What about Bob?

Interesting story here from Hannah Karp of the Wall Street Journal about Delaware legalizing sports parlays.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is already pushing for legalized sports betting in Atlantic City, while Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is interested in doing the same in his state.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who said he was met by an NFL representative in the halls of the capitol last month and "urged not to go forward with this," says betting could bring in as much as $55 million in revenue.

The NFL has always denounced legalized betting publicly, and says that it may file a lawsuit against Delaware. But privately, the league must know that sports betting generates plenty of interest in the game, and is one of the reasons it is T.V. ratings gold.

The article also goes into the NFL's longstanding history with betting. Tim Mara, grandfather of current Giants owner John Mara, was a legal bookmaker in New York, while Art Rooney bought the Steelers with gambling winnings and his family still owns racetracks.

Critics of the NFL's stance are saying that a league that has taken nearly $17 billion in taxpayer money to fund new stadiums shouldn't have a say on how a state generates revenue.

Said Todd Portune, a commissioner in Hamilton County (Ohio), who tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent taxpayer money from going to fund a new stadium for the Bengals in '04: "Any time the NFL wants to stand up and dictate to public bodies how they can make money or where they can make money, they have very little standing to do so...especially when it comes to gambling."

My contention is the NFL is living in a fairytale. Preventing the T.V. networks from mentioning point spreads during pre-game telecasts and axing an ad for the Wynn Las Vegas during the '05 Super Bowl, as the article says the NFL did, is absurd.

If someone wanted to compromise the integrity of the game, it would have been done already. Wagering on sports is so easy on offshore websites that cheats don't really need the comfort of gambling in their own state.

I believe sports betting in racetrack and casino venues should be legalized in whatever state wants to have it. What are your feelings?

-Chris Mascaro