In a bold, if not completely surprising move, NBA Commission Adam Silver took to the op-ed pages of the New York Times to advocate the nationwide legalization of sports betting. “Times have changed … Gambling has increasingly become a popular and accepted form of entertainment in the United States,” Silver wrote. “Most states offer lotteries. Over half of them have legal casinos.”
While not reconciling his views with the NBA’s anti-sports betting legal stance in New Jersey (he called for upholding the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 but also implied it is obsolete), Silver acknowledged it. His arguments also included the 2011 referendum in which Garden State voters “overwhelmingly” approved the practice. “There is an obvious appetite among sports fans for a safe and legal way to wager on professional sporting events. Mainstream media outlets regularly publish sports betting lines and point spreads,” he noted, while also making sure to mention the $400 billion that some estimate changes hands in illegal sports wagering. (Code to politicians: Unrealized tax revenue!)
The legitimacy of sports betting overseas was another fact Stern was careful to emphasize. His preferred solution would be for overarching federal approval, under which each state could legalize sports betting as it wishes. Some of the other 
nostrums he would like to see mandated at the federal level are “monitoring and reporting of unusual betting-line movements; a licensing protocol to ensure betting operators are legitimate; minimum-age verification measures; geo-blocking technology to ensure betting is available only where it is legal,” to name a few.
“Any new approach must ensure the integrity of the game … ” Silver concluded, “But I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.” He also may know he’s sitting on unmined vein of gold, as the length of the NBA season and number of games are believed to have dampened fantasy play.
Sports-talk sites were quick to call out the NFL, which just inked a deal with fantasy site FanDuel. The NHL has a comparable pact with DraftKings. Silver’s been supportive of legalized gambling for the past five years but timing his Times op-ed on the eve of Monmouth Park hearings is an interesting move: trying to take sports wagering with one hand and give it back with the other.
* Speaking of the NHL, it might — might — put an expansion franchise in Las Vegas and the family of George Maloof, in tandem with William Foley, wants to be part of the action. Although the new MGM Resorts International arena is being built in partnership with AEG, owner of the Los Angeles Kings, MGM CFO Dan D’Arrigo has copped to talks with an expansion group and the Maloofs make no bones about wanting to be in the house that AEG built.
The family has been courting MGM for a year and the NHL for five. According to the New York Post, a Maloof/Foley expansion team is a done deal. After selling the Sacramento Kings for $534 million, the Maloofs certainly have the skin to get in the game, what with expansion fees starting at a half-billion dollars.
In the midst of all this, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly kicked the tires of the AEG site during the course of a visit to Las Vegas. He said he was there to “review progress,” nothing more. “What’s difficult on making a call on Vegas is, it’s such a unique market,” he added. “It’s really hard to know. The owners are going to have to be satisfied that the prospects of putting a franchise there are good and the fundamentals are solid.” (Las Vegas Wranglers President Billy Johnson lays out the challenges.)
Daly clearly did his homework on the market, telling the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “It’s a nighttime city, so it would have to be uniquely scheduled in terms of focusing maybe 
on industry nights as opposed to your typical Thursday-Saturday nights where everybody would be working … You can’t depend on tourists to fill your building every night — even rich ones. You really need a local fan base.”
However, an NHL-into-Vegas move might be contingent, Daly said, on having the team’s games taken off Nevada sports books. (Remember how you can’t bet on the Boston Celtics at a Caesars Entertainment property because Gary Loveman just had to own a piece of the team?) “You don’t want guys in the stands with bet tickets in their hands and the only reason they’re watching the game is so they can cash in on a bet afterwards,” he said.
Sports blogger Bill Mahaffey took issue with much of the NHL’s stance, although I don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote, “Las Vegas residents are used to having large fan bases [Whose?] cheering against them.” But I digress. He argues that betting will increase the fan base, particularly with tourists, and points toward the laissez-faire attitude Canadian NHL teams take toward sports betting. He also points to the demi-hypocrisy of the NHL/DraftKings alliance.
But … ? “Combining the attributes of the Las Vegas experience with a professional sports team is a formula for success.” Really? Multiple pro football teams have met their grave here and minor-league baseball has never become a major draw. The case for Vegas as a pro-sports town still remains unproven.
* The Dotty’s chain of slot parlors finds itself between the jaws of a nutcracker. On one side is Clark County, proposing to codify “incidental” revenue as 50% or less. Existing 
slot parlors would be grandfathered in under the prospective rule. On the other side is a complementary piece of legislation by state Sen. Tick Segerblom (D, right) that would create a slot-parlor license category and a special tax rate. “From my perspective, they really don’t pay their fair way,” he rationalizes.
Another tax quandary the Legislature will probably take up is what exactly constitutes “live entertainment” under Nevada statutes, a subject of some confusion. Yet another bill request would criminalize illegal sports betting and, finally, Segerblom wants to revive an old idea: betting on presidential elections. Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) has stated his opposition and, frankly, I don’t think we should demean the democratic process in this fashion. Thanks but no thanks, Tick.
