Gambling Insiders Blast NFL Phoniness on Betting Sports
The insistence by NFL leaders that sports betting remain illegal fools no one, say gaming experts who assert gambling is the cause of NFL success.
Discussion of the NFL'S aggressive stance against Delaware's legalization of sports betting has caused many gaming industry insiders to speak the truth that all know but pretend doesn't exist. They say the National Football League should be thanking its lucky stars for sports gambling, not opposing it.
NFL spokesmen have insisted the league feels any sports gambling affects the integrity of game results, and leads to corruption of players and games. But observers wonder how legal sports betting would be worse than the huge black market which now exists in the underground sports wagering world.
"How can they say that it will hurt the integrity of the games?" asked Las Vegas handicapper Brandon Lang in an interview with Newsday. "You and I both know that the NFL knows where their bread is buttered. Why is the Super Bowl so big? Because it provides so much action: The coin toss, the National Anthem, all that extra stuff. I laugh every time I hear that from the NFL."
Ex-mob bookie Michael Franzese makes speeches to athletes on the pernicious dangers of gambling and gaming influences. He tells them what the NFL refuses to admit, "Your sport is popular because people are gambling on it."
"Without betting on sports, they (the NFL) wouldn't be building stadiums; they'd be building bleachers," says Lang.
With sports betting as prevalent as it is, experts say the NFL's burgeoning popularity, and ability to sell billions in beer commercials, is based on the interest generated by having action on games. The NFL fools no one when it says gambling must remain illegal; its fanbase is made up of the people doing the gambling.
Gambling Insiders Blast NFL Phoniness on Betting Sports
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Betting Sports Tip: Paddy Power Buys Stake in Australia’s Sportsbet (Update2)
Betting Sports Tip: Paddy Power Buys Stake in Australia’s Sportsbet (Update2)
By Louisa Nesbitt
(Bloomberg) -- Paddy Power Plc, Ireland’s largest bookmaker, recently bought 51 percent of Sportsbet Pty Ltd. to expand into Australia’s gambling market.
Paddy Power will pay an initial 48.5 million Australian dollars ($36.8 million) for the stake, payable in cash and the issue of 100,000 shares, the Dublin-based company said today in a statement ahead of its annual shareholder meeting.
Paddy Power is expanding abroad as weakening economies in Ireland and the U.K. affect wagers placed in betting shops. Growth in the amounts staked at Paddy Power’s sports-betting unit accelerated “significantly” this fiscal year, partly due to the expansion of the online business outside Ireland, according to a separate statement.
“The board is satisfied with progress and momentum in the year to date and remains comfortable with the consensus market forecast for 2009 for its existing businesses, subject as ever to the volatility that could arise from sporting results,” Chairman Nigel Northridge said in the statement.
Paddy Power rose 73 cents, or 4.8 percent, to 15.99 euros in Dublin. The stock has advanced 19 percent this year, giving it a market value of 760.6 million euros ($1.04 billion).
The amount staked at Paddy Power’s sports betting business rose 1 percent at betting shops and 31 percent at its internet and telephone division, excluding currency swings, in the 19 weeks to May 12, the statement shows.
The Sportsbet acquisition will see Paddy Power enter a market similar to the U.K. and Ireland, with the same language and similar regulatory environment, Finance Director Jack Massey said in a telephone interview.
“We certainly have other things in the development pipeline we are working on,” Massey said.
Betting Sports Tip: Paddy Power Buys Stake in Australia’s Sportsbet (Update2)
By Louisa Nesbitt
(Bloomberg) -- Paddy Power Plc, Ireland’s largest bookmaker, recently bought 51 percent of Sportsbet Pty Ltd. to expand into Australia’s gambling market.
Paddy Power will pay an initial 48.5 million Australian dollars ($36.8 million) for the stake, payable in cash and the issue of 100,000 shares, the Dublin-based company said today in a statement ahead of its annual shareholder meeting.
