experience includes access to a casino taking in-game bets at kiosks on gameday, and the stadium announcer reminding you to place your bets on the team app.
New York State Senator Kevin Parker was critical of the Jets’ partnership on the grounds of MGM’s lawsuit, but isn’t confused on the larger issue.
“I think sports gaming is going to be something that comes whether we like it or not,” Parker said. “I’m not necessarily too eager to add another vice to our community, but I do understand it’s going to come and I think we have to properly regulate it and provide support to people who need it. I want it to be thoroughly examined and not rush into it because we want money for the state or the stake-holders.”
We are about to see sharp landscape shifts as states ready their marketplaces. Nearby, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware have legalized sports betting, with New York likely adding sports gambling to the docket when the state legislature goes into session in January, according to a source.
With all the attention on partnerships and the ability to cast a legal bet, what’s missing is accountability.
The more money floods into a system, the bigger the incentive becomes to cheat that system. For professional sports like the NBA, the salaries may offer insulation from corruption, but the NCAA is unlike other leagues in that athletes are not paid. Not only will fans be able to bet on college football, but bookies are legally allowed to take action on everything from volleyball to water polo, too.
“The reality, unlike most casino games like blackjack or baccarat, all of those take place within the four walls of a casino,” said sports attorney Dan Wallach. “But in sports gambling, you’re wagering in one state on something that’s happening in another state.”
So how would Rhode Island know if an NCAA volleyball player in Oregon is taking money to throw a match? Or if a team intern was passing a playbook to a third-party? Who is minding the store as the money starts to flood into the system?
When you are building a system from the ground up, which is happening right now even if we only see the tip of the iceberg, you have an opportunity to build it in the best way possible. For many, including the NFL, whose executive vice president of communications and public affairs Jocelyn Moore addressed the House of Representatives last week, oversight has to be done at the federal level.
“Without continued federal guidance and oversight, however,” Moore said in her written remarks to Congress, “we are very concerned that sports leagues and state governments alone will not be able to fully protect the integrity of sporting contests and guard against the harms Congress has long recognized as being associated with sports betting.”
These days, expecting a divided Congress to act and impose oversight might seem like a bridge too far, but things have unfolded quickly since the Supreme Court allowed the states to legalize sports betting.
There is, however, some bipartisan support for federal oversight, with N.Y. Senator Chuck Schumer, a democrat, and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, a republican in favor of federal regulations.
Congress should look to create an independent oversight entity, akin to what exists for the financial markets. It’s not too soon for an earnest effort.
We take the integrity of sports here for granted. If Matt Stafford throws four interceptions or the Jets quarterback fumbles a ball by running into the rump of his lineman, we believe these are actual football moments, and not some pre-planned point-shaving scam to generate a return on a particular bet.
If we want the next generation to have the same trust in their sports, leagues and teams should work together to ensure we have it, even if it means a pause in the cash grab. There are things more important than the profits sports gaming will generate, things you can’t put a price on.
That’s a safe bet.