NFL Suspensions Expose the League’s Problem With Sports Gambling

Yet in 2018, when the Supreme Court overturned the law that Tagliabue had championed, clearing the way for states to legalize sports betting, the N.F.L. quickly reversed course and sought to profit. Once a critic of everything Las Vegas stood for, the league in short order permitted the Raiders to build a stadium just off the Strip with a view of Luxor’s pyramid, held the Pro Bowl and the draft in the city, and will conclude the 2023 season with a Super Bowl there.

In the process, the league swung the door open to the very harm its leaders spent a quarter century warning against.

“Now, the young athletes are coming up in professional sports leagues with mixed messaging, not just from society and gambling companies, but from the sports leagues themselves,” said Marc Edelman, a law professor and director of sports ethics at Baruch College. As long as the N.F.L. has partnerships with betting companies, advertises betting during its games and encourages betting to the point of having sportsbooks on-site at N.F.L. stadiums, there will be “a level of cognitive dissonance for some players,” who may not fully realize the ramifications if they do bet on sports, Edelman added.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/22/sports/football/nfl-gambling-betting-suspensions.html