David Bockino, professor of sport management, recently wrote an opinion piece on sports gambling for The Washington Post. Read an excerpt from the piece below.
So why won’t the NFL acknowledge the benefits?
It’s not like Americans started gambling because of the NFL. Fans were betting long before football became a national obsession. People wagered on boxing and baseball, on horse racing and hockey. Americans have always loved betting.
Some of the people who helped build the NFL enjoyed a wager as much as anyone. Tim Mara, the founding owner of the New York Giants, was a . Pittsburgh Steelers founding owner Art Rooney was an . Chicago Cardinals owner Charles Bidwill made a fortune printing used at horse tracks.
The NFL is a league built, in part, by gamblers with gambling money. Betting is in its DNA.