While the NBA taking a progressive approach to legalized gambling, there have been questions about how the league will handle the sometimes-controversial practice. Gambling is as much a part of sports as anything else, but there’s always the fear of it taking over and games being fixed in some way.
In an attempt to make sure this doesn’t happen, the NBA is looking across the pond. The English Premier League has openly embraced gambling for years, with multiple teams sponsored by betting companies and betting lines being shown throughout matches. With the league in London for its annual game in England, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum elaborated on what it believes it can take away from how the Preier League approaches gambling.
“We’re trying to educate our fans. We’re educating our players and our teams. We’re taking a little bit of a cautious approach here. … But generally, we think it’s a good thing for sports betting to be regulated, to be legalized, so there is better information being captured.”
The NBA already employs Swiss-based data agency Sportradar to provide information and flag possible betting anomalies surrounding its games.
Yet advice has also been sought, and insights taken, from the English Premier League. Nine of its 20 clubs have betting firms as their primary jersey sponsors, and almost every British stadium incorporates betting outlets and pitchside advertising of the latest odds, especially during matches broadcast on live television.
The key for the NBA will be figuring how to not go too far into the world of gambling. There’s a lot of potential revenue to be made here and they can’t just let themselves get caught up in that. These are common concerns people have when talking about leagues embracing gambling in sports, but the NBA doesn’t seem too worried about that, as they’re doing the necessary research to do this properly.
How the Premier League strikes a balance between revenues and responsibility has been closely observed, Tatum said.
“That really helped inform some of our thoughts on how sports betting could work in the United States. We’re seeing a large shift now and a change in the landscape of sports betting in the U.S.,” Tatum said. “We’ve gone to school on them. We’ve actually shared a lot of information with them and have a great partnership with them.”
The legalization of gambling nationwide in the United States is something that could potentially change the way fans consume sports, and it’s hard not to wonder how far the NBA will go in embracing the practice. Will the league start promoting teams covering spreads, and provide in-game line updates, or is that a step too far? Time, ultimately, will tell.
