LAS VEGAS—Major League Baseball (MLB) and the casino industry are entrenched in their views on a league proposal to get a cut from wagers placed on the sport following the repeal of a federal ban on sports betting earlier this year.
Representatives from both industries vigorously defended their believed right over the money wagered on Wednesday during a panel at the casino industry’s top trade show in Las Vegas. The MLB and other pro leagues haves asked for a percentage of the wagers, and casinos have strongly opposed any direct payments.
Kenny Gersh, the league’s executive vice president of gaming, told the crowd of casino executives that a proposed 0.25-percent fee—which some have dubbed an “integrity fee”—is essentially a royalty that casino companies should pay if they are going to make money off of the sport. He defended it as a case of “fairness” and partnership with casino operators.
“The state is going to designate these three, four, five very specific licensed entities: You guys get the right to make money from sports betting,” he said. “From a fairness perspective we think, if you are going to designate someone to be able to make money off of what at the end of the day is our sport and our events because if the Yankees weren’t playing the Red Sox last night, you are not betting on the Yankees and the Red Sox…we think we should be involved in that.”
A US Supreme Court decision in May allowed states to legalize sports betting. Sports books have since then opened in New Jersey, West Virginia and other states.
Professional sports leagues have failed so far to convince any state to build the fees into their laws. Nevada, which has offered sports betting for years, does not pay an integrity fee.
“I mean, look, you want a cut of the revenue without any of the risk that’s associated with it,” Sara Slane, senior vice president of public affairs at the American Gaming Association, countered during the Global Gaming Expo. “That’s why we have to go through the regulatory process. We invest billions of dollars in buildings, in our licenses that cost us millions of dollars to go through. You want us to take that risk, pay you and then you are going to benefit on the back end, as well…. What you guys are proposing is not financially viable.”
The only thing Gersh and Slane agreed during the panel is their enemy: Bookies on the corner and illegal offshore betting sites. The American Gaming Association, which is the largest lobbying group for the casino industry, has estimated that at least $150 billion a year is wagered illegally on sports betting in the US.
A grand jury in New Jersey, meanwhile, indicted former baseball star Lenny Dykstra on drug and other charges stemming from an altercation with an Uber driver in May.
The indictment handed up Tuesday charges the former MLB all-star with cocaine and methamphetamine possession, and making terroristic threats.
All three are third-degree crimes and punishable by up to five years in prison.
Dykstra claimed the driver threatened and tried to kidnap him early on the morning of May 23 after Dykstra asked to change the trip’s destination. At a news conference a few weeks after the incident, Dykstra said the driver locked the car’s doors and sped up, and that he was “literally in fear of my life.”
The driver told a different story. He allegedly told police Dykstra held a gun to his head, though no weapon was found. Police said they found the drugs among Dykstra’s possessions.
Dykstra was arrested outside police headquarters in Linden, about 32 kilometers southwest of New York City, after the driver stopped and ran out of the car.
Dykstra faces an arraignment on a date to be determined. An attorney for Dykstra didn’t immediately return a phone message on Wednesday.
Dykstra played 12 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets and was a member of the Mets’ 1986 championship team.
Since retiring from baseball, Dykstra has served prison time for bankruptcy fraud, grand theft auto and money laundering, and he declared bankruptcy in 2009, claiming he owed more than $31 million and had only $50,000 in assets.
Image credits: AP