Gambling is the NFL’s latest hypocrisy

By John McMullen | Friday, May 15, 2009 | ( 4 )

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Located on the eastern section of the Delmarva Peninsula between the Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay, Delaware is the second smallest state in the nation.

To the rest of the world, Delaware is known as one of the 13 original states to participate in the American Revolution and the first to ratify the Constitution of the United States. To those of us who live outside the state within driving distance, Delaware is known as the home of tax-free shopping.

In corporate America, despite its diminutive size, the state is a true heavyweight, loved for its friendly laws designed to lure big business. In fact, if you look closely you will often see the term "A Delaware Corporation" next to the names of many large companies. Over 50 percent of US publicly traded corporations and 60 percent of the Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware.

To be blunt, most major corporations love Delaware and its tax policy with one notable exception -- the National Football League.

Roger Goodell's monopoly has raised its back at the state because Delaware is moving ever closer to legalizing sports betting.

Delaware's governor, Jack Markell, is expected to sign a bill into law Thursday that will officially legalize sports betting in the state, leaving one final hurdle. It will be the Delaware Supreme Court that determines the specific types of gambling that federal law and the Delaware constitution will allow.

The NFL has always been hypocritical on this issue.

The daily point spreads you see in your local newspaper come September are an obvious deference to games of chance, but the NFL has plausible deniability in that aspect; why? Because the spreads are compiled by various Las Vegas casinos and sportsbooks, not the league itself.

Injury reports, however, are clearly designed to even the playing field for the gamblers who fuel the league's popularity.

Despite that hypocrisy, the NFL has already submitted a brief to the Delaware Supreme Court, arguing that sports betting falls beyond the scope of what the Delaware constitution allows and a hearing on the issue has been scheduled for May 21.

So, why is the NFL so against gambling in Delaware?

The same reason the league is against performance-enhancing drugs -- public relations.

The NFL, like the other major professional sports leagues, knows that gambling generates more interest in its sport. But, they also are aware that the majority of the public looks down on the activity as a seedy enterprise.

"The leagues know they need the gambling, yet they have to appear as if they're completely against it," gambling expert Steve Budin told the Wilmington News Journal on Thursday.

Whether it's legal or not, gambling on the NFL will continue in Delaware. The only question is whether its proceeds will remain the domain of the corner bookie, or will it shift toward the government?

Will the local thug kick up his proceeds to a John Gotti-like mafia boss or will the "new mafia," headed by Barack Obama and Delaware's own Joe Biden, place their sticky fingers deeper into your already strained wallet?

The NFL doesn't care -- just keep gambling.

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	About John McMullen John is the managing editor of The Phanatic Magazine, the assistant managing editor of The Sports Network and the co-host of the highly rated 'Johns on Sports' radio show on WTBQ in New York. Every Saturday from 6:30-9 p.m. (et) you can hear John along with his co-host, John Gottlieb, talk to the...
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Comments: 4 | Sign Up View all comments


	No.1 Amir FaSaad	09:52 AM 05/15/2009

	It took 16 paragraphs but McMullen's point, it's all Obama's fault, showed in the end. You big fat "Elephants" lost. Get over it....


	No.2 DEVASTATORS	11:40 AM 05/15/2009

	This hypocrisy isn't anywhere near being new. For as long as the NFL has been supplying -- even by mandate to teams -- an injury...


	No.3 Os Davis	01:34 AM 05/16/2009

	John, Bravo for this piece, but the NFL's insidious, hypocritical stand on gambling goes well, well further than Delaware. Back...