The NBA wants to be on the forefront of assisting in the legalizing of sports gambling nationwide. On Wednesday, league attorney Dan Spillane testified before a New York State Senate committee and put forth what the league hopes to achieve in the event that wagering on sports across the United States becomes legalized.
Included in Spillane’s presentation of the league’s plan, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, were two massive things that would directly help the NBA: The league would get a cut of the every bet, and the ability to wager on games would be widespread.
The NBA wants 1 percent of every bet made on its games in addition to other regulations, a request that could create massive revenue for the NBA and other sports leagues in the future.
Spillane also said the NBA wants more widespread access to gambling for its fans, pushing for bets to be made legal on smartphones and kiosks and not just inside casinos and racetracks. That would increase the amount of wagering and, in turn, create more revenue for the league under its desired plan.
In addition to the testimony in front of the New York Senate, Windhorst wrote that the NBA would like to lobby the United States Congress on this matter, a sign that the league really does want to spearhead an effort to make sports wagering legal nationwide. This doesn’t just include benefitting from sports betting, but playing a role in how it is regulated — the league would want to help implement things like regulations against prop bets, age limits, monitoring for illegal activity, and consumer protections.
