When NBA commissioner Adam Silver penned his seminal New York Times op-ed piece calling for the legalization of sports betting a decade ago this month, he stressed the need for “strict regulatory requirements and technological safeguards” that would protect consumers and make it easier for leagues to police game fixing.
He also called for federal oversight that did not exist for other forms of gambling, such as casinos and lotteries.
Six years after the first states allowed sportsbooks to take bets legally, all five of the recommendations he laid out are de rigueur for regulated U.S. sportsbooks…
Though the NBA, MLB, NFL and other leagues pushed for federal oversight of sports betting in Congress, it never came to pass.