Paddy Power is expanding abroad as weakening economies in Ireland and the U.K. affect wagers placed in betting shops. Growth in the amounts staked at Paddy Power’s sports-betting unit accelerated “significantly” this fiscal year, partly due to the expansion of the online business outside Ireland, according to a separate statement.
“The board is satisfied with progress and momentum in the year to date and remains comfortable with the consensus market forecast for 2009 for its existing businesses, subject as ever to the volatility that could arise from sporting results,” Chairman Nigel Northridge said in the statement.
Paddy Power rose 73 cents, or 4.8 percent, to 15.99 euros in Dublin. The stock has advanced 19 percent this year, giving it a market value of 760.6 million euros ($1.04 billion).
The amount staked at Paddy Power’s sports betting business rose 1 percent at betting shops and 31 percent at its internet and telephone division, excluding currency swings, in the 19 weeks to May 12, the statement shows.
The Sportsbet acquisition will see Paddy Power enter a market similar to the U.K. and Ireland, with the same language and similar regulatory environment, Finance Director Jack Massey said in a telephone interview.
“We certainly have other things in the development pipeline we are working on,” Massey said.
Betting Sports Tip: Paddy Power Buys Stake in Australia’s Sportsbet (Update2)
Betting Sports Forum: Legalize Online Gambling
Betting Sports Forum: Legalize Online Gambling
By Bob Barr
Former Georgia Congressman
In 2006, the Congress, which was then still controlled by the Republican Party, passed legislation (then signed by President George W. Bush) that explicitly restricted internet gambling. The “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act” (UNIGEA) did this by prohibiting banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions from processing or transferring gambling-related funds. While the 2006 law has made it virtually impossible for people wishing to place bets online for any activity other than horse racing to do so lawfully in the US, online gambling remains a multi-billion dollar industry offshore and in other countries.
Recently, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, introduced legislation that would largely nullify the effects of UNIGEA and legalize non-sports, online gambling. The GOP and many right-wing lobby groups such as Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition oppose online gambling and support empowering the federal government to prohibit it and other forms of gambling. They can be expected to strongly oppose Rep. Frank’s effort.
Even though Frank’s bill (HR 2267) is imperfect — it would still prohibit betting on “sporting events,” for example, and it would create a significant new federal bureaucracy within the Treasury Department to regulate, monitor and collect revenues from internet gambling licensees — it at least will open debate on the question of why the federal government should be able to put someone in prison for wagering a bet over the internet.
What is needed is legislation that simply and clearly repeals UNIGEA and that repeals or at least curtails the 1961 “Wire Act,” which continues to be broadly interpreted by the Justice Department to prohibit internet gambling. In recent years almost every state has moved to legalize some form of betting, whether by lottery, casinos or racetracks, and it makes no sense — if it ever did — to empower the federal government to continue prohibiting people from using the internet to place bets. If the only way to restore freedom in this respect is to put up with some form of regulation, let’s at least keep the regulatory aspect to a minimum and maximize the ability of adults to place bets online.
Betting Sports Forum: Legalize Online Gambling
By Bob Barr
Former Georgia Congressman
In 2006, the Congress, which was then still controlled by the Republican Party, passed legislation (then signed by President George W. Bush) that explicitly restricted internet gambling. The “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act” (UNIGEA) did this by prohibiting banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions from processing or transferring gambling-related funds. While the 2006 law has made it virtually impossible for people wishing to place bets online for any activity other than horse racing to do so lawfully in the US, online gambling remains a multi-billion dollar industry offshore and in other countries.
Recently, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, introduced legislation that would largely nullify the effects of UNIGEA and legalize non-sports, online gambling. The GOP and many right-wing lobby groups such as Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition oppose online gambling and support empowering the federal government to prohibit it and other forms of gambling. They can be expected to strongly oppose Rep. Frank’s effort.
Even though Frank’s bill (HR 2267) is imperfect — it would still prohibit betting on “sporting events,” for example, and it would create a significant new federal bureaucracy within the Treasury Department to regulate, monitor and collect revenues from internet gambling licensees — it at least will open debate on the question of why the federal government should be able to put someone in prison for wagering a bet over the internet.
