Mark Cuban, Jeanie Buss support Adam Silver's push for legalized sports betting
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has barely had time to warm his seat, but in the year-plus since taking over his current post from old pal David Stern, he's already shown a great willingness to take the league in bold new directions.
One of the directions Silver has (slightly controversially) advocated for, is the legalization and regulation of sports betting.
"Despite legal restrictions, sports betting is widespread," Silver wrote in a New York Times op-ed back in November. "It is a thriving underground business that operates free from regulation or oversight. Because there are few legal options available, those who wish to bet resort to illicit bookmaking operations and shady offshore websites."
Silver, who claims not to be pro-gambling but simply a "realist" who wants to see the enterprise regulated, broached the issue again at the league's annual Technology Summit during All-Star Weekend.
According to Newsday's Neil Best, the panel discussions are off the record. But he discovered through follow-up interviews that most NBA owners stand behind Silver on the issue, including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Los Angeles Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss.
"We've always been hypocritical saying we didn't realize it was a big part of interest in the game," Cuban said. "When you do any work on where people are actually gambling, it's all overseas and places we can't see, and the league has got to monitor all these third-party betting sites and that makes it a lot tougher.
"By bringing it where we can see it, you reduce a lot of the risk that something bad can happen."
"It already exists now," said Buss, "so as a league we're behind our commissioner in the process of supporting legalization on a federal level. We want to see him accomplish that goal, because we feel that any engagement with the fans is a positive.
"If our fans are already doing it, then it should be something that's brought out into the mainstream and it should be regulated."
Buss also alluded to past instances where regulation was a more tenable answer to illicit but widespread activity, likening the current debate over betting to an old one about the secondary ticket market.
"There was a time where people bought tickets in a dark alley, never knowing if they were counterfeit or not; you had no recourse," Buss said. "That person who you gave your money to didn't pay taxes. I'd rather see a legitimate business that's regulated that employs people, creates jobs."