Ten years after writing an op-ed in favor of legalizing sports gambling, Adam Silver said he does not regret what was a seismic shift in the position of a major North American sports league. The NBA now has more than two dozen business relationships with gaming companies.
“I’d say when it comes to sports betting, I certainly don’t regret writing that op-ed piece and being in favor of legalized sports betting,” Silver said. “I still think you can’t turn the clock back. I think, as I said at the time, with the advent of the internet, widely available sports betting online … that we had to deal directly with technology and recognize that if we don’t legalize sports betting, people are going to find ways to do it illegally."
Silver also believes gambling should be regulated on the federal level instead of its current state-by-state model.
“I was in favor of a federal framework for sports betting. I still am,” Silver said. “I still think that the hodgepodge of state by state, it makes it more difficult for the league to administer it. I think it creates competition, understandably, among states to get — just think New York, New Jersey or a situation like that where you’re both competing for the same customer so you can compete on tax rates and other things and a regulatory framework.
“I think that on the downsides of sports betting, they certainly exist, and I think we have to pay a lot of attention to that. I think where we’re hearing it in multiple categories, certainly you see incidents of underaged people betting. We have to pay a lot of attention to that, what’s potentially going on at college campuses, certainly people betting over their heads.”
Silver continues to state that the NBA's interest in gambling is more focused on increasing engagement than direct revenue.
“We take this very seriously,” Silver said. “As I said sort of Day 1, it’s not a huge business for us in terms of a revenue stream into the league, but it makes a big difference in engagement. It’s something that people clearly enjoy doing. I’d put it in the category of other things in society that I wouldn’t criminalize them, but on the other hand that you have to heavily regulate them because if there’s not guardrails, people will run afoul and create issues, problems for themselves, potentially for their families or for operations like us.”