Will legalized sports gambling expand throughout the U.S. over the next few years? HEITNER LEGAL has been called on by many individuals and organizations to provide legal advice in the arena of gambling and gaming, and is well equipped to assist companies should various state and federal laws be changed in the future.
In the meantime, Darren Heitner is constantly asked questions regarding the legal landscape of gambling. In a recent article on Totally Gaming, Heitner discusses why the commissioners of various professional sports leagues are instrumental to any modification of sports gambling prohibitions, with the NFL being the toughest opponent of true sports betting expanding beyond Nevada.
“We’ve started to see commissioners such as the NBA commissioner Adam Silver say ‘let’s stop lying to ourselves, if we care about the integrity of the game we need to do something about this massive amount of illegal wagers and maybe allow for it but under a very strong regulatory scheme’. And so if that starts to be picked up by a major league baseball commissioner, NHL and then the hardest one, the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, then maybe we will get somewhere,” stated Heitner.
He continued, “We see it right in front of our eyes where almost 99% of the bets that are wagered on the Super Bowl are made illegally, so if you care about the integrity you want it under your control, you want it regulated. I think consumers would prefer going through a regulated system when it comes to sports bets as opposed to using either individuals as bookies or going to these offshore sites where they may not feel extremely secure in, firstly, receiving funds when they want it as fast as they want it and, secondly, there may be a concern that they are breaking the law.”