Basketball team owner supports legalised sports betting

The widely reported opinion of National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver that sports betting is popular and legalisation is inevitable across the USA (see previous reports) has been supported by the owner of the Dallas Mavericks team, Mark Cuban.

Cuban told reporters Saturday that Silver’s comments were right and he agreed with them 100 percent.

In a widely reported op-ed earlier this month Silver opined:

“Congress should adopt a federal framework that allows states to authorize betting on professional sports, subject to strict regulatory requirements and technological safeguards.

“If you have a gentleman’s bet or a small wager on any kind of sports contest, it makes you that much more engaged in it. That’s where we’re going to see it pay dividends. If people are watching a game and clicking to bet on their smartphones, which is what people are doing in the United Kingdom right now, then it’s much more likely you’re going to stay tuned for a long time.”

Cuban said at the Mavericks game against the Houston Rockets Saturday:

“I agree 100 percent. I think we’re the world’s biggest hypocrites when we say, ‘Oh, we don’t want you betting on our games,’ and then we get all excited about the sports betting line and people go to Vegas on trips won from the NBA or NFL. I mean, it’s hugely hypocritical.

“I just think that Adam did the exact right thing. I think by focusing on the federal regulations and making the changes there, that it will change. It’s just a question of when.

“I think over the next three to five years, it will change. And it’ll be interesting to see how the NFL reacts as well, because they’ve still so far said that they’re adamant against it because I guess they have data that says the NFL doesn’t benefit from gambling.”

The NFL is the most popular sport in the United States in large part due to fans gambling on games – if not straight up on sides or totals, then on fantasy sports.

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