What does legalized sports gambling mean for baseball?
Ninety-nine years after the Black Sox scandal threatened to destroy Major League Baseball's credibility and almost three decades after Pete Rose ruined his career with his gambling ties, the game is entering a potentially lucrative, exhilarating, mysterious and messy new frontier.cheap nfl jerseys nike china
The recent Supreme Court ruling clearing the way for legalized sports betting across the United States has forced the governing powers in all major sports to begin to take a harder look at the benefits and potential pitfalls of a changing landscape. Commissioners, lawyers, lobbyists, security personnel and participants from across the spectrum are preparing to embrace a new reality as individual states determine their level of engagement.
"This is really a key moment now for baseball and the other sports leagues," said Bryan Seeley, MLB's senior vice president of investigations, compliance and security. "It's pretty rare that you have a huge industry that gets unlocked almost all at one time. The conversations about this and the decisions that state legislators and regulators are going to make in the next year and the next few years are going to have significant effects on our game. It's really important that we get this right."
In a time of change, questions abound. Legal sports betting could be a financial boon to sports leagues while significantly affecting the viewing habits of fans. Between the lines, players could face ethical choices amid concerns about their safety with so much money at stake. Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, told ESPN.com that players are determined to be involved in the discussion in an atmosphere defined more by "assumptions and insinuations" than definitive conclusions.
"As a result of the complexities involved here, there is more uncertainty than there are answers at this point," Clark said in an email. "Interestingly, there has been no discussion to date even about the myriad regulatory, safety, and fairness concerns that have arisen in other sports when gambling becomes prevalent."youth nfl jerseys cheap
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling spawned some inevitable hot takes. Numerous fans flocked to Twitter and wondered if legalized betting might pave the way for Rose's return to baseball or revive his dormant Hall of Fame chances. It's been 29 years since Rose was banned by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti for misconduct related to gambling, and two and a half years since commissioner Rob Manfred denied his appeal for reinstatement.
