John McCain Wants Sports Gambling Discussion
As we’ve reported in recent weeks, the talks to legalize both offline and online sports gambling have been heating up. Though the large sports leagues managed to put a hold on the progression for now, the issue is gathering more support, and the latest person to publicly speak on the issue may come as a shock – Arizona Senator John McCain.
During the broadcast of Capital Games last week, McCain told ESPN’s Andy Katz and Rick Klein that there needs to be a debate in Congress.
“We need to have a talk with the American people, and we need to probably have hearings in Congress on the whole issue so we can build consensus. We obviously know that there are huge amounts gambled on sporting events, particularly football.”
Indeed, there is. We took a hypothetical look last week at what kind of numbers the Super Bowl could pull in if online sports gambling were to be legalized, then wondered how many more people would bet if coupled with a no deposit promotion. The final figure ended up being well into the nine figures.
Arizona Senator John McCain has always enjoyed gambling. He himself loves a good game of craps. It really comes as no surprise that he supports gambling, but he’s never really commented on legalized sports gambling.
His comments come on the heel of NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s comments of support on the issue of online sports betting.
Both Senator John McCain and NBA commissioner Adam Silver realize that the future is online sports betting. While it may not happen this year, or even the next couple of years, the future lies in online betting. With online betting, users will be able to instantly place bets using their smartphone.
We’ve still got a long way to go. The major sports leagues aren’t too sold on the current model of online sports betting, and even Adam Silver has said that the issue needs some sort of framework and regulation before being seriously considered. Once that’s established, it’s possible that serious talks to legalize online sports gambling can begin.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to reap the benefits of sports betting. As previously mentioned, Las Vegas pulled in some pretty large numbers for Super Bowl XLVIII, which saw the Seattle Seahawks destroy the Denver Broncos at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey with a final score of 43-8. Las Vegas’ final take on the Super Bowl was a cool $120 million.
At this point, please stop and consider something – Las Vegas is just one city. This was one event in one city in a country of 316.1 million people. With those numbers, you can imagine why people are pushing so hard for legalized online sports betting. Once it’s legalized, it won’t be surprising to see gamblers wager into the 10 figures for single events.