Following Monday's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the ban on state-sanctioned sports betting, the NBA, MLB, and PGA Tour are doing their best to get in on the possible revenue stream.
The three organizations were in Rhode Island on Tuesday to lobby lawmakers for a 0.25 percent "rights and integrity" fee on all wagers placed on their sport throughout the state, a proposal that is making its way to the individual regions across the country.
"Leagues create the source of activity" that betting is built on and carry the burden of integrity risk" of match-fixing, David Miller, a vice president for the PGA Tour, told the Senate Finance Committee, per Patrick Anderson of the Providence Journal.
The NBA previously proposed an integrity fee of one percent earlier in the year, but it seems to have dropped that idea in the latest round of discussions.
While one percent may not seem like a high amount in a potential billion-dollar industry, Jimmy Vaccaro, operator of the South Point hotel sportsbook in Las Vegas, told the New York Times that sportsbooks traditionally take home only four-to-five percent of the money wagered in a year.
Last year in Nevada, the only current state with fully legalized sports betting, bettors wagered $4.87 billion. Sportsbooks won a record $248.8 million of that money, a total of just 5.1 percent.
