Poker and the NFL: Not a Sustainable Marriage

PokerNews.com questioned the concept of poker players supporting the National Football League (NFL), a professional sports organization with a strong anti-gambling stance.  Some say that the NFL has been behind much of the drive to prohibit all forms of online gambling, not just sports betting.  Certainly the NFL reared its ugly head in a successful attempt to quash legalize sports wagering in the state of Delaware. 

From PokerNews.com:

When Congressmen Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) first planned companion legislation to regulate and tax Internet gambling, the bills included sports betting. NFL lobbyists quickly made known their opposition.

"As soon as they heard any talk about poker players trying to get Internet gambling legalized, they immediately showed up and started talking to people," McDermott said of NFL lobbyists in a phone interview. "They were saying it was terrible, that poker playing is the worst thing in the world and we shouldn't have that in this country. It's just about the money. They want all poker players to throw their cards down and start a fantasy football team."

Frank and McDermott caved in and focused their bill exclusively on poker.  But PokerNews.com explains that, while NFL lobbyists got out of the way in that instance, this hasn't stopped the league from maintaining its opposition to pro-gambling bills, even when they have nothing to do with football or sports.

"They see it as a gateway drug," one industry insider said of the NFL's view of officially legalized online poker. "They are afraid that if Internet poker is sanctioned by the government, the government will like that money and it will lead to Congress ultimately looking at legalizing sports betting as another revenue source."

The NFL was even able to carve out an exemption to legislation passed in 2006 that made many forms of Internet gambling illegal.  Fantasy sports, including Fantasy NFL, were exempt from the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA). 

Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com