Sport Betting Too Popular to Ignore Says Adam Silver

Legal or not, sport betting is one of the most popular online forms of gambling. According to Nevada Gaming Commission, during 2011, $3.2 million was wagered legally in Nevada on different sports games.

The Commissioner of National Basket-ball Association, Adam Silver, has estimated that almost $400 billion is legally wagered annually, through the underground sport betting agencies. He continued that sports betting is a very profitable industry.

New Jersey was the first state to try to legalize sports gambling, this is a move that many of the news outlets, such as, CNN, U.S. News, speculate that it is a response to failing racetrack and casino industries. The State hopes that legal sports betting will reinvigorate the gaming industry, which has a competitive disadvantage when compared to Las Vegas.

Club CalNeva doesn't think that this idea is far-fetched

Analyst of trends in Las Vegas estimates that legal sports gambling could bring to New Jersey about $1.3 billion in gross revenues, it can also bring the state $120 million in tax revenues, added to that is the introduction of sports wagering which could add thousands of new jobs for the people of New Jersey, this is one of the reasons that residents voted 2-1 to see gambling on sports being allowed in the state.

Although sports betting can be beneficial, the industry does have a controversial history. The biggest scandal was the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox team. Where eight of the White Sox ballplayers came to an agreement to lose the World Series on purpose for money from gamblers. This resulted in all of the eight players being permanently banned from playing professional baseball. Other scandals have also occurred over the years, the White Sox scandal was clearly the most intricate one that affected professional sports.

It is thought that the legalization of sports betting will encourage more scandals, legalization could allow for greater regulation and protection for the gamblers in the industry. The Chicago Tribune reports that most sports gambling is currently untaxed and unregulated because gamblers place bets on offshore operations, who do not follow the USA Federal laws. By making sports betting legal, the lawmakers can ensure that those who bet on games will feel protected and safe, at the same time limiting scandalous behaviour from offshore bookmakers who tend not to pay out winnings.

Apart from increasing revenues and protecting gamblers who bet, bringing gambling into sport could also rekindle an interest in the game for fans. Mr Adam Silver addressed this issue when he was talking about the future of sports gambling. Mr Silver said that fans often complained that the games were boring, but with a greater risk, fans will haver a greater passion abut the team they choose and also a greater interest in the games.

Legalization can be very profitable, specifically for those states with higher rates of gambling and declining economies. Online sport betting can customers back into the casinos and thus generate more business in a market that is currently weakened. Sports gambling could raise more attention from fans, this can be seen with the growth of fantasy sports, there is now a trend of casual fans paying more attention to teams they would normally ignore. Sport Gambling is a huge industry which is growing and fans, leagues and government can all benefit from it being legalised,