Lawmakers: NFL Hypocritical for Opposing Betting

ATLANTIC CITY  - (Associated Press) - New Jersey lawmakers called the National Football League hypocritical Monday for opposing legalized sports betting while doing business with broadcast networks that openly discuss betting lines and point spreads on NFL games.

The state legislature is pushing for a public vote in November amending the New Jersey Constitution to allow sports betting at Atlantic City's 11 casinos, at horse race tracks and over the Internet.

At a public hearing Monday, NFL spokesman Timothy McDonough reiterated the league's long-standing opposition to legalized betting on its games. He said gambling on NFL games could undermine their integrity in the eyes of fans.

"Mistakes are made in the course of the game, either by the ref or by players," he said. "But when mistakes are made, to a less rational person who is placing a bet, a mistake becomes a fix," he said.

Pro football games were never designed to be bet on, McDonough said, adding that legalizing such gambling would be a bad message "to send to the young people of this country."

That prompted harsh criticism from lawmakers including state Sen. James Whelan, a former Atlantic City mayor.

"The league has a contractual relationship with broadcast networks, and they go on (the air) and talk about the line, will the Eagles cover the spread against the Giants," Whelan said. "There's a level of hypocrisy that the NFL and other professional leagues bring."

Joseph Brennan, CEO of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, an Internet gambling association, also accused the NFL of hypocrisy in opposing legalized betting.

"It's everywhere; it's in full view," he said of the league's ties to entities that publicize and discuss betting lines. "Just open the sports section today. Look on ESPN.com - what's the spread? It's 7 for Duke over Butler," he said, referring to Monday night's NCAA men's basketball championship game.

The league's policy is that such talk is not supposed to be put on the air, McDonough said, but added that First Amendment concerns bar the league from dictating what on-air personalities can or can't say.

"Sports in general has tainted themselves a little bit," added Sen. Robert Singer, citing baseball's steroid scandal and a series of high-profile arrests of NFL players on various criminal charges. "I don't think sports betting taints anything."

Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who co-sponsored the bill to put the question before voters this fall, was blunt in his response to the NFL spokesman, adapting former Gov. Tom Kean's tourism slogan, "New Jersey and you - perfect together."

"Gambling and the NFL - perfect together," he said.

Before such betting can legally happen, a federal ban on sport betting for all but four states would have to be overturned or repealed. New Jersey is suing the federal government to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The 1992 law restricts sports betting to the four states that met a deadline to sign up for it: Nevada, where Las Vegas sports books determine the odds for sporting events across the country; Delaware; Montana; and Oregon.

The law carved out a special exemption for New Jersey, giving it a chance to decide if it wanted legal sports betting. The state failed to enact a law that would have done so, and the exemption window closed.

The lawsuit argues that the U.S. law is unconstitutional because it treats four states differently than the 46 others.

A consultant hired by Brennan's Internet betting association estimated that sports betting could become a $10 billion-a-year industry in New Jersey by 2011 if it were permitted in casinos, at racetracks, online and by telephone. That could generate nearly $100 million a year in tax revenues for the state, he said.

The bill authorizing a November referendum on sports betting has been introduced and has cleared a Senate committee. It is awaiting further action in both chambers of the legislature. It would prohibit bets on college games held in New Jersey, or games anywhere in the country in which a New Jersey team is involved.

Many lawmakers referred to Monday night's NCAA championship game and the millions of dollars it is generating with Las Vegas sports books at casinos there.

"Try to get a room in Vegas tonight," Lesniak said. "Here in Atlantic City, you can have your pick of rooms in any casino."