In Letter to Sports Leagues, Rep. Dina Titus Calls for Transparency on Sports Betting Policies
"When players get suspended and coaches get fired, that means the system is working. The goal, however, should be to stop these bets before they are placed."
Washington, DC – Today Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV), Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Gaming Caucus and representative of the Las Vegas Strip, wrote to the leadership of each of the major U.S. sports leagues, urging them to clarify their sports betting policies and assure fans that the games they watch and choose to bet on are fair.
In light of recent reporting that sports betting on college campuses has “raise[d] red flags for college sports” as some schools “are sending out mixed messages on sports betting,” and that the NFL has begun investigating active players for “possible violations of the league’s gambling policy,” Rep. Titus raised specific questions about sports leagues’ actions to preserve the integrity of their leagues and maintain full transparency surrounding their sports betting policies. She wrote to the leadership of the following leagues: NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, PGA, ATP, Formula One, NASCAR, UFC, NWSL, WNBA, and IBF as well as the NCAA.
“While sports betting offers a fun way for fans to enjoy their favorite teams, it also brings risk that could undermine the integrity of the games that so many love,” Rep. Titus wrote in the letter. “With sports betting increasingly becoming legal across the United States, sportsbooks and innovative integrity monitoring companies can alert gaming regulators and leagues when suspicious betting activity occurs. When players get suspended and coaches get fired, that means the system is working. The goal, however, should be to stop these bets before they are placed. Increased education of players and coaches about league policies regarding sports betting would assure fans that games they watch, and often bet on, are fair.”
Rep. Titus’s efforts to encourage the growth of legal, regulated sports betting includes introducing bipartisan legislation to repeal the “handle tax” placed on all legal sports bets, after once attempting to determine how the federal government allocated the funds collected from it and finding that “the IRS couldn’t answer” how it was used.
