Sports Leagues “Integrity” Fees Unlikely

As the dust settles from last week’s historic Supreme Court decision on sports wagering — which everybody was fully expecting, by the way — we’re starting to see how plans to spread regulated betting nationwide will shake out.

With the court’s repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Mississippi and Connecticut are on the verge of taking the first legal single-event sports bets outside Nevada. Look for New Jersey to be first out of the gate, maybe later this month and possibly in time for the start of the National Basketball Association Finals.

While the first legal sports bet outside Nevada could be placed on an NBA game, all is not well for the league’s proposal to cash in on the spread of wagering.

Major League Baseball also has been an advocate of a so-called “integrity fee,” or royalty, for itself.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is a proponent of federal regulation to “provide a uniform approach to sports gambling in states that choose to permit it.”

Good luck with that, commissioner.

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