What is needed is legislation that simply and clearly repeals UNIGEA and that repeals or at least curtails the 1961 “Wire Act,” which continues to be broadly interpreted by the Justice Department to prohibit internet gambling. In recent years almost every state has moved to legalize some form of betting, whether by lottery, casinos or racetracks, and it makes no sense — if it ever did — to empower the federal government to continue prohibiting people from using the internet to place bets. If the only way to restore freedom in this respect is to put up with some form of regulation, let’s at least keep the regulatory aspect to a minimum and maximize the ability of adults to place bets online.
Betting Sports Forum: Legalize Online Gambling
Offshore Betting Sports Keeps Gaming Fans in Their Homes
Offshore Betting Sports Keeps Gaming Fans in Their Homes
A new generation of gambling aficionados has encountered the expression “offshore sports betting,” but some may not be completely in the know what that stands for in detail. A foreign betting site basically performs extrinsically to the laws of a single state instead it can also mean a web based gaming internet site deploying its computer servers within the boundaries of a nation where machine-accessible sports gaming isn’t currently disallowed. Succinctly therefore, it can be delineated as a sports gambling business operative outside the country of the client. Live sports betting websites are in the main governed through 3 institutions. They are the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association FTGA.
The Offshore Gaming Association is in fact a non-partisan institution which presently supervises the thriving offshore sports gambling trade with the duty to also supply the paying public the capability to easily locate fair internet sites to play betting games on, without stress. It labors to assure sports gambling devotee’s rights, and they don’t impose any membership expenses. The Offshore Gaming Association are a competent and unprejudiced third party agency who manifest impartial judgments, indicated by customer feedback, unprejudiced studies, calls, insider tips and also provides inside news.
The IGC are a non-commercially motivated organization. The council was founded to allow an arena for concerned people to talk through recent issues also to move forward collective worries in the world-wide interactive gaming business, in an effort to establish even-handed not to mention effective industry protocols and habits which raise end user certainty in internet sports gaming products and utilities, and to function as the trade’s universal strategy guardian and it also supplies an information clearinghouse.
The Interactive Gaming Council has established a reputation for developing dependability, right conduct and sincerity through the ethics it displays, and its appeal for ethical websites. The Interactive Gaming Council influences offshore sports gaming via endorsing a special ten-point code of conduct furthermore bills gaming web sites a license fee for publishing the council’s logo. Malcontent customers may, should they desire, recount their conflicts to the Interactive Gaming Council.
The FTGA was set up in a venture to produce a standard to improve the actions of internet sports betting websites. The IGC understand that by carrying on trade with honorable companies, they are able to found an affiliation of the fairest and most expert internet gaming businesses multi-nationally. There are councils which observe the conduct practiced by
world–wide web-based sports gambling and which should serve to allay some of the apprehensions experienced by doubters. Internet sports betting sites are entirely dependable; now that individual details should not be required also the recompense and the odds are generally equivalent to a regular Vegas-style sports wager. They lower travel time, but still maintain the original atmosphere, but these days you may game in the comfort of your beloved surroundings.
Offshore Betting Sports Keeps Gaming Fans in Their Homes
A new generation of gambling aficionados has encountered the expression “offshore sports betting,” but some may not be completely in the know what that stands for in detail. A foreign betting site basically performs extrinsically to the laws of a single state instead it can also mean a web based gaming internet site deploying its computer servers within the boundaries of a nation where machine-accessible sports gaming isn’t currently disallowed. Succinctly therefore, it can be delineated as a sports gambling business operative outside the country of the client. Live sports betting websites are in the main governed through 3 institutions. They are the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association FTGA.
The Offshore Gaming Association is in fact a non-partisan institution which presently supervises the thriving offshore sports gambling trade with the duty to also supply the paying public the capability to easily locate fair internet sites to play betting games on, without stress. It labors to assure sports gambling devotee’s rights, and they don’t impose any membership expenses. The Offshore Gaming Association are a competent and unprejudiced third party agency who manifest impartial judgments, indicated by customer feedback, unprejudiced studies, calls, insider tips and also provides inside news.
