Adam Silver Advocates for More Regulation in Sports Betting
The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, has expressed the need for greater regulation in sports betting. Silver, who has been a staunch advocate for the legalization of sports betting in the United States, made these statements on Tuesday, highlighting the importance of reducing opportunities for game manipulation and combating inappropriate fan behavior. During his appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show”, Silver mentioned the NBA’s efforts to decrease betting options on players with two-way contracts. In the summer of 2024, the league requested its sports betting partners to refrain from offering prop bets on players with two-way contracts to avoid underperformance.Silver also pointed out that prop bets can generate abuse against players by fans, even when the team wins.We have asked some of our partners to remove some of the prop bets, especially when it comes to two-way players, guys who don’t have the same interest in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which otherwise seems small and inconsequential to the overall score.
Adam Silver
The NBA sent a memo to teams last week, emphasizing the need for consistent and vigilant enforcement of the NBA Fan Code of Conduct to deter and address fan misconduct at NBA games and events. In 2014, Silver wrote an opinion article in which he called for a new approach to sports betting, including federal regulation. Eleven years later, 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have launched legal betting markets.It often happens that your team wins and a player scores 25 points, but the fan, the bettor, had bet that the player was going to score 28 or 30 points. We have to protect the competitors. We want to protect the atmosphere in the arena so that people don’t get out of control.
Adam Silver
Silver added that the regulated market allows for greater visibility of bets, who places them and from where. With this regulated structure of legalized betting, we can monitor it in ways that were unimaginable years ago. If there is any anomalous behavior: people betting large amounts who historically had not done so, simply opening an account to place bets, or even geolocation, we know exactly where the bets are being placed from, very specifically. If you are in an arena and place a bet, we know you are in the arena in many cases. We know which part of the arena you are in when you place that bet.I think, probably, there should be more regulation, frankly. I wish there was federal legislation instead of state by state. I think you have to monitor the amount of promotion, the amount of advertising that surrounds it.
Adam Silver
