Perhaps it is Silver Time? Vote for Silver and not Andrew Cuomo?
BETTING
on professional sports is currently illegal in most of the United
States outside of Nevada. I believe we need a different approach.
For
more than two decades, the National Basketball Association has opposed
the expansion of legal sports betting, as have the other major
professional sports leagues in the United States. In 1992, the leagues
supported the passage by Congress of the Professional and Amateur Sports
Protection Act, or Paspa, which generally prohibits states from
authorizing sports betting.
But
despite legal restrictions, sports betting is widespread. It is a
thriving underground business that operates free from regulation or
oversight. Because there are few legal options available, those who wish
to bet resort to illicit bookmaking operations and shady offshore
websites. There is no solid data on the volume of illegal sports betting
activity in the United States, but some estimate that nearly $400
billion is illegally wagered on sports each year.
Times
have changed since Paspa was enacted. Gambling has increasingly become a
popular and accepted form of entertainment in the United States. Most
states offer lotteries. Over half of them have legal casinos. Three have
approved some form of Internet gambling, with others poised to follow.
There
is an obvious appetite among sports fans for a safe and legal way to
wager on professional sporting events. Mainstream media outlets
regularly publish sports betting lines and point spreads. Voters in New
Jersey overwhelmingly voiced their support for legal sports betting in a
2011 referendum. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey recently signed a bill authorizing sports betting
at local casinos and horse racetracks, a law the N.B.A. and other
leagues have opposed — and a federal court has blocked — because it
violates Paspa.
Outside
of the United States, sports betting and other forms of gambling are
popular, widely legal and subject to regulation. In England, for
example, a sports bet can be placed on a smartphone, at a stadium kiosk
or even using a television remote control.
In
light of these domestic and global trends, the laws on sports betting
should be changed. Congress should adopt a federal framework that allows
states to authorize betting on professional sports, subject to strict
regulatory requirements and technological safeguards.
These
requirements would include: mandatory monitoring and reporting of
unusual betting-line movements; a licensing protocol to ensure betting
operators are legitimate; minimum-age verification measures;
geo-blocking technology to ensure betting is available only where it is
legal; mechanisms to identify and exclude people with gambling problems;
and education about responsible gaming.
Without
a comprehensive federal solution, state measures such as New Jersey’s
recent initiative will be both unlawful and bad public policy.
Let
me be clear: Any new approach must ensure the integrity of the game.
One of my most important responsibilities as commissioner of the N.B.A.
is to protect the integrity of professional basketball and preserve
public confidence in the league and our sport. I oppose any course of
action that would compromise these objectives.
But
I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground
and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and
regulated.
Adam Silver is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association.
Stop scratching on holidays
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
HI-
Thanks for
the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy,
if you give me a mailing address.
Claude
Solnik
(631)
913-4244
Long
Island
Business News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI
Confidential > Stop
scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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