The IGC are a non-commercially motivated organization. The council was founded to allow an arena for concerned people to talk through recent issues also to move forward collective worries in the world-wide interactive gaming business, in an effort to establish even-handed not to mention effective industry protocols and habits which raise end user certainty in internet sports gaming products and utilities, and to function as the trade’s universal strategy guardian and it also supplies an information clearinghouse.
The Interactive Gaming Council has established a reputation for developing dependability, right conduct and sincerity through the ethics it displays, and its appeal for ethical websites. The Interactive Gaming Council influences offshore sports gaming via endorsing a special ten-point code of conduct furthermore bills gaming web sites a license fee for publishing the council’s logo. Malcontent customers may, should they desire, recount their conflicts to the Interactive Gaming Council.
The FTGA was set up in a venture to produce a standard to improve the actions of internet sports betting websites. The IGC understand that by carrying on trade with honorable companies, they are able to found an affiliation of the fairest and most expert internet gaming businesses multi-nationally. There are councils which observe the conduct practiced by
world–wide web-based sports gambling and which should serve to allay some of the apprehensions experienced by doubters. Internet sports betting sites are entirely dependable; now that individual details should not be required also the recompense and the odds are generally equivalent to a regular Vegas-style sports wager. They lower travel time, but still maintain the original atmosphere, but these days you may game in the comfort of your beloved surroundings.
Offshore Betting Sports Keeps Gaming Fans in Their Homes
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Betting Line Sports: How a couple of "off" lines helped put an end to the first Delaware sports lottery...
Betting Line Sports: How a couple of "off" lines helped put an end to the first Delaware sports lottery...
Story Submitted by Pro Football Weekly (PFW)
In my story on Delaware legalizing sports wagering — and the NFL's challenge to the state's sports lottery — I briefly wrote on the curious case of how the state's first attempt at sports gambling in 1976 broke down. In short, one of the reasons the game ultimately failed is that bettors pounced on some NFL betting lines that were significantly off.
According to a New York Times story from Dec. 15, 1976, the intrigue centered on two games played in the final week of the regular season. The Delaware State Lottery Commission, in conjunction with a Princeton, N.J. systems analysis company, installed the 49ers as 6½-point road favorites over the Saints and the Packers as 6½-point road favorites over the Falcons for the state's "Touchdown 2" wager, which required bettors to pick between four and 12 NFL games against the spread.
However, sharp bettors saw the two NFL differently. According to the Times account, Joseph L. Zambanini, "a Wilmington tile contractor who [said] that he is an amateur oddsmaker and has access to 'the Las Vegas line,' the gambling underworld's' football point spread," gave multiple interviews indicating that the "smart money" had New Orleans as three-point favorites and Atlanta three-point favorites. *** In short, the Delaware line was 9½ points off from the sharp bettors on those two games. The Delaware spreads, Zambanini said, according to the Times, were a way to make "easy money."
And money did flow into the sports lottery, three times as much as the previous week, according to the Times account. Paul M. Simmons, the state's lottery director, decided to shut down the game on Saturday, Dec. 11.
Something like that would never happen today, what with the wide array of betting information available electronically and the ability to update lines with a keystroke, but it is certainly a story those administering the new edition of the Delaware sports lottery will keep in mind.
So how did the games turn out? Here's another twist: The Packers beat the Falcons, 24-20 — and interestingly enough, Green Bay closed as a 2½-point favorite, according to the Dec. 20, 1976 issue of Pro Football Weekly. So those who bet the Packers at 6½ on a parlay card in Delaware lost, but those who got them in either in Las Vegas (or betting through some other means) won. Note that the closing number represents a 5½-point swing from the "smart money" spread that caused such a stir in Delaware.
In the other game, the Niners rolled, 27-7, making their backers in Delaware and elsewhere winners. The Niners closed as three-point favorites, according to our records, another big point-spread swing. Interesting that in both games, the final line started to approach the spread set in the Delaware lottery — but it was still several points off its original projection.
What do I make of all of this? How interesting would it have been to write about all of that at the time...
