“We have restrictions because we see what happens internationally,” said NBA Senior Vice President of Fantasy Games Scott Kaufman-Ross during the Sports Capital Symposium held in the United States. According to the executive, the league has been watching what happens in the main football leagues in Europe.
“Italy and Spain are markets where all sports betting ads are banned. The UK has an advertising ban that is in effect during the match. The time is coming when they will have to remove the brands from the jerseys,” added Ross.
“We're just monitoring all of this and being cautious [...] we didn't think it was the right time to open up sponsorship in that scenario. Some leagues are more permissive on some things and less on others. We don't judge anyone for what they're trying to do. We didn't think it was the right time for the NBA, and we'll see where we go from there,” Ross concluded.
Since 2018, the United States began to allow sports betting companies to operate and, consequently, in sports sponsorship. The NBA was the first of the big leagues to arrange a sponsorship with a company of its kind, in agreement with MGM Resorts, in July 2018.
The NHL recently closed an investigation into San Jose Sharks player Evander Kane, who had been accused of betting on league games through his ex-wife, Anna. The league announced that there was no evidence that Kane arranged the scores for the investigated games. The case, however, has rekindled the debate over how far the limit for the relationship between betting and sport goes.
The NBA allowed teams like the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns to have sports betting brands as sponsors in their arenas, but did not authorize exposure on the jersey. For Kaufman-Ross, however, banning gambling would not be a solution.
“If you make [gaming] illegal, people will find a way to make it illegal. And that's why we changed our position. Look, we still believe that betting poses fundamental risks to the integrity of our games. This remains true. But what we found is that the federal ban on this only serves to push this activity underground. It does not eliminate this activity, it just pushes it to a place where we cannot monitor it and there is no transparency,” added the executive.
Currently, the NBA even has inscriptions in players' locker rooms reminding them not to bet on games. The league has a complete job of monitoring the relationship between athletes and bets in order to avoid combinations of results.
Source: Máquina do Esporte
