The NFL Does Not Want Your Betting Money
Some of the NFL’s earliest founders were gamblers. The league draws more wagers in the U.S. than any other sport. It recently authorized its teams to sell their logos to state lotteries. But when it comes letting states expand sports betting, the National Football League has made its position clear: Not now, not ever.
The NFL, which says it will earn $8 billion in revenue this year, is threatening to file a lawsuit against the state of Delaware, where the supreme court unanimously concluded last month that parlays — bets on the outcome of two or more events — are constitutional, opening the door, as early as this fall, for the state to host what would be the first legal sports books outside of Nevada.
Experts on gambling say the decision could have a domino effect. Last month, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine threw his weight behind a federal lawsuit that could pave the way for legalized sports betting in Atlantic City and a spokesman for Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell says he’s following the suit with “keen interest.”
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who announced the plan in March, says the games could bring in as much as $55 million in tax revenue and would help cover the state’s projected $800-million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The governor says he has received several letters from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as well as a surprise visit from an NFL representative, who met him in a hallway at the capitol last month and, he says, “urged me not to go forward with this.”
The league is considering filing a lawsuit, depending on which types of sports betting Delaware decides to offer.
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