*** — (Something longtime PFW readers might enjoy and something that, me, as the resident handicapping historian, found rather interesting: The "early Las Vegas line" in the Dec. 13, 1976 issue of PFW, which went to press the Monday before the final weekend of the season, had Atlanta as a two-point favorite and rated San Francisco-New Orleans as a pick 'em. At that time, PFW also set its own line, and it installed Atlanta as a four-point favorite and New Orleans as a two-point favorite.)
Betting Line Sports: How a couple of "off" lines helped put an end to the first Delaware sports lottery...
Story Submitted by Pro Football Weekly (PFW)
In my story on Delaware legalizing sports wagering — and the NFL's challenge to the state's sports lottery — I briefly wrote on the curious case of how the state's first attempt at sports gambling in 1976 broke down. In short, one of the reasons the game ultimately failed is that bettors pounced on some NFL betting lines that were significantly off.
According to a New York Times story from Dec. 15, 1976, the intrigue centered on two games played in the final week of the regular season. The Delaware State Lottery Commission, in conjunction with a Princeton, N.J. systems analysis company, installed the 49ers as 6½-point road favorites over the Saints and the Packers as 6½-point road favorites over the Falcons for the state's "Touchdown 2" wager, which required bettors to pick between four and 12 NFL games against the spread.
However, sharp bettors saw the two NFL differently. According to the Times account, Joseph L. Zambanini, "a Wilmington tile contractor who [said] that he is an amateur oddsmaker and has access to 'the Las Vegas line,' the gambling underworld's' football point spread," gave multiple interviews indicating that the "smart money" had New Orleans as three-point favorites and Atlanta three-point favorites. *** In short, the Delaware line was 9½ points off from the sharp bettors on those two games. The Delaware spreads, Zambanini said, according to the Times, were a way to make "easy money."
And money did flow into the sports lottery, three times as much as the previous week, according to the Times account. Paul M. Simmons, the state's lottery director, decided to shut down the game on Saturday, Dec. 11.
Something like that would never happen today, what with the wide array of betting information available electronically and the ability to update lines with a keystroke, but it is certainly a story those administering the new edition of the Delaware sports lottery will keep in mind.
So how did the games turn out? Here's another twist: The Packers beat the Falcons, 24-20 — and interestingly enough, Green Bay closed as a 2½-point favorite, according to the Dec. 20, 1976 issue of Pro Football Weekly. So those who bet the Packers at 6½ on a parlay card in Delaware lost, but those who got them in either in Las Vegas (or betting through some other means) won. Note that the closing number represents a 5½-point swing from the "smart money" spread that caused such a stir in Delaware.
In the other game, the Niners rolled, 27-7, making their backers in Delaware and elsewhere winners. The Niners closed as three-point favorites, according to our records, another big point-spread swing. Interesting that in both games, the final line started to approach the spread set in the Delaware lottery — but it was still several points off its original projection.
What do I make of all of this? How interesting would it have been to write about all of that at the time...
*** — (Something longtime PFW readers might enjoy and something that, me, as the resident handicapping historian, found rather interesting: The "early Las Vegas line" in the Dec. 13, 1976 issue of PFW, which went to press the Monday before the final weekend of the season, had Atlanta as a two-point favorite and rated San Francisco-New Orleans as a pick 'em. At that time, PFW also set its own line, and it installed Atlanta as a four-point favorite and New Orleans as a two-point favorite.)
Betting Line Sports: How a couple of "off" lines helped put an end to the first Delaware sports lottery...
Betting Sports Forum: New York Should Allow Sports Gambling
Betting Sports Forum: New York Should Allow Sports Gambling
The state of Delaware has now approved sports gambling. They have joined Nevada, Montana and Oregon. New York State should be on that list. Someone tell me why there are so many hypocrites who allow state lottery, but act like allowing people to bet on a game is the end of civilization as we know it?
If a person wants to legally bet on a game now, they can sign up for an off-shore account and gamble away. Of course if you just want to bet on something, and you live in Rochester, all you have to drive more than an hour and you can find a casino and play all the blackjack or slot machines that you would like. Or you can walk down to the 7-11 and buy a scratch off lottery ticket.
