With the House Judiciary Committee set to review the current sports betting landscape in the United States, the National Football League has made a few requests via a letter sent to the US House of Representatives.
The NFL sent a letter this week to the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations to have its voice considered during the hearing set for today involving sports betting.
A statement was submitted by Jocelyn Moore, the NFL’s Executive Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs, making several requests for the NFL involving legislation that might be created by Congress involving sports betting.
Official league data
Within the request, there are certain key points that the organization would like to see considered. The NFL discusses its fear of false contests and would like to see states that offer legalized sports betting to be required by the federal government to use official data from the league.
The league is pushing for official data to be used, stating that the information it can provide will help to maintain the integrity of the marketplace. According to the NFL, the information used to settle wagers should be correct and timely, which is something they can provide.
The NFL letter states: “Betting outcomes are increasingly determined on granular details like yardage gained, or the number of sacks by a defense, or strikes by a pitcher in baseball. Therefore, an essential component of consumer protection is a requirement that the information used to settle these wagers is correct and timely, something that can only come from official data provided by the sports leagues themselves.”
According to the NFL, the leagues already create such data and it is used for broadcasts as well as team statistics. This information should be considered the standard within a legal and regulated market.
The NFL believes that by using the official data of the league, the integrity of the market will be maintained, which is in the best interest of the public.
The official league data provided by the NFL would of course have a price tag, which would be just one way that the league would be able to build a stream of revenues from sports betting.
In the past, the NFL and other professional sports leagues were trying to see states provide an integrity fee, which would provide payment for the leagues to maintain the integrity of their games. However, states are not open to the idea and the official league data seems to be a workaround for the NFL to be able to make a profit via the new industry.
In-game prop bets
The NFL is also focused on stopping operators from offering certain options when it comes to in-game prop betting. The professional sports league argues in its letter that this type of wager is more vulnerable to match-fixing and is a concern for sports leagues as well as teams and the players who take part in the games.
According to the NFL, sports organizations, both professional and amateur, should have the ability to restrict wagers, or limit/exclude wagers that are not determined by the outcome or final score of the event, if the organization feels that the restriction would decrease the risk of integrity to the contest.
With this request, it is unclear as to just what in-game prop bet types the NFL would like to see restricted or excluded.
In closing, the NFL stated that it would like to see Congress create a modern framework that would regulate sports betting in a way that would protect consumers as well as the integrity of professional and amateur sporting contests.
The NFL made it clear in its letter that it is not asking for an expansion of federal law at the expense of state sovereignty, but it would like to see core standards created to protect the integrity of the game.