The NBA is coming around on sports gambling, and they want a cut

The NBA is all in.

The premier professional basketball league on the planet has formally requested a set of laws that could lead the charge for national legalized sports gambling, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. In order to play ball, though, the NBA has an asking price: The league wants 1 percent of every bet made on its games, according to NBA attorney Dan Spillane.

The NBA also wants to modernize sports gambling, according to Spillane, offering betting access to fans on their smartphones and at kiosks at different arenas instead of primarily casinos and racetracks. That would take the NBA’s newest revenue stream and supercharge it.

“We have studied these issues at length,” Spillane said in his statement to lawmakers, via ESPN. “Our conclusion is that the time has come for a different approach that gives sports fans a safe and legal way to wager on sporting events while protecting the integrity of the underlying competitions.”

There are currently only four states where sports gambling is legal: Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana. But there is a New Jersey-based case that has reached the Supreme Court, which could potentially overturn the ban on widespread sports gambling in the near future. Several states, including New York, have legislation already in place in the event that the Supreme Court makes such a ruling.

The NBA, as usual, is adapting with evolving times.

“States like New York and others have reacted by moving forward to discuss and advance new laws that could immediately thereafter permit legal sports betting,” Spillane said. “We cannot sit on the sidelines while this activity is occurring.”

The league wasn’t always on board with sports gambling

After all, the Big 5 of sporting leagues — NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, and the NCAA — have spent millions in legal fees fighting the same New Jersey case the Supreme Court is now handling, according to ESPN. But NBA commissioner Adam Silver and his progressive nature have always been at the forefront of change, and this is no different.

You’ll remember, after years of pushing for a two-year-in-college rule with an age-20 minimum, Silver hedged and agreed it was time to be more thoughtful instead of adversarial. And while the NFL struggled mightily with its players using their platforms to combat social issues, the NBA encouraged its players to take meaningful action on problems dear to them.

Now, Silver and the NBA are the first league to come around on sports gambling, and if the ban across many states is lifted, basketball could be the first sport to see widespread betting across the country. The NBA is all in, and now, we wait to see what happens next.

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