The biggest hypocrites in the country are the NFL owners who will publicly say they are against any additional legal forms of pro football gambling. But of course they know that their games popularity is tied to a great extent by a tremendous amount of illegal gambling on games.
Go ahead and allow sports gambling in New York. We have to make up for all of that money we are losing by having Tom Golisano takes up residence in Florida.
Betting Sports Forum: New York Should Allow Sports Gambling
The state of Delaware has now approved sports gambling. They have joined Nevada, Montana and Oregon. New York State should be on that list. Someone tell me why there are so many hypocrites who allow state lottery, but act like allowing people to bet on a game is the end of civilization as we know it?
If a person wants to legally bet on a game now, they can sign up for an off-shore account and gamble away. Of course if you just want to bet on something, and you live in Rochester, all you have to drive more than an hour and you can find a casino and play all the blackjack or slot machines that you would like. Or you can walk down to the 7-11 and buy a scratch off lottery ticket.
The biggest hypocrites in the country are the NFL owners who will publicly say they are against any additional legal forms of pro football gambling. But of course they know that their games popularity is tied to a great extent by a tremendous amount of illegal gambling on games.
Go ahead and allow sports gambling in New York. We have to make up for all of that money we are losing by having Tom Golisano takes up residence in Florida.
Betting Sports Forum: New York Should Allow Sports Gambling
Betting Sports Forum: The NFL’s Position On Sports Betting In Delaware
Betting Sports Forum: The NFL’s Position On Sports Betting In Delaware
Posted by Mike Florio
We’ve obtained, from NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, a copy of the brief submitted by the NFL to the Delaware Supreme Court, and we’ve read all of it carefully.
OK, we’ve skimmed all of it carefully.
OK, we’ve skimmed most of it.
OK, we’ve skimmed the first page and the last page. But we got the gist of it.
Here’s the context. Delaware thinks that its proposed sports betting scheme will be more likely to withstand subsequent court challenges if Delaware gets its Supreme Court to sign off on the process before the sports betting scheme is launched.
The league explains that it is opposing the Delaware sports betting scheme because “[s]ports lotteries threaten the integrity of NFL games and are grossly inconsistent with the values of the NFL.”
Here are the league’s arguments, in a nutshell.
First, the NFL contends that the question of whether sports gambling violates the Delaware Constitution is something that cannot be resolved easily or quickly. Article II, Section 17 of the Delaware Constitution permits only a lottery — and a lottery is premised on chance, not skill. The league points out that, in past cases arising in other states involving the “chance” versus “skill” debate, decisions have been made based on the development of a significant “factual record” (i.e., hours of droning witnesses and acres of dead trees and other stuff on which informed decisions can be made, if the folks digesting the information can stay awake long enough to make a decision).
Second, the NFL contends that the Delaware Supreme Court can’t offer a sufficiently binding and reliable opinion on whether the proposed sports betting scheme will violate federal law.
In 1992, the U.S. government essentially slammed the door on the expansion of sports gambling, banning all such betting and exempting only those states that already had allowed sports wagering and those states that had done so at some point between 1976 and 1990.
Delaware believes that a sports lottery game used for a brief time in 1976 fits within the exception to the federal law (and which failed miserably because gamblers were winning too consistently). But, as the NFL points out, there simply is no way for the Delaware Supreme Court to know what will happen if/when the feds decide to explore the proposed Delaware sports gambling initiative.
Third, the NFL argues that the Delaware Supreme Court can determine prospectively that sports betting necessarily involves skill, and thus violates the Delaware Constitution.
Frankly, we can’t imagine anyone taking the position that sports betting doesn’t involve skill. Some think the betting line is aimed at making the picking of a winner and a loser the equivalent of guessing whether a coin will come up heads or tails. In reality, the betting line is aimed at ensuring equal “action” on each team, with the bets canceling each other out and the house’s profit coming from the vigorish — the eleventh dollar that is bet in order to win ten of them.
