David Stern, the former Commissioner for the National Basketball Association (NBA), called for a federal framework on sports betting in the United States. Speaking at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Stern said that legalizing sports betting across the country would deal a serious blow to organized crime groups. Stern said that during his time as head of one of the most powerful sports organizations in the US, he did not openly support legal and regulated sports betting. However, he has come to see that there is value in this type of industry.
“Over time I’ve come to accept the notion that a properly run gambling operation … is protective, and not deleterious, to the health of sports,” said the former Commissioner. “I guess I would say early on, I realized this idea that gambling is bad — it’s a state-regulated or Nevada-regulated industry — the notion that that’s going to lead to bad things has gotten to be an outdated notion as we learn more about illegal gaming and the size of the market.”
While many would presume that the obvious way forward to legalize and regulate sports betting in the US would be to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), or the Bradley Act as it is known, Stern believes that an entire overhaul of the legislation is required, bringing all the stakeholders on board.
Speaking at the expo, Stern said that everyone, including casinos, financial regulators and sports leagues, would need to be involved in the decision making process.
“That requires the sports leagues to participate, to contribute their intellectual property to the process, regulate the gaming in a certain way, with guarantees for its integrity,” said Stern. “And then the regulatory scheme that emerges and gets passed, let states and the sports leagues to opt in if they want to.”
David Stern does not believe that allowing individual states to regulate their own sports betting industries would work, and is adamant that the only way forward is a change in federal gambling laws. He said the idea of individual states regulating their industries was “too bureaucratic”.
“We’re not going to have our game, or any game, pecked away by individual state bureaus of political patronage,” he said.
Stern, who served as NBA Commissioner from 1984 to 2014, was echoing the sentiments of his successor, Adam Silver, who has called for the legalization of sports betting since the start of his position.
