Brett Smiley, Sportshandle
The year is 2020 and Americans have wagered over $22.7 billion at legal U.S. sportsbooks across more than 20 states — including in New York — since the federal ban on sports wagering outside Nevada fell two years ago. But if legal sports betting is so widespread across the U.S., why are offshore sportsbooks operating illegally in the U.S. still getting heaps of attention in mainstream media? And what exactly is wrong with that, if anything?
Perhaps you saw the most recent kerfuffle. Here’s how I think it came about: A publicist for the offshore bookmaker(s) contacts, among others, a sportswriter for the New York Times. The idea is interesting and valid: How will the novel coronavirus pandemic impact sports betting, at a time when pro sports leagues are rebooting in fan-less bubbles, amid mass upheaval and uncertainty? The publicist has knowledgeable sources at the ready to address the questions, and they can deliver comments quickly. The sources are spokespeople or oddsmakers from these offshore sportsbooks, businesses that accept wagers from U.S. bettors in violation of federal law and also state law in many jurisdictions. A writer and editor for the Times, also known as the “Newspaper of Record,” publishes the story, using sources representing these offshore enterprises.
The writer of the recent Times story did not respond to Sports Handle’s email requests for comment.
But based on my own experiences, I am fairly certain that the chain above, leading to publication, closely represents how that story made it to print. And its publication in a paper with a massive worldwide reach drew the outrage of, among others, Joe Asher, CEO for William Hill US, a popular but derided-in-some-corners sportsbook operating legally in a growing number of states from Nevada to Indiana to New Jersey.
The Times article raises dozens of questions including questions of law, of publicity and public relations, business ethics, journalistic ethics, advertising practices, customer satisfaction, and consumer protection. Many of the questions don’t have good answers yet, and there are far more questions than I could attempt to ask and answer in a readable article.
So here I wish to identify five questions, largely focusing on the media aspect. These questions warrant continued discussion and will arise again over and over (possibly in a court of law), as the post-PASPA legal U.S. sports betting industry moves through the terrible twos.
Rest is here…https://sportshandle.com/offshore-legal-sportsbooks-media-nytimes/