So if a bettor possesses the ability to spot the situations in which the line is affected by the inaccurate perceptions of the masses, a bettor can push the odds in his or her favor by spotting those situations in which the line doesn’t reflect the realistic difference between the teams.
Finally, the NFL argues that the potential validation of the sports betting scheme by the Delaware Supreme Court disrupts the balance of power among the executive, legislative, and judicial branch by giving the highest court in the state a role in the development of legislation that, typically, a court interprets and applies after the other two branches have made it law.
Though we still aren’t sure whether the NFL should care about any of this, given that people are going to gamble regardless of whether it’s legal, we think that the NFL is right on this one. Sports betting is based on skill, and thus the proposed sports betting scheme would violate the Delaware Constitution.
Betting Sports Forum: The NFL’s Position On Sports Betting In Delaware
Posted by Mike Florio
We’ve obtained, from NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, a copy of the brief submitted by the NFL to the Delaware Supreme Court, and we’ve read all of it carefully.
OK, we’ve skimmed all of it carefully.
OK, we’ve skimmed most of it.
OK, we’ve skimmed the first page and the last page. But we got the gist of it.
Here’s the context. Delaware thinks that its proposed sports betting scheme will be more likely to withstand subsequent court challenges if Delaware gets its Supreme Court to sign off on the process before the sports betting scheme is launched.
The league explains that it is opposing the Delaware sports betting scheme because “[s]ports lotteries threaten the integrity of NFL games and are grossly inconsistent with the values of the NFL.”
Here are the league’s arguments, in a nutshell.
First, the NFL contends that the question of whether sports gambling violates the Delaware Constitution is something that cannot be resolved easily or quickly. Article II, Section 17 of the Delaware Constitution permits only a lottery — and a lottery is premised on chance, not skill. The league points out that, in past cases arising in other states involving the “chance” versus “skill” debate, decisions have been made based on the development of a significant “factual record” (i.e., hours of droning witnesses and acres of dead trees and other stuff on which informed decisions can be made, if the folks digesting the information can stay awake long enough to make a decision).
Second, the NFL contends that the Delaware Supreme Court can’t offer a sufficiently binding and reliable opinion on whether the proposed sports betting scheme will violate federal law.
In 1992, the U.S. government essentially slammed the door on the expansion of sports gambling, banning all such betting and exempting only those states that already had allowed sports wagering and those states that had done so at some point between 1976 and 1990.
Delaware believes that a sports lottery game used for a brief time in 1976 fits within the exception to the federal law (and which failed miserably because gamblers were winning too consistently). But, as the NFL points out, there simply is no way for the Delaware Supreme Court to know what will happen if/when the feds decide to explore the proposed Delaware sports gambling initiative.
Third, the NFL argues that the Delaware Supreme Court can determine prospectively that sports betting necessarily involves skill, and thus violates the Delaware Constitution.
Frankly, we can’t imagine anyone taking the position that sports betting doesn’t involve skill. Some think the betting line is aimed at making the picking of a winner and a loser the equivalent of guessing whether a coin will come up heads or tails. In reality, the betting line is aimed at ensuring equal “action” on each team, with the bets canceling each other out and the house’s profit coming from the vigorish — the eleventh dollar that is bet in order to win ten of them.
So if a bettor possesses the ability to spot the situations in which the line is affected by the inaccurate perceptions of the masses, a bettor can push the odds in his or her favor by spotting those situations in which the line doesn’t reflect the realistic difference between the teams.
Finally, the NFL argues that the potential validation of the sports betting scheme by the Delaware Supreme Court disrupts the balance of power among the executive, legislative, and judicial branch by giving the highest court in the state a role in the development of legislation that, typically, a court interprets and applies after the other two branches have made it law.
Though we still aren’t sure whether the NFL should care about any of this, given that people are going to gamble regardless of whether it’s legal, we think that the NFL is right on this one. Sports betting is based on skill, and thus the proposed sports betting scheme would violate the Delaware Constitution.
Betting Sports Forum: The NFL’s Position On Sports Betting In Delaware
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