NBA commissioner David Stern let slip this week in an interview with Sports Illustrated, that the league is now open to the prospect of regulated sports betting on it’s games.

It created a firestorm of interest around the web and media agencies. And to be honest I’ve been a little astounded by some of the negativity and ignorance shown by some respected journalists reporting the change in direction. How do they get through life ignorant to what is happening in the rest of the world and only forming opinions based on their own little neighborhood? They couldn’t be so against Stern’s thoughts if they had done the slightest bit of research on the topic at all and seen what the rest of the world has been doing for years.

Many have derided Stern for what is simply an admission that gambling happens now anyway, so why not benefit from it? It’s logical, and forward thinking from the most respected commissioner in pro sports.

He said quite candidly that “”The betting issues are actually going to become more intense as states in the U.S. and governments in the world decide that the answers to all of their monetary shortfalls are the tax that is gambling.”

He may be the first US sports leader to think like this, but he’s still a long way behind the rest of the world. Nearly everywhere has regulated & taxed sports betting already. The US is the only developed western nation I know of where it’s citizens don’t have the freedom to walk down the street to legally place a bet on their favorite sports team – except in Nevada of course.

The Author of the piece, Ian Thomsen, had this to say; “My take, as written several times over the years, is that legalized betting on professional sports in the U.S. is inevitable for two reasons: (1) If sports wagering becomes a legal and taxable form of revenue, then governments will actively police sports betting in order to protect that revenue base, as well as to safe-guard the leagues that create the windfall of new taxes; and (2) Betting on games will create more fan interest and, ultimately, bring in more money to the NBA and other leagues.”

It’s just a pity that it has taken the lure of dollars to make more people in the USA see the light when it comes to regulated gambling on sports. Why couldn’t they have just done this already because it makes sense? The land of the free is more like land of the ‘nothing comes for free’ these days.

In light of the NBA’s change in thinking, BetUS has posted odds on which sports league will regulate gambling on their games first. Of course the NBA is an almost unbackable 2/3 favorite. They’re also favorite to have an NBA team in Las Vegas first at 1/1.

I know I’d love to see the Las Vegas Kings in town! But who needs ANOTHER excuse to visit Vegas?!

It looks like the US government might finally be coming to their senses in regard to regulating Online Gambling.

This past week, the US Treasury Department granted a delay in the implementation of the very ambiguous Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Several politicians had written a letter to Treasury suggesting that a delay of these rules was needed.

I’m still amazed they can implement the rules at all considering that what is considered ‘Unlawful Internet Gambling’ is not even defined or mentioned within the act! Surely you have to explain what something is before you can legislate against it? Only in America….

Also, Representative Barney Frank announced on Tuesday Washington will begin discussing his proposed legislation that would overturn the UIGEA. After hearing the UIGEA delay announcement, Frank issued a statement saying that he would “continue to work hard to overturn the ill-advised law”.

Another piece of legislation has also been proposed by New Jersey lawmaker Robert Menendez, that would regulate online poker. Over the past couple of years, internet poker has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment for American citizens and the government sorely wants a piece of the action through taxing the online poker companies that are currently located offshore.

The USA may finally be ready to use common sense and shed the nanny state mantra of the previous Bush government. It’s unbelievable to the rest of the world that things like online poker and sports betting are not regulated in the USA. Especially considering that the USA is considered the world’s home to such pursuits via the casinos of Las Vegas & Atlantic City!

Wow, two posts in one day? WTF is going on?

I saw this article linked on my fav poker site and had to have a comment on it as well.

More reporters need to speak up and highlight what is currently going on in the USA with regard to the regulation of online gambling. It’s a disgrace that Obama still lets the DoJ run around doing whatever it pleases without any regard for the actual law, or the opinion of the constituency. They are doing some really bad things under instructions to never reveal that they are cracking down on online gambling, because it will further hurt Obama’s popularity as the majority of the population want to be able to gamble online.

It’s so, so strange that  sports betting is illegal, except in a couple of states. Especially when everyone knows the interest in the NFL would be a fraction of what it currently is without fans being able to bet on the games – everybody bets anyway! (It’s one of Sportsbooks.com’s slogans even)

In the rest of the world sports betting is a perfectly acceptable activity. It takes more skill than picking a lottery number or a winning horse! In the UK there are betting shops on every major street. In Australia, the sports news websites are covered in ads for online bookies. In Europe the football teams are sponsored by the sportsbooks!

Why does America insist on doing things half assed backwards? Sports Betting is never going away and they should just regulate it, like the seemingly more intelligent governments of the world have already done a long time ago to collect the tax revenue and ensure their citizens have safe places to gamble.

I’m not American, but I’d be really pissed with my government if I was! Get it together already Barry. And good on you Michael Hiltzik for speaking out about it.