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The NFL has seen in recent weeks the failure of its efforts to properly educate players regarding the gambling policy. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver believes all sports leagues have an obligation to do a much better job when it comes to gambling-related education.
“I think there’s a responsibility for these leagues to invest more education, not just our own players, but of young people who might be doing something inappropriate or anybody who might be engaging in problematic gambling,” Silver said earlier this week at the Associated Press Sports Editors convention.
Silver also recognizes that inside information can be a major problem with legalized wagering.
“I think that public markets worked very well in this country,” Silver said. “But the other side of a public market is the potential for insider trading. And there’s very sophisticated algorithms, etc., that track it. It’s not that different in sports now, especially when you get higher volumes of betting. You have very sophisticated computers; when they see aberrational betting . . . you’re going to get caught.”
The goal should be to implement protections that prevent someone from getting caught. Players and agents and anyone else with access to inside information need to know that, if it’s shared and if it’s used, the scheme will be exposed.
Despite Silver’s references to algorithms and computers and aberrational betting, it’s hard to envision how someone could eventually trace things back to the specific source of inside information that is used to tilt the scales in favor of a bettor. But if there’s possibly a way to pinpoint the person placing a bet with inside information, perhaps things can be traced back to the source of the info.
Regardless, all leagues (including the NFL) need meaningful measures that will safeguard the misuse of inside information. Unless adequate steps are taken, that could be the genesis of the first major scandal of the legalized gambling era.