Nevada sportsbooks allowed bettors to wager on NFL Draft props leading up to the opening of the 2017 draft, raising a number of questions among sports bettors in the US.
Does This Mean Legal Sports Betting In Arizona Is Coming?
Will We Be able To Bet On Drafts In The Future?
Wait, You Can Bet On The NFL Draft? How?
We all know that if someone is willing to bet on it, Vegas will put odds on it. And this year, quite a few someones wanted to bet on the NFL draft. So the Nevada Gaming Control board finally gave in and allowed for Draft prop bets to be offered at Nevada sportsbooks.
While betting on a specific player was still prohibited, you were offered a number of prop style bets, based on how many players from a single school or conference would be taken, what position would be most popular, things like that. This has never been allowed before, so we’ve got to wonder, does this mean that the Nevada gaming commission thinks that bets like this on the NFL and other professional sporting events are going to become legal soon? Or was this just something that they finally wanted to push through?
Roger Goodell Still Super Against Sports Betting
As far as the commissioners go, there haven’t been any changes. In fact, Goodell has only just reconfirmed his position on sports betting at the Draft on April 27th. When speaking with Mike Greenberg prior to the start of the Draft, Goodell said “Where we draw the line is when anything can impact the Integrity of the game. And legalized sports betting is something that we’re concerned about on that level.”
So, the same ol’ song and dance from good ol’ Goodell.
He may have approved a move for an organization to Sin City, but he’s still steadfastly against sports betting in the US. The commissioner is supposed to represent the interests of the owners, but that might not be the case anymore, at least in part. At the owner’s meeting, a number of owners voiced their support for the move to Vegas and legal sports betting but asked to be kept anonymous.
One owner in the AFC stated “From a gambling standpoint? That’s a joke to even say that’d be a problem. Sports gambling is going to be legal. We might as well embrace it and become part of the solution, rather than fight it. It’s in everyone’s best interests for it to be above-board.” Others said the matter should be put to bed. Despite owners voicing their opinion in favor of regulation, Goodell stands firm in his decision that the league opposes any sort of legal sports betting outside of Nevada.
Does This mean we are closer to legal sports betting, or further away from it?
Honestly, it’s hard to tell. Some people say yes, others say no. No one really knows who to believe. But actions speak louder than words, and the fact that the NFL hasn’t tried to put a moratorium on gambling on Draft props or Oakland (soon to be Vegas) Raiders even though a team has been scheduled to move there kind of says that the NFL is much more friendly towards sports betting than they let on.
“We’re obviously recognizing what’s going on in society and we’re going to have to adapt policies from time to time,” Goodell stated about making the move to Las Vegas. But in regards to sports betting, he simply said: “But we’ll remain opposed to that.”
The Commissioner is a confusing figure and probably won’t change his official position until it’s clear that there’s no way to stop it. But his actions clearly show something else. Most NFL teams already have deals in place with Daily Fantasy Sports sites. A team has just moved to Vegas, and there are no plans in place to get rid of betting on the Vegas-based team. With betting on the draft happening for the first time just a few weeks after Sin City got a professional football team, it can only lead to one assumption – the NFL seems to slowly but surely be coming around to the idea of legal sports betting.