Mike Fish and David Purdum, ESPN
The major professional sports leagues and the NCAA have jumped into their first full seasons with expanded legal sports betting by taking a largely wait-and-see approach, leaving teams, players, trainers and officials on their own to figure out how best to navigate an evolving landscape in which their inside information is as valuable as ever.
An estimated $150 billion trades hands between bettors, local bookies, offshore gambling sites and legal Nevada sports books annually. Since the earliest days of the industry, bettors and oddsmakers have hunted inside information to gain an edge. Prior to the internet, gamblers sent minions to the Las Vegas airport to retrieve out-of-town newspapers from travelers to browse for information on teams, handicappers phoned college sports information offices under the guise of being reporters to check on an injured player’s availability, and in some cases, gamblers hired private investigators to follow NBA referees and developed relationships with players and coaches.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in May that struck down the federal ban on state-allowed sports betting, four states (Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi and West Virginia) have opened legal sportsbooks. Pennsylvania and Rhode Island could follow by year’s end, and at least five additional states are likely to pass legislation legalizing sports betting next year. By 2022, gambling industry analysts expect that more than half the states will be offering sports betting.
The Supreme Court case covered just the legality; left undetermined was how governing bodies, leagues and teams should deal with regulating the industry. Without federal oversight, pro and college sports officials have been left to figure out regulations on their own as they lobby to have a say in state regulations. Some state legislatures have tried to address the issue of transparency concerning inside information, including New Jersey, which prohibited anyone with “access to certain types of exclusive information” from participating in sports betting on their respective sport.
