Adam Silver Calls for Sports Betting in New York Times

As expected, there really hasn’t been much news in the way of online gambling in the past few weeks. The year is winding down and people are preparing for 2015. However, that hasn’t stopped Adam Silver from talking about sports betting.

As mentioned in a previous post, sports betting could be a major stepping stone to get online gambling legalized. Many people view online gambling in a negative light, so to legalize and regulate sports betting would be a step in the right direction.

Though Adam Silver has made offhand comments about legalizing sports betting in the past, he decided to elaborate. He went all out for his announcement – he penned an op-ed piece for the New York Times.

In the piece, he talks about how the National Basketball Association has always been against sports betting, and how the sports leagues supported Congress in passing the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PAPSA, which prohibited states from authorizing any sort of sports betting.

He then acknowledged what many people have been saying for years – despite legal roadblocks, sports betting is still widespread. He stated that while there’s no concrete number, it’s estimated that a staggering $400 billion is illegally wagered on sports betting annually.

This is the first time that the head of a sports league has spoke out in support of legalized sports betting. The heads of the other sports leagues have reaffirmed their stance against it.

Adam Silver talked about the safeguards that need to be put in place. Those include, but aren’t limited to, minimum-age verification measures, geo-blocking technology, a licensing protocol, monitoring and reporting of unusual betting-line movements, a system in place to identify and exclude those players with gambling problems, and a way to educate the general public on responsible gambling.

It’s exciting to think of what things would be like if sports betting were to be legalized. Can you imagine the betting odds for some major sports events, like the World Series? What if a site brought in more visitors with no deposit promotions? The payouts would be astronomical.

Still, we have a long way to go. Remember, Adam Silver is the only one that has come out in support of legalized sports betting. There’s still the matter of convincing the heads of other leagues, removing the negative stigma attached to online gambling, actually legalizing it, then moving on to legalize online games.

While it may take several years, things are moving in the right direction. Remember, just two decades ago, online gambling was just a pipe dream. Now, online gambling is legalized three states, and the commissioner of a large sports league is calling for legalized sports betting. Things are progressing at a rapid pace, and in four or five years, the entire landscape of online gaming and sports betting will be completely different.